James II AD 1685-1688 Gold Five Guineas AD 1687

James II AD 1685-1688 Gold Five Guineas AD 1687

TERTIO laureate bust left / crowned cruciform shields, sceptres in angles.

S3398, 36mm, 41.83g

A most imposing gold coin, at over 40 grams this is a delight to handle.

During the reign of James II – only the second reign since the Civil War – the Mint worked especially hard to stamp out memories of the images of money coined during the Commonwealth era, the design of five guineas and smaller gold coins continued largely unchanged from that of Charles II. Gone forever were the legends in English and the generic shields which had dominated the coinage made without regal consent. Charles’s right-facing portrait, elegantly engraved by John Roettier, was turned to face to the left and displays a somewhat more complexly fashioned presentation of the flowing periwig of Charles’s younger brother, but otherwise is essentially a near-copy of the earlier portrait. The reverse was duplicated save for the date changed each year of issue. The dividing sceptres of the reverse shield, symbolising regal power not possessed by Cromwell or his cohorts, became a stalwart image for the Restoration monarchs’ large gold coins; the shield formed using sceptres of this style is displayed on all five guinea issues from 1668 to 1726, with the exception of the issues of William & Mary.