Half Sovereign: Edward VI (obverse); Crowned Royal Arms (reverse) (1549–50): Art, History and Details

Half Sovereign: Edward VI (obverse); Crowned Royal Arms (reverse) (1549–50) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

During the first coinage period, April 1547 to January 1549, debased coinage was still issued. Part of it still had the name and portrait of Henry VIII; part of it the name of Henry, but a youthful portrait; and part of it the name of Edward. The series is thus complex and some of the chronology open to doubt. In 1549, the beginning of the second coinage period, the first step was taken to restore the standard of the coinage. Gold, including the piece shown, was struck in 22 ct. This coin shows the young king uncrowned, the only occasion on which the king's portrait is so shown.

Object facts

• Title: Half Sovereign: Edward VI (obverse); Crowned Royal Arms (reverse)
• Date: 1549–50
• Culture: England, Edward VI, 1547-1553
• Type: Coins
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 2.9 cm (1 1/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Numismatics
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.175

A detail from the museum

Edward VI's short reign as king of England ended in 1553 when he died at the age of 15.

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.