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Tyrants of the Thames
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SILVER PENNY (1315-1317)
Edward II, Plantagenet King, 1307-1327
London mint. Design continued from the previous reign: crowned, central facing portrait; reverse, long
cross with a trefoil of 3 pellets in each angle. The groats introduced a few years earlier, by Edward I, did
not receive wide acceptance, being unfamiliar pieces of money. As a consequence, no groats were mint-
ed from 1282 onward, and none appeared bearing Edward II’s name; most silver produced until the mid-
dle of the next reign, in 1351, consisted of pennies and their fractions. Gold was still rarely encountered
anywhere in the kingdom. Quite fine for this issue, the flan showing small edge cracks but the images are
generally sharp with some doubling from strike, with pleasing golden gray patina.
S-1459. N-1064. PCGS-graded AU53.
38
THE GOLD DOUBLE-LEOPARD (1344)
Edward III, Plantagenet King, 1327-1377
Third Coinage (1344-1351); the first “regular” issue of a gold coin by a Plantagenet king (Henry III
issued a “gold penny” late in his reign, in the 1270s: S-1376, N-1000). Exceedingly rare. One of the ear-
liest gold coins made in England and one of the rarest of all English coins. Of a type struck only briefly
from January to August of 1344, this spectacular coin is among the few survivors (three believed known)
of an issue that was almost entirely melted for gold to produce later coins. Edward is shown enthroned
and crowned, holding a large orb and a scepter (symbols of majesty), with a crowned facing leopard’s
head on each side of him, beneath an elaborate canopy, while its reverse side consists of an elaborate
jeweled cross with a crown at the end of each beam and crossbar, inside a quatrefoil, with floral flour-
ishes within and a leopard passant outside of each incurved juncture of the quatrefoil. The Latin legend
(“IHC TRANSIENS PER MEDIUM ILLORUM IBAT”) surrounding this complex image of royalty was
frequently used on later hammered gold coins; it translates to mean “But Jesus passing through the midst
of them went His way”‚ÄîLuke iv, 30). The only example of this issue in private hands. Perhaps the
most important coin in the Tyrant Collection of English coins. Struck on a full broad flan with pleasing
surfaces, gold color, and all details sharply detailed.
S-1476. N-1105. PCGS-graded MS62.