1 Shilling - Charles I Newark siege coinage

Newark was besieged three times during the English Civil War, with the final Royalist holdout lasting from 1645 until May 1646, when Charles I himself ordered the garrison to surrender after his capture. Cut from silver plate, candlesticks, and whatever metal the town could furnish, these pieces were struck under Governor Richard Willis as a functional necessity — paying troops when no Mint supply could reach the town.

The lozenge shape is a direct consequence of production method, not design choice: irregular planchets were simply cut to approximate weight rather than rolled and punched to specification.