| Coin | One Guinea 2023 Spade - King Charles III Coronation |
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Saint Helena is a small island in the South Atlantic Ocean which is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The currency of the island is the Saint Helena pound, fixed at parity with the pound sterling. The island has authorised some private mints to issue coins under its jurisdiction, which come in a variety of sizes. Some of them are non-standard and/or one-off issues in gold, such as this one.
This coin is a modern re-creation of the so-called "spade" guinea coin issued during the reign of King George III of the United Kingdom.
First introduced in 1669, the denomination weighed 4.2 grams, was 20 millimetres in diameter, and had a diagonally milled edge. First seen on one Guinea gold coins in 1787, this unencumbered reverse motif was the work of Lewis Pingo (1743 - 1830) whose design features a simple crowned shield of the Royal Arms. The reference of a “spade” Guinea is attributed to the shape of the crest - it may also reference the nickname of King George III who was colloquially known in his day as “the Farmer King”. The shield is divided in four quarters, each quadrant includes representation for England and Scotland, France, Ireland and the German possessions of the Hanoverian dynasty. The last Spade Guineas were minted in 1799, with the very last gold one Guinea coins being minted in 1813.
The Guinea was Britain’s first machine-struck gold coin, minted with a milled edge and edge lettering to put a stop to "clipping", where criminals would shave the edges off earlier hammered coins to collect fragments of the gold and silver. Interestingly, "Guinea" was originally just the coin’s nickname as much of the gold used to strike it came from Africa’s Guinea Coast, but it became so widely used that it was officially adopted in 1720. Even though it has been out of production since it was replaced by the Sovereign in 1816, the Guinea remains familiar to us today, mainly due to the fact that the sale of livestock and racehorses is still quoted in Guineas. Payment is made to the original one-pound value, with the post-1717 five pence difference taken by the auctioneer as commission.
The 2023 Spade Guinea issue commemorates the coronation of King Charles III, the first such event in 70 years. The King inherited the throne from his mother Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned since 1952 (her coronation ceremony was in 1953) until her death in 2022, after 70 years on the throne. |
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| Obverse | |
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The obverse of the coin shows the bare (uncrowned) head of King Charles III facing left.
In tiny letters on the neck truncation, the artist's initials: GD (for Glyn Davies).
Around, the monarch's legend and the face value: CHARLES III · DEI · GRA · REX · FID · DEF · ST. HELENA ·. Translated from Latin, the legend means: Charles the Third, by the Grace of God, King, Defender of the Faith, Saint Helena.
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| Reverse | |
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At its centre, the reverse of the coin shows the Shield of the Royal Coat of Arms of King George I, current from 1714 and into the reign of king George III. It reflects the union of the crowns of England and Scotland - represented by the three lions of England and the lion of Scotland in the top left quarter, the King's claim to the throne of France - represented by the fleur-de-lis (three lilies) top right, his capacity of King of Ireland represented by the harp of Ireland in the bottom left quarter, and the merger of the House of Hanover (of which George III was Elector as Georg III. Wilhelm Friedrich) with the British crown, represented by the Coat of Arms of the House of Hanover in the bottom right corner (featuring the white horse of Hanover as the primary element among three other elements marking the monarch's lands in Brunswick and Luneburg, with the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire).
The shield is crowned with the Tudor Crown, and has a narrowing shape which resembles the head of a spade, giving the coin its nickname, the Spade Guinea.
In the lower left field, the EIC mint mark of the East India Company; the letters are separated by arrows radiating from the centre around which they are situated. In the lower right field, the royal cypher C III R (abbreviated from the Latin "Charles III Rex" - Charles the Third, King), crowned with the Tudor Crown.
Around above, the inscription DECUS · ET · TUTAMEN; it means "An ornament and a safeguard", a quote from Virgil's Aeneid, and has historically been used on the edge of milled British coins to protect them from the practice of "clipping".
Around below, · 2023 CORONATION ·. |
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| Reverse Inscription |
DECUS · ET · TUTAMEN · 2023 CORONATION · |
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| Edge | Milled | Edge Inscription | None |
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| Notes | Finish: Proof FDC.
Packaging: individual coin in box with a numbered Certificate of authenticity, or in sets.
The East India Company SKU: FG22GUIGP1GU
Release date: 14 April 2023.
Issue price: £795.00
The coin is in 22 carat gold just like the original guineas. Also, just like on the originals, the face value and denomination are not actually written on the coin. Traditionally, a guinea was worth 21 shillings at a time when one pound was 20 shillings, which means that the current decimal equivalent would be £1.05. |
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