Five Guineas: William III (obverse); Four Shields and Lion of Nassau (reverse) (1701): Art, History and Details

Five Guineas: William III (obverse); Four Shields and Lion of Nassau (reverse) (1701) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

There were three types used on the five guinea coin of William III, who continued to reign long after the death of Mary. As hammered coinage was still in circulation along with the mill coins, the government decided to call in all the remaining hammered pieces in 1695, completing the reform of the coinage. This affected mostly the silver coinage. Gold was gradually reduced until the value of the guinea, when set against the silver coinage, was 21 shillings and 6 pence. The guinea finally settled at 21 shillings.

Object facts

• Title: Five Guineas: William III (obverse); Four Shields and Lion of Nassau (reverse)
• Date: 1701
• Culture: England, William III, 1694-1702
• Type: Coins
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 3.7 cm (1 7/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Numismatics
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.202

A detail from the museum

Of the coinage minted by William III, this type is considered the finest because of the profusion of detail.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Emery May Norweb. English Gold Coins, Ancient to Modern Times, On Loan to the Cleveland Museum of Art from the Norweb Collection. [Catalog. 1968.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.