Coin weight

[Coin_Hunter]

Got this from auction with all the other interesting pieces I have been showing here. On the packet it says "Edward IV" and "Durham"

Now someone is telling me this isn't Ed IV because he had no shillings.

Okay so who is it then?

[Rob]

Have a word with Paul Withers at Galata who is one of the best experts in this field. He collects coin weights, writes about them and may have one of these too. In any case he would be able to point you in the right direction.

I see the mark is a cinquefoil, rose or pansy. This was also used as a mark in Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I so there are numerous possibilities as to its origin. The alternative would be the use of the mark which is specific to a place. Besides the tower mint, York and Canterbury also used these marks at various times. The inscribed letter D could refer to the person in charge of the mint as opposed to the location. A precedent for this is a series of weights with a TR monogram which can reasonably be attributed to Oxford as Thomas Rawlins signed some medals with the same.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Rob

[Rob]

An article in the 2001 BNJ entitled "Coin-Weights made by the Founders" by Norman Biggs refers to the exact description of your piece. The article identifies it as a shilling coin weight (for assessing if the mass of silver is the same as found in a full shilling) but merely notes that some of the bullion weights have additional countermarks that raise interesting questions. It mentions a rampant lion, possibly to make it acceptable for use in Scotland. Other marks noted are a fleur de lys and a cinquefoil.

If a rampant lion was for Scotland, then the logical extension of this is a French lys and an English rose. French silver at this time was to a standard of 0.917 as opposed to the English 0.925. I don't know if this has any relevance though.

[Coin_Hunter]

Thanks. I was getting smart-arses telling me that it can't be a Shilling because there were no shillings made during this reign.

Completely irrelevant, and proves they don't know jack sh*t. The moral of the tale: don't listen to smartarses.