Archaeologia/Volume 13/Description of a Gold Medal struck upon the Birth of King Charles II.
Read May 5, 1796.
Dear Sir,
HEREWITH I send you a drawing, which exhibits a gold medal struck by king Charles I. upon the birth of the prince his son, afterwards king Charles II. Upon the obverse it gives the bust of king Charles I. representing that monarch crowned, with a ruff, and a military scarf over his armour. It is inscribed carolvs d. g. mag. brit. fra. et hib. rex. The reverse shews the royal infant in a superb chair, with Mars and Mercury holding a wreath over him. The motto is reddat avos. In the Exergue the date of his birth maii 29, 1630.
The medal is the size of king Charles I.'s twenty shilling piece of gold, and weighs 6 dwts. 18 gs. It is in very fine preservation, and was shewn to me by its owner, my relation, Mr. William Beck, of Fish-street-hill, and of Hackney; judging it to be of very great value, I requested his permission to have a drawing taken of it, and his leave to shew the medal itself to this society.
It is well known how much king Charles I. loved the arts, and what care he took to have his coins more beautiful than any of his predecessors. His money is more varied in type than that of any of our sovereigns. He was extremely pleased in diversifying the type or fashion of his coins, and he excelled all our monarchs in the number and variety of his medals, which he continued occasionally to strike until the unhappy civil wars; and even after that time his coins, from their beauty, their reference to events and places, and their dates, may be almost ranked with medals.
We cannot, therefore, wonder that his majesty should in his happier days strike medals to commemorate the principal events of his reign; of these we have many.
As every thing relative to an heir apparent to the crown is peculiarly interesting both to the sovereign and his subjects, Charles I. issued a medal upon the birth of Prince Charles, and another when he was created Prince of Wales.
There is a small silver medal or jetton struck to commemorate the nativity of Prince Charles, which is common enough: it is inscribed on the obverse, in honor. caro. princ. mag. brit. fr. et hi. nat. 29 maii 1630. The reverse has the royal arms in four shields. England and France in the first, Scotland in the second, France in the third, and Ireland in the fourth. In the center is the star within the garter, and the rays issuing from it fill up the spaces between the shields. The motto is, hactenvs anglorvm nvlli. A jetton something similar to this was struck upon the birth of the duke of York, afterwards king James II. There is also a small medal, or jetton, struck upon the baptism of prince Charles. It may here be very properly remarked, that as king Charles I. was extremely fond of having his own likeness given in a great variety of ways, both upon canvas and upon the precious metals, so was he also of having the effigies of his queen and children represented, not only by painters, but also by engravers. We have a small gold medal which gives the king and queen on one side, and their eldest children on the other; and there is a large silver medal representing the prince of Orange and the princess Royal, struck upon their nuptials.
As the medal of gold here exhibited struck to commemorate the nativity of prince Charles, who became a great monarch, is finely preserved, and is, I presume, an unique, it is extremely valuable, for it probably was one of the very few issued, and those that were, it may be justly supposed, presented only to some few select: personages, for king Charles I. was never a rich sovereign; his majesty had always more taste than wealth. His medals are generally of silver, and the few of his that are of gold are very small. This medal, which I have now described, I may therefore aver, is one of the most valuable, and every way estimable, in the English series.
I have the honour to be, with great respect,
Dear Sir,
Your very highly obliged,
and most obedient servant,
Barming Parsonage, April 29, 1796. MARK NOBLE.