2020-09-30 Wed

This Gold Noble of Henry IV belongs to the heavy coinage. These coins are rare compare to the other Kings Noble coins.

Do you know that King Henry IV was proclaimed king of England today on 30th September 1399! After King Richard II, he ruled from 1399 to 1413 BC. The coinage of Henry IV has divided into two sections - heavy and light coinage. The heavy coins were 120 grains of gold (7.8 grams) produced until 1412 and the Light coinage was 108 grains (7.0 grams) produced in 1412–13. The weight of the noble was reduced by Henry IV due to foreign competition. These Gold noble’s was valued at six shillings and eightpence.

The obverse side of this particular coin depicts the king with a shield of arms in left hand and sword in right hand standing in the ship (It is supposed to mention the naval victory of the Flemish city of Sluis in June 1340) with a toothed circle around it and a continuous legend reads “HENRICO DI GRA REX ANGL Z FRANC DNS HIB Z ATQ” which means “Henry by the Grace of the God-King of England and France, Lord of Irish and Aquitaine”.

The reverse features the floriated cross with ornamentation and crowns within the four arcs out of eight around the cross within the toothed rim and continuous legend reads “IHC AUTEM TRANSIENTS PER MEDIUM ILLORR IBAT” which mean “But Jesus passing through their midst went his way “.

King Henry IV was first of the three Kings that came from the House of Lancaster. He ruled for nearly fourteen years and very impressively used his power to suppress any uprising. He died in London on 20th March 1413.

Image Source: Heritage Auctions