Lot 292
Great Britain. 'Fine' Sovereign of 30 Shillings, ND. S-2529; N-2003. Elizabeth I, 1558-1603. Fifth Coinage (1584-1585). Elizabeth enthroned facing. Reverse: Shield within rose. Escallop (or seashell) mintmark. Unusually choice and lustrous, struck on a full flan with no flaws or splits, the portrait showing remarkably fine details including full folds in the royal gown, legends distinct, rose and shield also well defined. Among the finest known examples of this classic rarity. Extremely rare in this grade. NGC graded MS-64.
Arguably, Elizabeth was perhaps the greatest of England's monarchs. She carried even further her father's supremacist views of the monarchy. But Elizabeth was a master of political science, and managed to achieve her ends while maintaining the devotion of the whole of English society to an extent probably not seen again until the reign of Victoria. Elizabeth inherited a rent and tattered nation: continuing dissensions (inherited from her sister Mary's union with a prince of Spain) between Catholics and Protestants endangered the fabric of English society; the Treasury had been drained by Mary and her advisors; the grievous loss of Calais for once left the realm without any Continental possessions since the arrival of the Normans in 1066; and, finally, Elizabeth's own legitimacy to the succession of the throne was questioned by many.
By the end of this reign, England had emerged as the world's strongest naval power, and the stage was set for the country's future imperial expansion. Likewise during Elizabeth's reign the country experienced an artistic and cultural "golden age" -- with such notables, especially in literature, as Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser and Bacon. Elizabeth died childless and without heir at age seventy, having been on the English throne for forty-four years. With her ended the Tudor age, but through her the nation truly emerged in renaissance.
Estimated Value $30,000 - 35,000.
Ex Dr Jacob Y. Terner Collection (by private treaty to the Millennia Collection).
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| Realized $74,750 |
