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HAPPY BIRTHDAY..........................
Hyperion
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............... LIL' SOV!
Linky
#OnThisDay in 1489, King Henry VII commissioned ‘a new money of #gold’. The Sovereign was born
The First Gold Sovereign
On 28 October 1489 King Henry VII instructed the officers of his Royal Mint to produce ‘a new money of gold’. England had by then enjoyed a circulating gold coinage for almost a century and a half but the new coin was to be the largest coin yet seen in England, both in size and value, and was to be called a Sovereign. It well merited such a splendid name, the obverse boasting an enthroned portrait of the king in full coronation regalia and the reverse depicting the royal arms, crowned and superimposed on a magnificent double rose to symbolise the union of York and Lancaster after the long-drawn-out War of the Roses.
Large and handsome, it was clearly intended to augment the dignity of the king and to propagate a political message of stability and prestige rather than to fulfil any commercial or domestic need. As such, it was struck in turn by each of the Tudor monarchs, its issue coming to an end early in the reign of James I. A Sovereign was not to appear again for 200 years.
The first Sovereign, its designs rich in symbolism, was part of the trappings of the new Tudor dynasty.
Linky
#OnThisDay in 1489, King Henry VII commissioned ‘a new money of #gold’. The Sovereign was born
The First Gold Sovereign
On 28 October 1489 King Henry VII instructed the officers of his Royal Mint to produce ‘a new money of gold’. England had by then enjoyed a circulating gold coinage for almost a century and a half but the new coin was to be the largest coin yet seen in England, both in size and value, and was to be called a Sovereign. It well merited such a splendid name, the obverse boasting an enthroned portrait of the king in full coronation regalia and the reverse depicting the royal arms, crowned and superimposed on a magnificent double rose to symbolise the union of York and Lancaster after the long-drawn-out War of the Roses.
Large and handsome, it was clearly intended to augment the dignity of the king and to propagate a political message of stability and prestige rather than to fulfil any commercial or domestic need. As such, it was struck in turn by each of the Tudor monarchs, its issue coming to an end early in the reign of James I. A Sovereign was not to appear again for 200 years.
The first Sovereign, its designs rich in symbolism, was part of the trappings of the new Tudor dynasty.
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We should do this for other types. Could be fun. NPR is always doing "composers born on this day" stuff. We could challenge ourselves to make a calendar of coin birthdays!
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