10 Pounds - Elizabeth II James I, Silver Piedfort

Piedforts have been struck at the Royal Mint since at least the 16th century, originally produced as presentation pieces and official weight standards rather than for circulation. This example doubles the standard coin's thickness in the established piedfort tradition, a format the Mint revived commercially in 1982 after centuries of dormancy.

James I's monetary legacy is more contentious than most — he introduced the Unite and the Laurel to English coinage, but persistent debasement anxieties and the fraught union of English and Scottish currencies defined his reign's numismatic politics far more than any single denomination.