TomGoodheart

There was a trend at the time in Europe for the wealthy and powerful to present visitors, or those they wished to impress, with small portrait medallions. Charles took up the habit with the most prestigious being impressive pieces in gold but also cheaper silver or silver gilt versions. It seems unlikely that all of these were personally handed out by the king. Even at court I imagine others distributed the majority. And it's likely that, since they were cast and chased and therefore relatively easy to duplicate, others were made to order for supporters of the crown who wanted something to demonstrate their loyalty from existing badges, though likely with Royal 'consent' to the practice. Obviously over time it became riskier to admit you were an ardent Royalist, hence the size of the later badges is much smaller with the one shown on my fingertip an example of one from the later years of the reign that could be easily concealed in clothing or, should the need arise, shown at the turn of a coat collar perhaps.

The first two are jetons (small medallions, assumed to have been thrown into the crowds) in celebration of Charles and Henrietta Maria's wedding. They had two wedding ceremonies, due to religious differences. The first was in France (Henrietta Maria was the daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici) and Duke Claude of Chevreuse stood as proxy for Charles. A second was held in Canterbury. The jetons were designed by Pierre Regnier. The one with the ribbon is also by Regnier and was assumed to be a variant of the marriage medallion. However I am certain that, though similar, the crown on the obverse represents their coronation rather than marriage. This is supported by the date on the first two being 1625 (the marriage was in May of that year) but the coronation was in February 1626 and this is the year given on the 'crown' version. This type is considerably rarer than the first two and I was very pleased to pick that one up! In case it helps, trays sizes are 45mm (larger) and 35mm (smaller). Medals were produced throughout Charles' reign (including posthumously). Badges (the oval ones) are generally thought to date from the middle of the reign. As with the shillings, Charles starts the reign wearing a ruff. This gives way to a lace collar, with increasing amounts of armour added to his bust as the years go by!

And some shillings ..an early Easter egg. 😄

Medals

Badges.

I've been buying far more medals than coins of late, which I suspect are not of much interest to members here. And the coins I have are all Tower shillings of Charles I, so again, outside most people's scope. Don't want to be the cause of people's eyes glazing over! 😄

Afraid I'm guilty of the 'social media' thing and so here less often. There are a number of specialised Facebook groups which, while many are set up as a selling platform by the administrator, do get a reasonable amount of traffic. I frequent a specialist group for Charles I coinage and several for hammered and early milled because that's where my interests lie. Probably of little interest to the many(?) penny enthusiasts here, but I've certainly contributed to the Charles I group quite frequently and it's where quite a few of my Charles I contacts congregate.. There are also groups for numismatic literature and historical medals, which again though specialised fall within my interests and a few detectorist groups where I try to identify items. I also admit that I frequent many of these groups to spot potential purchases since there are a number of well known dealers who are also members there. Some, like Tim Medhurst rely heavily on social media (he's primarily on Instagram I believe) and it's not uncommon for things to never reach a dealer's website, having found a buyer on a Facebook group. I'm not saying that's an ideal situation, it's all too easy to miss something because you don't happen to be a member of a particular group, but I accept that's the way of it (even Spink sell stuff on Facebook now). Plus I'm chronically online anyway, so it's just a few more pages to visit in a day. And if it results in a bit more knowledge, whether a collector ticket identified or a potential contact spotted, a possible new source of material or an item added to the collection, all to the good.

Hi H. Sadly, not a lot to go on here! So, it's Tower (of London) mint, as are the majority. The privy (mint) mark is Tun so it was struck between 14 Feb 1636- 8 May 1638. And it has a cross with small neat ends over the reverse shield, so Group F. If I had to guess, I'd say F3/1 which is Spink 2796. Clipped and worn. People like eye appeal (or at least a clear mint mark and identifiable portrait), so it's not going to fetch much I'm afraid. £10-£20 maybe?

From the size, it's a penny or halfpenny H. Groats are larger and a very different design. Edward. The reverse reads VIL /<>LA/CAL/ISI so Calais. The diamond between the Ls (<>) helps identify it further but not my area I'm afraid.

Waley would explain the W number in red. Interesting the picture I have doesn't have one. Waley was 1893-1987, so looks like he just added his reference to the previous owner's ticket ..

Anything on the other side Jason? I have this photo in my records, which someone suggested was a Lockett ticket (no doubt on the basis of the RCL number to the reverse) but I have my doubts about the writing. More likely it was bought from RCL's collection. However I'd say there's a decent chance it IS the same hand as your ticket .. if that helps? . @Rob Any ideas? Or Gary Oddie is quite good at these, but he's not here but can be found on FB

Merry Christmas all. May your collections grow, your lives prosper and your 2025s be uneventful but pleasant. 🌲

I believe Chris has fixed this. Welcome @Penny collector

biddr let me down on this one. I put in a pre bid on a lot and thought I'd won ... went to check for an invoice and found the price achieved had gone up overnight. Not happy at all, but not really NAC's fault as it was biddr that missed that my lot had gone higher. Fortunately (?) I was outbid by CHF450, so I have the consolation that it wasn't by just a few quid .. c'est la vie, or whatever that is in Swiss. 😕

I agree with Coinery. (P) which means it was struck at the Tower (of London) mint, but while it was under parliamentary control, Charles having fled London in 1642 Grim. Struck some time between 29 May 1643 and 15 Jul 1644. Spink 2800, Sharp G1/1 are the references. These were struck on hand cut flans so while it looks clipped it is possible it isn't. 6g or thereabouts was the target weight for shillings (+ or - 5%). A blank silver disk was dropped into a cup, bearing the die for the reverse of the coin. Then the face die was inserted and hammered. There was no set orientation for the dies, it just depended on how the moneyer picked up the die.

Eye appeal is certainly important to me. I also like pieces that had some significance to the person that owned them, like Coinery's sixpences. My collection roughly splits into coins (for which beauty, conditional rarity and to a certain extent provenance all come into play) and medallions, where all of the previous are considerations, but I also like that their importance to their original owners was to demonstrate loyalty to the Crown, as well as for adornment.

Bear in mind that the handwriting can help identify a ticket, which can still be useful. Either to link a number of coins to a common owner, or if some provenance is known back to an earlier collection ..

Thanks. 👍

Ah, yes. The 40, 41 stickers are my way of linking oversized tickets or envelopes too. I should have said! And thanks Rob.