THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

THE COLLECTOR SERIES
gros cTargent of Henry V. are considered the rarest
pieces, but the florin, icu, cleaise, leopard, and guiermois
of Edward III. or of the Black Prince are also very
valuable. The florin is of the usual Florentine type
and module, and so far differs from the rest ; it occurs
with the m.m. of two crowns or a leopard's head.
It seems probable that the fine preservation in which
we have received much of the early gold money of
England is susceptible of the solution at which Rud-
ing long since arrived, and which may be equally
applicable to that of France, that it was at first a
luxurious rather than a practical novelty, and was little
used in commerce, the prices of the necessaries of life
falling within the pieces in the inferior metal already
current. It is at the same time further remarkable
that in the currency of Edward III. and his immediate
.successors gold preponderated, if we include the Anglo-
Gallic money ; and even in the time of Edward IV.
the currency was equally divided between the two
metals. There were no middle values.
The English coinage underwent no material develop-
ment subsequently to the accession of the groat, half-
penny, and farthing in silver, and the noble and its divi-
sions in gold, with the collateral Anglo-Gallic money
current for the possessions of Edward and his successors
in France, until the 5th Edward IV., when the angel in
gold and the moiety appeared ;
nor were any further sub-
stantial additions made prior to the 5th and 18th Henry
VII., two verv important dates, as they are those of the
introduction of the first pound sovereign, or double
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