1502/04 Henry VII Silver Groat gFine

This hammered silver groat was struck between 1502-04 in the reign of King Henry VII. The coin features the cross-crosslet mint mark on both the obverse and the reverse.

On 22 August 1485, Henry Tudor became Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland after he seized the crown from Richard III after his troops won the battle of Bosworth.

Henry VII was a Welshman and heir to the Lancastrian dynasty that had contested the throne of nearly a hundred years. After landing in Pembrokeshire and marching through his native Wales to attract recruits in his native country. Henry Tudor met his rival, King Richard III just south of the village of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire, were he defeated and killed Richard III in the subsequent battle in 1485.

By marrying the Yorkist heir, Elizabeth of York, Henry VII united the warring houses of Lancaster and York, and brought the Wars of the Roses to a close, despite a couple of pretenders falsely claiming to be Yorkist heirs.

Having secured his place on the throne, Henry went about making a series of administrative reforms and treaties designed fill England's coffers, and his own! When he died in 1509, he was regarded as the richest prince in Christendom.

During his reign, Henry VII made several innovations to the coinage, including the reintroduction of profile portraits in England. Prior to this, there had been centuries of monarchs using facing portraits on coinage. The introduction of the testoon, or 'shilling' and perhaps most notably, as far as we at Chards are concerned, the introduction in 1489 of the first 'Gold Sovereign' tariffed at 20/- or one Pound.

The obverse features the right facing portrait of Henry VII with triple band on crown with the cross-crosslet mint mark. The coin bears the legend HENRIC VII DI’ GRA’ REX AGL’ Z FR. This translates to Henry VII by the Grace of God King of England and France.

The reverse bears the King’s coat of arms. The cross crosslet mint mark also appears on the reverse, together with the legend POSVI DEV' ADVITORE' MEV which translates to I HAVE MADE GOD MY HELPER.