The English fifty shilling coin, worth

pounds sterling Sterling (Currency symbol, symbol: Pound sign, £; ISO 4217, currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of account, unit of sterling, and the word ''Pound (cu ...

, was only ever minted once, in the year 1656. It was a milled

gold coin A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22fineness#Karat, karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia (coin), Britannia, Canad ...

weighing and with a diameter of . Only eleven examples are known to survive. One extremely fine specimen was recorded to have been sold for £15,250 in May 1989. A lustrous example was sold in London in January 2021 for £471,200 ($643,597 U.S.) including the 24 percent buyer’s commission, setting a new record price for a Cromwellian coin.Coin World, published Jan 30, 2021.
/ref> The obverse of the coin depicts

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

as a Roman Emperor, with the inscription OLIVAR D G R P ANG SCO HIB &c PRO — ''Oliver, by the grace of God, of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland, etc. Protector''. The reverse depicts a crowned shield bearing the Commonwealth arms, with the inscription PAX QVÆRITUR BELLO — ''Peace is sought through war'', and the date 1656, while there is also an edge inscription PROTECTOR LITERIS LITERÆ NVMMIS CORONA ET SALVS — ''A protector of the letters, the letters are a garland and a safeguard to the coinage''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:English Fifty Shilling Coin Fifty Shillings 1656 in England 1650s in economic history