Lot 4402
Great Britain. Crown, 1687. S.3407; ESC-78; Dav-3779. James II. by John Roettier. Second draped laureate bust left. IACOBVS II DEI GRATIA. Edge reads ANNO REGNI TERTIO in raised letters. Reverse: Inverted die axis and crowned cruciform shields. This coin is uncirculated, pleasantly toned with prooflike fields and exhibiting only the tiniest of surface marks on the obverse. What is remarkable is the absence of weakness in some of the lettering and absence of the ususal weakness in the hair. No haymarking, no die problems, no flan problems. Truly one of the most hadsome and boldly struck coins produced in this short three year series. NGC graded About Uncirculated, Details (Spot Removals).
Charles II died in 1685 and his brother James became King James II. The accession went smoothly, indeed auspiciously. A parliament was elected and proved more friendly to the Crown than any parliament since the early years of the Restoration. There was a failed attempt to replace James as king when the Duke of Monmouth (illegitimate son of Charles II) landed at Lyme Regis on the south English coast with about 150 followers and something like 4,000 ill-armed and untrained rebels gathered around him in the west of England. Many gradually believed that the new Catholic King James represented a fundamental threat to the Protestant faith of the kingdom and to the independence of Parliament, but the tactics and the timing of the rebels were poor and the rebel army was destroyed at the Battle of Sedgemoor.
Fuelled by the savage retribution inflicted after Sedgemoor the opposition to James ran wide and deep. Within three years he had been toppled in what became known as The Glorious Revolution by a Dutch army invited into England by supporters of James' daughter and son-in-law William and Mary. James fled to France and adopting the challenged the British monarchy for several decades in a series of uprisings. James died in exile in France in September 1701.
Estimated Value $4,000 - 5,000.
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