Great Britain Elizabeth I (1558-1603) "Portcullis Money" 4

Great Britain
Elizabeth I (1558-1603) "Portcullis Money" 4 Testerns ND (1600-1601) VF35 NGC, Tower mint, O mm, S-2607B, Prid-2, Salv-3. 13.45gm. East India Company issue. Variety with REGINA written out in full. Among the most distinctive and peculiar issues struck by the Tower mint, the famed "Portcullis" money of Elizabeth I acts as a window in the economic facets of the Anglo-Spanish war of the late 16th to the early 17th centuries--a conflict which consumed essentially all of Elizabeth's reign in spite of the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Intended to supplant the mainstay of the Spanish Colonial empire, namely the Reales system, these pieces were produced in denominations of 1, 2, 4, and 8 Testerns, and were intended to be carried by the newly chartered 'Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies' (later shortened to the 'East India Company') across the seas, with the consideration of circulation in Muslim nations resulting in the absence of the Queen's portrait. While ultimately failing in their goal, they remain among the most contested silver pieces of the Elizabethan age, with fewer than 200 pieces surviving for all 4 denominations, the 1988 Salvesen catalog suggesting just 46 specimens of this date still exist, of which 15 are in museums.

https://coins.ha.com/itm/great-britain/great-britain-elizabeth-i-1558-1603-portcullis-money-4-testerns-nd-1600-1601-vf35-ngc-/a/3089-32672.s?type=CoinArchives3089

HID02906262019

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Estimate: 4000-6000 USD