1648 Shilling – Charles I (Pontefract Siege)

Charles I was born on 19 November 1600 and was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution on 30 January 1649. He was in the House of Stuart.

From 1642, Charles fought in the English Civil War against the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments. After his defeat in 1645, Charles refused to accept his captors' demands for a constitutional monarchy. He escaped for a few years but was recaptured by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army. He was tried for high treason and subsequently executed.

The monarchy was abolished and the Commonwealth of England became a republic. The monarchy would be restored in 1660 by Charles's son, Charles II.

The coinage of Charles I is one of the most interesting periods of English numismatic history. There are a huge amount of varieties and the coins include both hammered and early machine-made coins by Briot. Due to the Civil war many mints popped up around the country. It's a complex and involved subject featuring some outstanding coins. It probably takes an expert to identify a coin correctly.
The Shilling (written 1/-) is one-twentienth of a pound, worth 12 old pence (5 new pence). It is traditionally a silver coin, but since 1947 it has been made from cupro-nickel. Shillings are known as 'Bobs'.

Shillings are old coins and the English shilling has been around since about 1549, although there were 12 pence coins before that called Testoons from about 1489. The British shillings was the continuation from 1707.

After decimalisation on 15 February 1971, the coin was replaced by the five new pence piece. Originally, the 5p coin was the same size as the shilling but was later made much smaller.The Royal Mint is the designated place for the UK to mint coins. It dates back well over 1000 years and is a Government-owned company. 

Formed in the reign of Alfred the Great about the year 886, during the period 1279-1812 it was generally referred to as The Tower Mint as it was housed at the Tower of London. The Master of The Royal Mint has included famous figures such as Sir Isaac Newton.

Since 2010 it has operated as Royal Mint Ltd, a company owned by HM Treasury, under an exclusive contract to supply all coinage for the UK although it also produces medals and coins for other countries. It is currently located at Llantrisant, Wales.
The United Kingdom (UK) is the Union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is often refered to as Great Britain (GBR). It has a long, rich history.

The orignal coinage was Pounds, Shillings and Pence but since decimalisation on 15 February 1971, it is £1 = 100p, that is One Pound = 100 pence. The coinage of the UK is also a long history, the Royal Mint being established as long ago as 886AD when coins were hammered. Today there is perhaps 30 billion coins in circulation, and many (numismatic) collectors coins and sets are issued frequently in gold, silver and other metals.