Gold Triple Unite From the First Pair of Dies Used at Oxford as Depicted in the Mercurius Aulicus Newspaper of 1642

Charles I (1625-49), gold Triple-Unite of Three Pounds, dated 1642, Oxford Mint, half-length crowned armoured figure of King left, holding sword and palm branch, bust intrudes inner beaded circle surrounding at bottom and touches circle at sword tip and cross on crown, Oxford plumes in field behind, legend and outer toothed border surrounding, initial mark Oxford plumes, CAROLVS: D: G: MAG: BRIT: FR: ET: HIB: REX, rev. Declaration inscription in three wavy lines at centre, RELIG: PROT / LEG: ANG / LIBER: PAR, date below, three Oxford plumes over .III. value above, legend commences upper left within beaded and toothed border surrounding, initial mark four pellets, .:.EXVRGAT: DEVS: DISSIPENTVR: INIMICI, weight 26.96g (Beresford-Jones dies I / S1; Schneider 284; Brooker 830; N.2381; S.2724). Struck on a full broad flan, a touch double-struck on sword, a little weak on elbow and crown, otherwise with a clear portrait and a pleasant colouration, good very fine.

The gold Triple Unite represents the largest hammered gold denomination ever produced in the English series of coinage at a face value of Three Pounds. Such coins were produced at a time of duress, when the King had moved his Capital from London after the Battle of Edgehill, to the Royalist Universities of the City of Oxford, where he made a state entrance on 29th October 1642. The King lived at Christ Church, with the Queen installed at Merton; the Royalist Parliament met in the Upper Schools and Great Convocation House; the Privy Council at Oriel; and the Mint worked at New Inn Hall from the 3rd January 1642/3. These magnificent gold coins were struck for only three dates, 1642, 1643 and 1644 with some variation as there are 24 different varieties of obverse and reverse across these three dates, plus an extremely rare 1642 piece struck in Shrewsbury. Today, it is estimated the 25 different combinations exist in a mere surviving sample of some 250 pieces.

When the Triple Unite was introduced as currency it was more than double the value of any previous English coin produced, and would have been seen as a magnificent piece of propaganda against the Puritan cause, to show that though the King had moved from London, Oxford was a rich alternative City. Perhaps the King was inspired by similar large extremely rare Scottish coins produced some 70 years earlier by his father, King James VI of Scotland in 1575-6. The King had introduced the first regular newspaper printed in Oxford the "Mercurius Aulicus" from the 1st January 1642/3 (1642 old calendar style), and the introduction of the new Triple Unite as currency is featured in the edition produced around the 18th February 1642/3, and features a woodcut illustration of the new denomination (dies 1/S1 combination like we have offered herewith). This is thought to be the first ever illustration of a current coin of the realm in contemporary print. As the new year in the old calendar style commenced on the 25th March this means all the 1642 dated coins were produced in only a very limited time from mid-February to probably April at latest when 1643 dated pieces were no doubt produced. It seems the issue of this great coin ceased with the great fire of Oxford as reported in the same newspaper of 6th October 1644, as there are only three reverse types known of 1644.

Provenance:
Ex Spink Numismatic Circular, November 1947, item 52703 offered as VF/EF for £110.
Ex A. H. Baldwin, Fixed Price List, Winter 2014, item BH048.