A tale of counterfeiting a counterfeiter's work...

This is one of the first non-hammered coins produced in England, meaning that it was not a blank piece of metal ‘hammered’ between two dies, but ‘milled’. The man behind this was a Frenchman called Eloye Mestrelle who it is thought had to flee Paris in 1559 due to counterfeiting coins and so settled in London, offering his services to Elizabeth I.

“But the coin is gold?!” I hear you exclaim. Well, this is a ‘gilded’ silver coin, meaning that at some point after its release into circulation it has been coated in a thin layer of gold. This is likely for one of two reasons: either to pass it off as a much higher value gold coin in circulation; or to use it as jewellery.

As it’s got no piercing or mount marks, I suspect the former. It’s known that Shakespeare mentions 'gilded twopences' in texts, saying that gilded halfgroats could be passed off as gold halfcrowns if not too much attention was paid. Perhaps this was to be passed off as a gold halfpound? See below.

Image credit: Cleveland Museum of Art.

Mestrelle was able to create such intricate, detailed designs due to using a screw press. However, this led to incredibly slow production. Despite this, Mestrelle minted from 1560 until 1572 when a new warden of the mint proved that the hammered method was more efficient and so Mestrelle’s role was made redundant. Just a few years later, in 1577, Mestrelle was arrested for counterfeiting and executed the following year.

Image credit: R. W. Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland.

The irony that this coin could be an attempt to counterfeit a gold coin and being made by a supposed counterfeiter for the English Crown…