1 Sovereign - James I 1st coinage, 1st bust

James I inherited Elizabeth I's coinage infrastructure almost intact, but the transition mattered: the first coinage of 1603–04 was struck before new dies fully reflecting his kingship were standardized, producing a brief window of issues that blend Elizabethan die-cutting traditions with the new Jacobean titulature — most notably the addition of "MAG BRIT" as James pressed his union of the English and Scottish crowns into the coinage from the outset, a political claim Parliament had not yet ratified.

Spink 2608 pieces from this first bust are notoriously variable in die alignment and surface quality, a consequence of the rushed transition at the Tower Mint.