The Five Guinea was a
machine-struck gold coin produced from 1668–1753. Measuring 37 millimetres in diameter and weighing between 41 and 42 grams, it was the largest regularly produced gold coin in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. Although the coin is commonly known as the "Five guinea" piece, during the 17th and 18th centuries it was also known as a Five-pound piece, as the guinea was originally worth twenty
shillings (i.e. a
pound) – until its value was fixed at twenty-one shillings by a
Royal Proclamation
A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...
in 1717 the value fluctuated rather in the way that bullion coins do today.
This denomination shows the year of striking on the reverse; but also the edge inscription – ''An ornament and a safeguard, in the year of the reign...'' – is followed by the ''regnal year'' of the monarch, in Latin words. In the case of
Charles II, the regnal year is calculated from the
execution of Charles I
The execution of Charles I by beheading occurred on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. The execution was the culmination of political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in E ...
, so 1668 is , ''the twentieth year of the reign''. The edge inscription was put on the coin before the other two sides were struck – in the early years the
blanks were cut out from a strip of gold which had been produced by horse power, then the blanks were sent to have the edge inscriptions impressed by a secret process devised by one
Pierre Blondeau, a former engineer from the Paris mint who jealously guarded his methods. The blanks were then returned to the mint to have the obverse and reverse struck in a hand-operated press.
Samuel Pepys gives a long and detailed description of the rolling, cutting, and striking of the blanks in his diary entry for 19 May 1663.
Many of the coins produced up to 1699 have an elephant and castle beneath the monarch's head, indicating that the gold was provided by the
Africa Company. Coins of 1703 (Queen
Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
) have the word VIGO under the Queen's head, indicating that the gold was captured from Spanish galleons in the
Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702, but very few of these coins now remain in existence and are considered extremely valuable by collectors (an example sold for £845,000 at a New York auction in January 2019)
Charles II
![Charles II, Five Guineas, 1679](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Charles_II%2C_Five_Guineas%2C_1679.jpg)
The Five Guinea coin was produced in each year of Charles II's reign from 1668 to 1684; before 1670 the weight limits were 41-42 grams, afterwards 41.0–41.8 grams. The obverse and reverse of this coin were designed by
John Roettier
John Roettiers (4 July 1631 – 1703) was a celebrated English engraver and medallist.
Roettiers was the oldest son of Philip Roettiers, a goldsmith of Antwerp. He took up the profession of stonecutter and medallist, with his earliest known prod ...
(1631–c.1700). The obverse showed a fine right-facing bust of the king wearing a laurel wreath, surrounded by the legend , while the reverse showed four crowned cruciform shields bearing the arms of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, between which were four sceptres, and in the centre were four interlinked "C"s, surrounded by the inscription .
The regnal years used in this reign's coin issue were:
James II
John Roettiers
John Roettiers (4 July 1631 – 1703) was a celebrated English engraver and medallist.
Roettiers was the oldest son of Philip Roettiers, a goldsmith of Antwerp. He took up the profession of stonecutter and medallist, with his earliest known prod ...
continued to design the dies for this denomination in the reign of King
James II. In this reign, the weight of the coins varied between 41.5 and 42.0 grams. The king's head faces left in this reign, and is surrounded by the inscription , while the obverse is the same as in
Charles II's reign except for omitting the interlinked "C"s in the centre of the coin.
The regnal years for this reign are:
Mary II and William III
With the removal of James II in the
Glorious Revolution of 1688, his daughter
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, and her husband
Prince William of Orange
William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from ...
ruled jointly by agreement as co-monarchs. Their heads appear conjoined on the five guinea piece in Roman style, with William's head uppermost, with the legend . In a departure from the previous reigns the reverse featured a totally new design of a large crowned shield which bore the arms of France in the first quarter, of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
in the second quarter, of Ireland in the third quarter, and of England in the fourth quarter, the whole ensemble having a small shield in the centre bearing the rampant lion of
Nassau
Nassau may refer to:
Places Bahamas
*Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence
Canada
*Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792
*Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
; the legend on the obverse read . The weight tolerance of the coin in this reign was 41.5–41.8 grams. The five guinea coin of this reign was probably the work of James and/or Norbert Roettier.
The regnal years for this joint reign are:
William III
Following the death of
Queen Mary II
Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694.
Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...
from smallpox in 1694, William continued to reign as
William III, with his regnal years continuing to date from 1688. Five guinea coins were only produced in the last three years of his sole reign, the design probably being the work of Johann Crocker, also known as John Croker, since James Roettier had died in 1698 and his brother Norbert had left somewhat under a cloud for Paris in 1695.
The coins of William III's reign weighed 41.6–41.7 grams. William's head faces right on his coins, with the legend , while the reverse design of William and Mary's reign was judged to be unsuccessful, so the design reverted to that used by Charles II and James II, but with a small shield with the lion of Nassau in the centre, with the legend .
The regnal years for this reign are:
Anne
The reign of
Queen Anne (1702–1714) began with one of the most valuable and exotic of all British coins, the "Vigo" five guinea piece of 1703, which was struck from gold captured from Spanish galleons at the
Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702. A Royal Warrant of 10 February 1703 (1702
Old Style
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...
) authorised the word "VIGO" be placed "under our effigies, which inscription we intend as a mark of distinction from the rest of our gold and silver moneys to continue to posterity the remembrance of that glorious action". At a sale of "Vigo" pieces in October 1992 the auctioneers,
Glendining, noted that certainly fewer than twenty Vigo five guinea pieces survive.
![Anne, Five-Guineas, 1703 VIGO](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Anne%2C_Five-Guineas%2C_1703_VIGO.jpg)
Queen Anne five guineas were subsequently produced in 1705, 1706, 1709, 1711, 1713 and 1714. The obverse of the coin throughout her reign shows the left-facing effigy of the queen, with the legend .The general design of the reverse was similar to that of the previous reign, with four crowned cruciform shields bearing the arms of England, Scotland, Ireland, and France, separated by
sceptre
A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty.
Antiquity
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
The '' Was'' and other ...
s and with a central rose, and the legend . However, the union of England and Scotland necessitated a change in the design of the arms on the shield in 1706 (although the actual union took place on 1 May 1707, just over a month after the start of the year, the bill for the
Act of Union received the Royal Assent on 6 March 1707 (that is, still in 1706 by the old-style calendar)), therefore coins dated 1706 appear with both reverses. The order of the arms appearing on the cruciform shields until 1706 was England, then Scotland, then France, then Ireland. With the union, the English and Scottish arms appear conjoined on one shield, with the left half being the English arms and the right half being the Scottish arms, and the order of arms appearing on the shields becomes England+Scotland, France, England+Scotland, Ireland. In 1706, with the Union, the central rose on the reverse was replaced by the Star of the
Order of the Garter.
The regnal years for this reign are:
George I
George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgor ...
's Five Guinea coins were only struck in 1716, 1717, 1720, and 1726, and they bear his abbreviated Hanoverian titles in addition to the usual British, French, and Irish title. The obverse bears a right-facing portrait of the king with the legend . The reverse follows the same general design as before, except the order of the shields is England+Scotland, France, Ireland, and Hanover, with the legend – ''Duke of Brunswick and Lueneburg, Arch-Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire''. The coins of this reign weighed 41.7–41.8 grams.
The value of the
guinea had fluctuated over the years from twenty to thirty shillings (in 1694
[Coins of England, Spinks 2010, p. 342]), and back down to twenty one shillings and sixpence by the start of George's reign. A Royal Proclamation of December 1717 fixed the value of the guinea at twenty one shillings.
The regnal years for this reign are:
George II
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
's Five Guinea pieces mark the last of the denomination. The series began in 1729, and was also struck in 1731, 1735, 1738, 1741, 1746, 1748, and for the last time in 1753. The coins weighed 41.8–42.0 grams. Some of the 1729 coins bear the initials EIC under the king's head, indicating the gold was supplied by the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
, while the 1746 coins have LIMA under the head, indicating the gold was obtained during Admiral Anson's circumnavigation of the world (though the use of LIMA is something of a mystery, as there is no known connection with
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
).
The obverse has a left-facing bust of the king (with an older head from 1746), with the legend , while the reverse features a single large crowned shield with the quarters containing the arms of England+Scotland, France, Hanover, and Ireland, and the legend —''King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lueneburg, Arch-Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire''.
The regnal years for this reign are:
See also
*
British coinage
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
References
External links
British Coins– Free information about British coins. Includes an online forum.
– Tony Clayton's history of the Five Guineas.
– Images of five-guinea coins
Five Guinea Archive– A gallery of Five Guinea pictures, varieties and values.
{{British coinage
British gold coins
Coins of England
Coins of Great Britain