James I Gold Laurel (1619–1625): Third Coinage English Twenty-Shilling Gold

Historical Context

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in March 1603, King James VI of Scotland acceded to the English throne as James I, inaugurating the personal Union of the Crowns. Although the monarch actively championed complete institutional and legal integration under the style of Great Britain, the English and Scottish parliaments, fiscal systems, and mint administrations functioned as separate jurisdictions.

During the Jacobean Second Coinage (1604–1619), the standard English twenty-shilling gold denomination was the unite, struck from crown gold (22 carats fine, or 0.9167) at a statutory weight of 154 26/31 grains (approximately 10.03 grams). By 1611, international bullion trade dynamics caused gold to be undervalued relative to silver within England, inducing widespread arbitrage and the illicit export of gold specie to continental markets. To stem this outflow, James I issued a royal proclamation on 23 November 1611 raising the nominal current value of all domestic gold coins by ten percent, or two shillings on the pound. The unite was consequently tariffed at twenty-two shillings, and the thirty-shilling rose ryal rose to thirty-three shillings. While this revaluation temporarily protected the kingdom's bullion reserves, it created awkward units of exchange that disrupted day-to-day commerce and merchant accountancy.

To restore an even twenty-shilling denomination without deflating the nominal currency, the Crown authorized the Third Coinage by a proclamation of 31 July 1619 followed by the mint indenture of 20 August 1619. Retaining the crown gold standard of 22 carats fine, the mint reduced the statutory weight of the twenty-shilling piece to 140 20/41 grains (approximately 9.104 grams), striking forty-one coins per pound troy. A contemporary tolerance threshold set the least current weight at 138 20/41 grains, below which coins ceased to be legal tender. To prevent commercial confusion between the new, lighter twenty-shilling pieces and the heavier twenty-two-shilling unites remaining in circulation, mint authorities abandoned traditional medieval-style royal regalia in favor of an antique Roman laureate bust. While contemporary mint indentures designated the piece simply as a twenty-shilling coin, the public rapidly labeled it the laurel, a designation that has endured throughout numismatic literature.

Obverse: Iconographic Composition

The obverse composition departs radically from Tudor and early Stuart numismatic conventions. In place of the traditional closed arched imperial crown, royal scepter, and globus cruciger, James I is depicted in profile facing left, wearing a classical Roman laurel wreath (corona laurea) tied at the back of the head with flowing ribbons. The monarch is clad in classical armor and drapery across the shoulders, referencing imperial Roman cuirassed busts.

Immediately behind the royal head, placed in the right field opposite the profile, appears the Roman numeral value mark XX, designating the denomination of twenty shillings. The central portrait is enclosed within a delicate inner beaded circle. An initial mark, or mintmark, is positioned at the apex of the coin at 12 o'clock, flanked by the peripheral Latin royal titles. An outer beaded ring encircles the coin at the extreme rim.

Obverse: Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The obverse inscriptions are rendered in Renaissance-style Roman capital lettering, positioned within the outer margin between the inner beaded circle and the rim border.

• Script: Latin alphabet (Roman capitals).
• Language: Latin.
• Placement: Continuous clockwise peripheral legend punctuated by the initial mark at the top.
• General Series Reading: IACOBVS D : G : MAG : BRI : FRA : ET HIB : REX (with recorded die abbreviations including MA :, BRIT :, FRAN :, HI :, or HIBER :).
• Comparison Specimen Reading (Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.191): IACOBVS D:G: MAG: BRI: FRA:ET HIB: REX
• Transliteration: Iacobus Dei Gratia Magnae Britanniae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex, 20 [solidorum].
• English Translation: "James, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland; 20 [shillings]".

Reverse: Iconographic Composition

The reverse features an expansive heraldic display centered upon a broad, square-topped royal shield surmounted by a jeweled imperial crown. The shield articulates the dynastic claims of the Stuart monarchy across four quarters:

1. First and Fourth Quarters: Quarterly, France (three fleurs-de-lis) and England (three lions passant guardant in pale).
2. Second Quarter: Scotland (a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counterflory).
3. Third Quarter: Ireland (the heraldic harp).

The shield is superimposed over a long cross fourchée (fleury), whose four limbs extend through the inner beaded circle to intersect the legend band, dividing the inscription into four distinct quarters. An initial mintmark is positioned in the upper margin preceding the imperial crown.

Reverse: Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The reverse epigraphy mirrors the neat Roman letter punches of the obverse, divided into four segments by the extended cross limbs.

• Script: Latin alphabet (Roman capitals).
• Language: Latin.
• Placement: Peripheral margin, broken into four sections by the terminals of the cross fourchée.
• General Series Reading: FACIAM EOS IN GENTEM VNAM (frequently punctuated by pellets or double colons depending on the individual die).
• Transliteration: Faciam eos in gentem unam.
• English Translation: "I will make them one nation".
• Scriptural Source: Latin Vulgate, Ezekiel 37:22 (Et faciam eos in gentem unam in terra in montibus Israhel...). Under Jacobean state ideology, this biblical passage served as the primary motto asserting the divinely ordained political union of the English and Scottish kingdoms under the House of Stuart.

Typology and Documented Variants

Gold laurels were struck exclusively at the Tower Mint in London between August 1619 and the king's death in March 1625. Standard numismatic taxonomies classify the series into four progressive bust varieties:

1. First Bust (1619–1620)
   • Characterized by a large, broad bust with curved hair flowing along the back of the neck; the wreath ties hang relatively straight down behind the truncation.
   • Associated mintmark: Spur rowel (active from 20 August 1619 to 31 March 1620).
   • Standard classifications: North 2111; SCBC 2637; SCBI 57, no. 82.
2. Second Bust (1619–1621)
   • Features a medium-sized head with a squarer truncation; the ties behind the wreath form a distinctive curved or 'SS'-like shape.
   • Associated mintmarks: Spur rowel (1619–1620) and Rose (1620–1621).
   • Standard classifications: North 2112; SCBC 2638; SCBI 57, no. 83.
3. Third Bust (1621–1623)
   • Displays a smaller, more compact head with a shorter neck; the wreath ties spread wider apart behind the neck truncation.
   • Associated mintmarks: Rose (1620–1621), Thistle (1621–1623), and Lis (1623–1624).
   • Standard classifications: North 2113; SCBC 2638A; SCBI 57, nos. 84–85.
4. Fourth Bust (1623–1625)
   • Defined by a small head on a narrow cuirass; the ties terminate in tight curls or form open bracket-like loops that neatly frame the numeral mark of value XX.
   • Associated mintmarks: Lis (1623–1624) and Trefoil (1624–1625).
   • Standard classifications: North 2114; SCBC 2638B; SCBI 57, nos. 86–88.

Displayed Museum Specimen

CMA 1969.191 is catalogued to 1619-1620. Its current paired record reports 9.066 g and 37 mm. These are specimen measurements, separate from the statutory standard. The gallery photographs identify the actual object; a particular die pairing or measured axis is not supplied by the general bust classification.

Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations

Numismatic research highlights several points of interpretative discussion across the laurel series:

• Die Punch Usage versus Hand Finishing: Although catalogues define four distinct bust classes, Peter Woodhead observed in his catalogue of the Herbert Schneider Collection that individual working dies show wide variation in hand-engraved drapery lines, lettering fonts, and ribbon flourishes. Strict categorization based on small auction photographs often obscures intermediate dies, making direct die comparison against published corpora essential for precise attribution.
• Mintmark Chronology and Trial of the Pyx: Early numismatists frequently correlated Tower Mint initial marks directly with civil calendar years. Archival studies into mint account books reveal that mintmarks correspond to specific trial of the pyx administrative periods. For example, the spur rowel mark on Third Coinage gold operated from 20 August 1619 through 31 March 1620, concluding with the pyx trial of 23 June 1620. Attribution based strictly on calendar years oversimplifies the administrative sequence.
• Ideological Symbolism versus Commercial Practicality: Historians and numismatists continue to debate the balance between ideological ambition and commercial utility in the introduction of the laureate portrait. Literary and political scholars note James I's extensive self-identification as an imperial peacemaker (Rex Pacificus) and heir to Augustus Caesar. Conversely, economic historians emphasize the pragmatic requirement to visually separate the new 140.5-grain twenty-shilling coin from circulating 154.8-grain unites (worth twenty-two shillings). Both imperial self-fashioning and anti-counterfeiting differentiation likely determined the design.

References

1. English Hammered Coinage, Volume II: Edward I to Charles II, 1272–1662 (3rd ed.). North, J. J. (London: Spink & Son, 1991), pp. 148–149, nos. 2111–2114.; bibliographic index, not a direct transcription
2. The Herbert Schneider Collection, Volume II: English Gold Coins 1603 to the 20th Century. Woodhead, Peter, Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles 57 (London: Spink & Son Ltd, 2002), pp. 18–21, nos. 82–88.
3. Mathematics at the Mint: A Seventeenth-Century Saga. British Numismatic Journal, Vol. 81 (2011), pp. 120–125.; bibliographic index, not a direct transcription
4. Historic Coin Catalogues: James I Gold Laurel MM Spur Rowel. The Royal Mint Museum & Historic Coin Archive.
5. Laurel: James I (obverse); Shield of Arms (reverse), CMA Record 1969.191. Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Emery May Holden Norweb (1969).
6. Biblia Sacra Vulgata: Prophetia Ezechielis 37:22. Ezekiel 37:22.
7. The Coinage of the Stuarts. British Numismatic Journal, Vol. 73 (2003), pp. 1–15.; bibliographic index, not a direct transcription