skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A new crown coin produced by the Royal Mint to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne. Article by Richard Alleyne. Photo: PA
The Royal Mint has issued 100 of the Crowns in platinum at £4,400 each to mark a reign which instigated the Golden Age in English History.
It is the first time in more than 450 years that the monarch's head has graced a coin and Royal Mint hope they will become treasured mementoes of his controversial reign. "Love him or hate him, Henry VIII is undoubtedly one of history's most influential monarchs.
"His reign changed the face of England forever and we felt it was essential that this remarkable period of history was commemorated with a lasting and treasured memento."
A further 1,509 (the year he came to power) coins in gold are also available for £1,195 each with 10,000 more in silver, priced at £44.95, and 100,000 in nickel for £9.99.
The Royal Mint's coin shows the great king standing before a frieze of roses in the 'antique' style much favoured in the carvings and tapestries of the period.
The edge of the coin features a Latin inscription "ROSA SINE SPINA", which was also used on Henry VIII's own coinage and translates as 'Rose without a Thorn'. TheTamshee says: click here for informative web site, helping kids develope there Tudor knowledge.
TheTamshee says: life offshore is good. Waking up to soak up this morning sunrise is worth a bag of Gold Krone
Buying gold bars – in small quantities at least – is no different from buying a packet of sweets, anyone can walk into Baird's shop in the City, hand over some cash and take away their gold.
"The most popular small bar is probably the 1 ounce," This currently costs £718.25. But if you don't want to spend that much, smaller bars are available: the company's smallest, the 2.5 gram, costs £64.25. Gold is heavy, so the bars are small for their weight; a 1kg bar worth £22,182 measures 5 inches by 3.5 and is about a quarter of an inch thick. "They are not big but they are heavy," The biggest, meanwhile, weighs in at 12.5kg and costs £222,000. " People do occasionally buy five of them in one go," said the spokeswoman, although customers buying such large amounts would have phoned first. That 50kg in gold would be worth £1.1m.
There are formalities to go through if you are placing a large order. "We need a passport and two utility bills if you are buying more than £5,000 worth of gold," said Baird.
Ninety per cent of its small retail business is done by post or internet, with gold being shipped by courier after funds have cleared. Alternatively, the company can store your gold, for a fee, for holdings worth £5,000 or more. TheTamshee says: get yourself into some of these gold coins
@ Chards it's addictive - but not always profitable, think of it as a expensive hobby and something to pass onto your kids.
