The Triple
Unite, valued at sixty shillings, 60/- or three pounds, was the highest
English denomination to be produced in the era of the
hammered coinage. It was only produced during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...
, at King
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
's mints at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...
(between 1642 and 1644) and, rarely, at
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'S ...
in 1642. It weighed 421 grains (27.3 grams, or just over seven-eighths of a
troy ounce
Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in 15th-century England, and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain, the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 pennyweights), and ...
).
The gold coins are undoubtedly magnificent pieces of work, and they show the king holding a sword and an olive branch on the obverse, signifying his wish for peace rather than war.
The extremely rare Shrewsbury-produced coin shows, on the obverse, a plume behind the kings' head surrounded by the legend
CAROLUS DG MAG BRIT FRAN ET HIBER REX – ''Charles by the grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland''. The reverse shows the legend
RELIG PROT LEG ANG LIBER PAR in three lines – ''The religion of the Protestants, the laws of England and the liberty of Parliament'', with three plumes and the value numeral III above the declaration and the year 1642 below it, the whole being surrounded by the legend
EXURGAT DEUS DISSIPENTUR INIMICI ("Let God arise and His enemies be scattered", from
Psalm 68).
The Oxford issues are very similar to the Shrewsbury one, except that the legend on the reverse appears in three lines rather than two, and the obverse legend appears as
CAROLUS DG MAG BRIT FR ET HIB REX. Oxford coins appear with slight design differences in each year of 1642, 1643, and 1644.
External links
Triple Unite Sales Archive– A gallery of Triple Unite pictures, varieties and values.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Triple Unite (English Coin)
Coins of England
English gold coins
English Civil War
1642 in England
1642 introductions