The Gold Section, British Coins

Charles II, five guineas, 1679, T. PRIMO, second laur. bust r., rev. crowned cruciform shields, sceptres in angles (S.3331), certified and graded by NGC as Extremely Fine Details, Obverse Rim Repair
As a mere child Prince Charles endured the upheaval and trauma of a truly horrific event - the execution of his father. The King of England was labelled a traitor and was executed in 1649. The prince did not get to see his father before the execution – all the children but the youngest two were in exile with their mother - Henrietta Maria. Despite the brutal execution of his father, his belief in the divine right of kings never faltered, and by 1650 he had returned to Scotland, where he was later proclaimed King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. Shortly after, he formed an army of some ten thousand men. The next year he marched into England where he fought Oliver Cromwell’s army at Worcester, but the Scots did not prevail, and Charles escaped the battlefield with a bounty on his head. While trying to raise another army, he suddenly found he did not have to: Cromwell had succumbed to a painful death from kidney stones, and the Protectorate was doomed. Charles famously landed at Dover and almost immediately issued a proclamation guaranteeing religious toleration as well as a free Parliament. He was proclaimed King at Westminster on 8 May 1660 in absentia and the following day, on his 30th birthday, he entered the capital to a rousing proclamation from the loyalists. Many supporters wanted revenge on Cromwell’s followers, but King Charles II was weary of strife, and his famous Act of Oblivion and Indemnity forgave most of his and his father’s enemies. Only the most vicious were executed. In place of the civil badges of the Commonwealth, the royal portrait now appeared on England’s money, opposed by crowned shields forming a cross and offset by ‘royal’ sceptres as images of authority, much to the great pleasure of all who had remained loyal to the monarchy during its darkest days.