Five Guineas: Charles II (obverse); Four Shields (reverse)

About this artwork

Once the decision was made to reform the coinage of England, and hammered coinage abandoned, the whole range of money was simplified. The guinea was the unit (like the dollar), and multiples of two and five were struck. One of the reasons for turning to mill coins was the long battle against the clipper (the act of shaving precious metal off coins for profit) and forger of coins. Not only were mill coins more exactly shaped, they were thick enough in larger denominations for a legend to be writt...