Sovereign: Henry VIII (obverse); Crowned Shield of Arms (reverse) (1544–47): Art, History and Details

Sovereign: Henry VIII (obverse); Crowned Shield of Arms (reverse) (1544–47) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This is an example of the late, debased, third coinage of Henry VIII. Knowing how coinage had been debased in the past, Henry VIII did so again for his own personal benefit. He not only debased the gold coinage but the silver as well. This coin was struck at Southwark mint. The Southwark mint was in Suffolk Place, Southwark being immediately south of London Bridge. The mint was opened in June 1545, along with those of Canterbury, Durham House, Bristol, and York.

Object facts

• Title: Sovereign: Henry VIII (obverse); Crowned Shield of Arms (reverse)
• Date: 1544–47
• Culture: England, Henry VIII, 1509-1547
• Type: Coins
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 4.2 cm (1 5/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Numismatics
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.173

A detail from the museum

This coin was struck during the end of Henry VIII's reign which ended in 1547 and lasted for 38 years.

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.