Hoard coins - why are there so few hoards of Charles I Crown coins?

SwK · February 7, 2010 10:36AM

I have noticed that the majority of hoards from the Civil War period around CHARLES I have very few Crown size coins. Many half-crowns and even more shillings. Any thoughts to why?

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coinkat · February 7, 2010 10:55AM

Good question

JCMhouston · February 7, 2010 11:08AM

I think Crowns were very few and far between in those days. If you had a crown or two you were indeed very well off, as the majority of the population used Shillings and below in the normal course of business. Although Crowns obviously circulated, or rather were used in commerce, I do not think that most people of the period would have ever had the opportunity to handle one. An excellent meal for two at a fine resturant could be had for a single Shilling. and the costs of every day goods would have wanted Shillings, Pennies etc. rather than the large size Crown. It may be that the Crowns were used more as a convenient way to store wealth, much as silver plate was used in those days. Both the church and the wealthy maintained plate which was useful every day, and could readily be converted to other goods when required. You could buy a horse, cow or sheep with a Crown or two, but the majority of the population was not able to do that on a regular basis.

As late as the 18th C. a Shilling would buy "5 pounds of meat, or 4 rabbits, 3 quarts of ale, or 6 gallons of middling beer".

ref: The Splendid Shilling by Mays

MrEureka · February 7, 2010 1:02PM

My impression is that the crowns were struck more carefully than the half crowns. If true, is it relevant?

Bjorn · February 8, 2010 12:22AM

I wonder if these were intended more as presentation or 'honarary' pieces - sort of like the crowns Edward VII and George VI issued in the first year of their respective reigns? It is certainly a denomination that, by the late 1700s through decimilization, was not struck every year...

Also, many earlier hammered crowns were likely melted down in the transition to milled coinage.

IloiloKano · February 8, 2010 8:16AM

<< <i>I have noticed that the majority of hoards from the Civil War period around CHARLES I have very few Crown size coins. Many half-crowns and even more shillings. Any thoughts to why? >>

Maybe the crown hoards have not been discovered yet? Get out your metal detector!

RobP · February 8, 2010 7:20PM

The majority of Civil War hoards are made of shillings and halfcrowns because these constituted the typical wages of the foot soldiers or cavalry and coin was inevitably produced according to demand. Everyday life revolved around smaller units of currency too, so unless you were using silver crowns as a method of storing bullion there would be relatively little reason to strike them. I also think crowns (presumably silver ones in the context of the discussion) were struck in relatively small quantities simply due to the existence of the gold crown, which appeared in the first coinage of Henry VIII and so was only 20 or 30 years older than the silver crown as a denomination. Given the silver 5/- was only issued in 1551-3 and 1601-2 prior to James I and even then only occasionally, the predomiance of gold coinage would seem a reasonable argument.

RobP · February 11, 2010 4:25AM

To expand a bit further on the previous post. The crown was first struck in 1551. In a way, this was a showpiece currency set as it was used to demonstrate that the country's currency had returned to its previous level of fineness. It is significant that in the next 50 years only gold crowns were produced. These were made alongside the gold halfcrown which wasn't popular due to its size. The 1601 & 2 Ag issues were relatively large, but the James I issues are remarkably rare. Hammered gold is very popular at the moment, but it is striking that the price of silver crowns is far in excess of the gold ones. They simply didn't produce that many. These values correlate with the values of gold and silver in the pyx trials of the various marks. For example, in every pyx of James I except for the 1st issue coinage, the value of gold in the trial was in excess of the silver content, sometimes by a factor of 8 or 10, but sometimes by a factor of several hundreds. Couple this with the use of silver to facilitate everyday trade with the regular loss of change from the pocket or through general wear & tear and the shortage of crowns becomes obvious. Move on to Charles I's reign and the current prices are even more stretched. Charles' silver is very popular, more so than his gold, but when the price of an Ag crown is 3 or 4 times that of an Au one even with today's manic collecting habits for all things round and shiny, the only explanation has to be supply and demand. There is a shortage of Ag crowns because they were never made in any quantity, period. Consequently it is little wonder that very few turn up in hoards.

Hoard coins - why are there so few hoards of Charles I Crown coins?

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