Half Angel: Angel Slaying a Dragon (obverse); Ship with Shield of Arms (reverse) (1526–44): Art, History and Details

Half Angel: Angel Slaying a Dragon (obverse); Ship with Shield of Arms (reverse) (1526–44) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

During his life Henry VII had accumulated enormous wealth, and it took his son, Henry VIII, until 1542 to squander it. Henry knew the English coinage had been debased in the past and did not see why it should not be debased again, this time for his personal benefit. Full debasement began officially in 1544. The angel varied in value from 6 shillings 8 pence to 11 shillings between Edward's reign and the time of James I. During the reign of Henry VIII, it was valued at seven shillings and six pence (7/6) or 90 pence, the half angel being half that value. The angel was last produced under Charles I in 1642.

Object facts

• Title: Half Angel: Angel Slaying a Dragon (obverse); Ship with Shield of Arms (reverse)
• Date: 1526–44
• Culture: England, Henry VIII, 1509-1547
• Type: Coins
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 2.2 cm (7/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Numismatics
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.171

A detail from the museum

This coin takes its name from the winged angel figure, St. Michael, who is spearing the dragon.

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.