1 Guinea - James II 2nd bust

James II's guinea coinage was produced against the backdrop of a reign defined by his open Catholicism and increasingly authoritarian governance — pressures that would end with his flight to France in 1688. The second bust variety, introduced in 1686, replaced the first bust as part of a routine die revision rather than any political directive, though the entire series was cut short when the Glorious Revolution rendered further coinage under his name impossible.

Pieces dated 1688 are notably scarcer, production having been interrupted mid-year by William of Orange's invasion in November.