Charles I (1625-1649), Shrewsbury mint, Pound, 1642, no mm., small horseman trampling on pile of arms, plume behind, mark of value and three plumes above Declaration in two lines, date below, 121.53g/4h (Morr. B-3; SCBI Brooker 797; N 2362; S 2918). Numerous edge and surface marks and flaws, good fine but discoloured £2,000-£3,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Michael Gietzelt Collection of British and Irish Coins (1625-1660).

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Provenance: Heidelberger Münzhandlung [H. Grün] Auktion 57 (Heidelberg), 14 November 2011, lot 269.

The war between the King and Parliament began when the King raised his standard at Nottingham on 22 August 1642. On 21 September he made his headquarters at Shrewsbury and a week later he informed the gentlemen of the county that he had sent for a mint, the workers for which arrived a few days later from Aberystwyth, where a mint had been established in 1637 by letters patent to Thomas Bushell. On 21 October the first coins were issued. The period during which coins were struck however was very brief, barely three months, and at the end of December the King moved his headquarters to Oxford, the mint following him, reaching there on 3 January. The coins issued during this short period were the first of those known as the ‘Declaration’ type