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Lot 274
Great Britain. Noble, ND. S-1490; N-1118. 7.78 grams. Edward III, 1327-1377. Fourth Coinage, 1351-1361, Pre-Treaty (of Bretigni) issue, with Aquitaine titles. King stands facing in ship, bearing sword and shield. Reverse: Royal cross in tressure. Cross 3 "pattee" mintmark. Especially choice with glowing luster, struck on a full flan, sharp impression from worn dies, excellent detail overall. Scarce. Among the finest extant. NGC graded MS-64.
Edward proved a most capable king, perhaps one of England's greater kings, in a time of significant societal evolution and change within England. His fifty-year reign would prove to be a dichotomy of positives and negatives. Governmental reforms affirmed the power of the emerging middle class in Parliament; meanwhile the power of the nobility, essentially in the hands a few, increased measurably. The Chivalric code reached an apex in English society, but this only masked the greed and ambition of Edward and his barons. England's emerging wool and cloth industry prospered and spread wealth across the country, but this was negated by the devastation wrought by the Black Death. Early successes in war ultimately failed to produce lasting results. Significantly for numismatists, the gold coinage truly began during this reign, tentatively at first with the "leopard" series which faded fast, producing major rarities for today, but finally flourishing in the Noble series, of which this specimen is a glorious example -- allowing England to become a major trading partner on the Continent, particularly in the wool trade.
War occupied the largest part of Edward's reign. His claim to the disputed throne of France (through his mother, Isabella) led to the first phase of the Hundred Years' war. Early gains were such that in 1359 Edward's son, Edward, the Black Prince, had encircled Paris with his army, and the defeated French earnestly negotiated for peace -- from which England received huge tracts of territory. However, English military strength was weakened considerably after the plague, so that it began losing ground to the extent that by 1375 Edward agreed to the Treaty of Bruges, leaving only the coastal towns of Calais, Bordeaux and Bayonne in English hands.
The nature of English society transformed greatly during Edward's reign. The most lasting development of this was that English for the first time replaced French as the official and national language. Despite the king's early successes and England's general prosperity, much remained amiss in the realm. The flowering English economy was struck hard by the rise in prices and wages following the ravages wrought by the plague. Later, the failed French military campaigns of the king's son, John of Gaunt, caused excessive taxation and eroded Edward's popular support. Finally one last, unfortunate and unforeseen legacy that Edward would bequeath to the nation was his two sons' "houses": John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Edmund Langley, Duke of York. The internecine squabbles between the two would cause the realm much grief for decades after, in a period which history has named the War of the Roses.
Estimated Value $3,500 - 4,000.
Ex Dr Jacob Y. Terner Collection (by private treaty to the Millennia Collection).
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