Great Britain Rose and Spur Ryal (Noble) (Fakes are possible) 1604 to 1625

If you have one of these, please be sure it is genuine. Counterfeiters know how to make coins look old, even when they are not. Let a professional at a coin shop look at the coin. Consider having it authenticated, graded, and encapsulated by PCGS, NGC, ICG, or ANACS (look them up on the Internet, do not use other services).

NEVER CLEAN A COIN. CLEANING RUINS VALUE.

Now, with the boring stuff out of the way ...

This is a rose ryal from the Kingdom of England, minted between 1604 and 1619. These coins are extremely rare. It was issued by King James I, and was worth 30 shillings. It was really a two ryal coin, but is known simply as the rose ryal or rose noble. There are similar coins, called spur ryals, with the same inscriptions but differing patterns. Our secondary picture shows one kind of spur ryal. Both rose and spur ryals are very valuable.

The obverse legend reads IACOBUS DG MAG BRIT FRAN ET HIBER REX which translates, roughly, to 'James by the grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland.' The reverse legend reads DNO FACTUM EST ISTUD ET EST MIRAB IN OCULIS NRIS and an approximate translation is 'This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.'

These coins are made of gold. Genuine coins weigh 13 grams. Very worn coins might weigh down to 12.9 grams or so. Anything weighing more or less is suspicious. A coin with a large hole could weigh less.

A counterfeit or reproduction is sometimes made of real gold, as a fantasy bullion coin. Such a coin is only worth the weight of the gold it contains. These coins often contain 0.416 troy ounces of gold (check it), and using a site like kitco.com we can find the current value of gold and calculate the value of the coin. If, for instance, gold is selling at $1500 US dollars per troy ouce, then this coin's gold value is $1500 x 0.416 = $624 US dollars. Be sure to look up the current gold value. It changes every day.

Here are some approximate catalog values:

GENUINE ROSE AND SPUR RYAL COINS:
worn: $1500 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $5000
well preserved: $15000

COUNTERFEITS MADE OF GOLD:
current gold value, see above

MUSEUM-QUALITY REPRODUCTIONS (with a 'copy' inscription or similar):
damaged or unappealing: $0
beautiful: $10

NON-PRECIOUS COUNTERFEITS:
always $0

The coins in our pictures are genuine pieces from Fritz Rudolf Kunker GmbH & Co., Osnabruck (Lubke & Wiedemann, Stuttgart, image owners) and Heritage Auctions. CoinQuest is honored to show coins like this on our pages for educational purposes. Kunker and Heritage are highly respected dealers of extraordinary rarities.
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