James III the Old Pretender silver Touch piece, NGC VF35

James III (1701-66), "the Old Pretender", silver Touch-Piece, officially pierced at top, engraved in Italy by O or E Hamerani, three masted ship in full sail right, ports below, legend surrounds IAC. III D.G. M. B. F: ET H. R:, toothed outer borders both sides, rev. St Michael standing spearing dragon, reads SOLI DEO GLORIA, weight 3.25g (Woolf 35; MI ii 316/140). Fully centred strike, toned with some bright spots of wear, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as VF35, extremely rare.

NGC Certification 6946012-001

Provenance:

Ex Marquess of Bute, Sotheby, 11^th June 1951, lot 114

Ex C. F. Noon, Spink Coin Auction, 8^th October 2003, lot 326

The legends translate as "James III by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland" on obverse and on the reverse "Glory to God alone."

The so called "Kings Evil" or Morbus Regius also known as the disease scrofula was what the Royal touch from the monarch was purported to be able to cure. Since the time of King Edward the Confessor (later canonised) a belief in prayer coupled with the Royal touch could incur a miraculous recovery and it became usual to give money as alms to the afflicted, in the Middle Ages a Penny as a day's wages for a labourer. Later in the medieval period the gold Angel coin became prominent as the "doctors" coin as the 6s and 8d face value was the standard fee of a medical doctor at the time. The reverse legend of Angel coins was revered as a healing inscription coupled with St. Michael slaying the devil as a dragon. As the monarch was seen to have a divine right to Kingship and was related to the now Sainted King, the coin became effectively a healing amulet especially if the monarch had once touched it. The passing of a Touch-Piece therefore became more commonplace under the Stuart reigns of James I and Charles I, and at these times of plague and other disease it was sensible for the King to pass such Angel coins, rather than to touch those physically ailed, a social distance being maintained by the gift of coin. The recipient who may have cured from their ill would covet such a coin and wear it against their skin probably for the rest of their life, and this is why such coins are often holed. By the time of the later Stuart reigns of Charles II and James II the Angel coin was no longer in production as machinery had become the new norm at the Mint. A need to still touch for the Kings evil meant production of these special pieces as we have for sale herewith prevailed and there was even a gap left in the legend where the piercing would occur. The reverse depicts the warship "The Sovereign of the Seas" launched in October 1637 and in service until it was burned by fire in Chatham docks in 1697.

James III, son of James II also known as the "Old Pretender" would exercise the Royal Touch whilst living in France an account of which appears in Blount's Annotated Book of Common Prayer (1866) and we know pieces were made for him in France, as in May 1708 Norbert Roettier was directed to make puncheons and dies for an English coinage, perhaps including touch pieces. A further order for a Scottish coinage was given in 1715 ahead of James landing at Peterhead on 22^nd December of that year. He is recorded as touching in early January of 1716 at Glamis Castle as a guest of Lord Strathmore. After his failed expedition to Scotland James III is recorded touching at Avignon and then after slow progress across the Alps in Italy where he finally set up court in Rome after marriage in 1719. The Hamerani Brothers were appointed to engrave touch pieces by a warrant of 25^th October 1720 to Ottone Hamerani. James lived in Rome for the rest of his life and after Ermenegildo and Ottone had passed away a new warrant for touch pieces was issued to Ottone's son Fernando, though James only lived a few more years and likely did not need to employ Fernando to engrave anything for him. That employment would remain for James' sons Charles III and Henry IX.