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Description: | A group of ten coins found at West Crewkerne, Somerset. The coins are all official English silver coins and range in date from the early Tudor period to the reign of Charles I. They all come from times when the standard of the coinage was the traditional sterling standard, i.e. c. 92.5% fine metal. The coins were accompanied by a silver ornament.
Most of the coins originate in the reign of Elizabeth I, with one earlier coin and two Stuart coins, although the latter are the highest value denominations present. A detailed list of the coins can be found below.
It seems reasonable to regard this group of coins as representing one single deposit, dating to the early 1640s. In the mid-17th century the currency consisted overwhelmingly of issues of Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I, with the older coins increasingly worn and, in some cases, clipped: the coins here are mostly in line with this. The group is unusual in that the majority of coins are low denominations, since 17th century hoards usually consist mostly of sixpences, shillings and (sometimes) halfcrowns, but this presumably means that this particular group is a batch of material intended for use in daily business ?? maybe the contents of a dropped purse ?? rather than being selected for long-term saving and hoarding. The presence of an extremely clipped coin ?? the shilling of James I, reduced to below half of its notional weight ?? might also confirm this assessment.
Within the currency of the 17th century, issues of Elizabeth seem to have dominated in the lesser denominations (below the sixpence), so the proportions of denominations present here would accurately reflect this balance. The one odd item is the penny of Henry VII. There are one or two 17th-century hoards which contain early Tudor material, presumably re-emerging into use after the termination of the Great Debasement in the mid-16th century, but this coin is very heavy for a penny in the 17th century: maybe it was functioning more as a halfgroat. Counting it as a penny, the face value of the group as a whole was 3 shillings and 8 pence, which would equate to something like ??50-??100 in modern terms.
To summarise, the coins found at West Crewkerne are all of good silver, they probably all circulated together and represent a group lost or deposited on one occasion in the early 1640s. In my opinion, therefore, they constitute Treasure according to the terms of the Act.
Ornament:
A silver (?) pendant hollow bead, with loop for suspension at one end, open at the other, rounded and with applied arcs in a band around the middle. This object is machine-made and of recent manufacture. It therefore bears no relation to the 10 coins of 16th-17th century date reported with it and cannot be associated with them. It is likely to be 19th Century in date and does not therefore come within the Treasure Act.
Catalogue:
Henry VII
1. Penny, Sovereign type (Allen 3i), York under Archbishop Thomas Rotherham, (issued c.1489-1500), 0.63g
Elizabeth I
2. Sixpence, initial mark coronet (1567-70), 1567, 2.72g
3. Groat (4-pence), initial mark cross crosslet (1650-1), 1.48g
4. Halfgroat (2-pence), initial mark uncertain (1558-1572), 0.56g (damaged)
5. Halfgroat, initial mark A (1583-84/5), 0.76g
6. Halfgroat, initial mark tun (1591/2-94), 0.98g
7. Halfgroat, initial mark uncertain (1582-1603), 0.65g
8. Penny, initial mark key (?) (1595/6-97/8), 0.38g
James I
9. Shilling (12-pence), Second or Third Coinage (1604-25), 2.98g, clipped
Charles I
10. Shilling, initial mark star (1640-1), 5.87g
Dr Barrie J. Cook,
Curator of Medieval and Early Modern Coinage
Department of Coins and Medals
British Museum
Dr Dora Thornton, Curator of Renaissance Collections
The British Museum | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Payne, Naomi - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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