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Auction: 26776 - America 250th Anniversary Sale Ft. Coins, Medals, Banknotes, Objets de Vertu & Ephemera
Lot: 9

James I (1603-1625), Second Coinage, Unite of 20-Shillings, 1611-1612, Tower (London), fourth crowned and armoured bust right, holding orb and sceptre, rev. crowned and lightly garnished shields, dividing I-R, 9.85g, 1h, m.m. mullet (Schneider II, 26; North 2084; S.2619), soft of strike in parts yet on a pleasingly full flan, very fine

In 1606, James I granted charters to the Virginia Company, a joint-stock enterprise, authorising settlement along the eastern seaboard of North America. In December 1606 the London Company, one branch of the enterprise, set sail for America and on arrival in 1607 established Jamestown, named in honour of the monarch.



Throughout his reign he took a keen interest in colonial governance and issued numerous charters for the expansion of the Virginia Company. These charters granted the company greater self-governance, which eventually led to the establishment of the House of Burgesses in 1619, the first elected legislative assembly in the American colonies.



His reign also witnessed the beginnings of the Pilgrims' voyage with the Mayflower in 1620, though he died in 1625 before witnessing the fuller flowering of English colonisation.



The King James Bible, commissioned during his reign, would also become deeply significant to the religious identity of many early American colonists, particularly the Puritans and Pilgrims who sought religious freedom in the New World.


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Estimate
$1,400 to $1,800

Starting price
$1200