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Sale 53
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Lot 2595
Great Britain. 5 Guineas, 1684. S-3332; Fr-283; KM-444.2. Charles II, 1660-1685. Second laureate bust of King facing right, with rounded truncation. Elephant and castle below bust. Reverse: Crowned cruciform shields, scepters in angles, interlocking C's in center, lettered edge reads +. DECVS. ET. TVTAMEN. ANNO. REGNI. TRICESIMO. SEXTO.+. Highly reflective surfaces with considerable luster and great eye appeal.
Historical note: This date was the final issue of Charles II's 5-Guineas coinage. Early in the reign, a "guinea pound" in gold was worth 20 Shillings. In 1670 the intrinsic weight was slightly reduced, reflecting the fluctuating price of gold, but by 1684 the Guinea was worth 22 Shillings. Thus the value of this 5-Guineas piece was 110 Shillings. It was a literal fortune at the time! The portrait is distinctive with its long, curved truncation. It is a statement of elegance which somehow seems to suggest a conclusion to a reign marked by transition. With the various wars of the 1670s at an end, trade increased and the king's treasury swelled, allowing for the creation of coins such as this. The king had survived civil war as a youth, waged war at sea (often disastrously) but managed to conclude foreign hostilities, dallied with a host of mistresses, produced an illegitimate son whose existence threatened yet another civil war which was happily averted, lived through years of extravagance yet never managed to produce a legal heir, and despite his intellectual deficiencies out-navigated all loyal opponents in the newly emerging two-party political climate. Charles had a substantial and well-appointed army and controlled an absolutist government but had no will to rule absolutely, and thus the former power of kingship was forever diminished in his reign, the substitute being the foundation of modern parliamentary democracy. The king's main wish as titular ruler was that his brother, James, third son of their father, should succeed him, and succeed he did in the spring of 1685. King Charles II died suddenly at the age of 54. He left his mark on England as a courteous man of good humor, cultured but not especially clever, a man of dignified stature but not very good looking, an art connoisseur and a reluctant warrior, above all a survivor of the most dire of times - a restorer of the monarchy, faithful to his subjects if not to his wife, a ladies' man and a sober judge of his fellow men, remembered by one contemporary (Halifax) as having "lived with his ministers as he did with his mistresses: he used them, but he was not in love with them." NGC graded AU-55.
Estimated Value $18,000 - 22,000.
Ex: Eli Wallit Coll. lot 375. Morton & Eden 12/11/2003; The "Sylvia" Collection, through Mark Rasmussen by private treaty.
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| Realized $27,600 |
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