Testoon?

[Paulus 1,975]

Please bear with me while I shift my focus from milled English silver to late hammered and early milled. I already have a few nice Charles I examples, and it is this reign I would like to focus on a bit more.

My question here is simply regarding terminology, I thought a testoon was simply an old word for a shilling, and according to Wiki this was the common word for a shilling until the Act of Union in 1707. But many collectors and dealers refer to Tudor and earlier shillings as testoons, until sometime during the reign of Elizabeth I, when they are suddenly referred to as shillings - can anyone shed any light on this?

Edited April 12, 2015 by Paulus

[Rob 3,152]

Fashion, I suspect

[Paulus 1,975]

Fashion, I suspect

Simple as that, ok, thanks Rob!

[Rob 3,152]

The testoon was the anglicised version of the Italian testone. A quick wiki check suggests the testone ceased to be struck in the1550s. The nordic skilling wasn't introduced until 1625, so looks to have been adopted from the English terminology. The scilling was an ancient accounting term, just as the merk was, and is likely to be the origin of the value's useage.

As for the changeover in terminology, mint records covering the commission to John Bowes at Durham House of 29th Jan 1548/9 refer to the shilling and half-shilling, and the conversion of testoons (i.e. the debased HenryVIII issues). It seems likely that the change was initially aimed at distinguishing between the old and new coins. Subsequently, there is reference to shillings of varying fineness, so the use of testoon was restricted to the issues they were trying to call in and melt down, and is referred to as such when the maximimum levy for exchanging the old money was set at 2d in every 20s.

[Nicholas 51]

Yes, as I understood a testoon was used from Henry VII profile issue and the Henry VIII larger silver. Then Edward introduced the first shilling that I thought replaced the testoon denomination. The fine silver replacement sounds reasonable. There was a Scottish testoon as well under Mary QOS..

My question though- is there a relationship with the testerns from the trade coinage of Elizabeth I...

Edited April 13, 2015 by Nicholas