Obverse - Facing crowned head with linear collar, hand holding sceptre at left, Latin legend and beaded borders surrounding both sides, commences upper left with retrograde S, hENRICVS. R EX,

Reverse - Short voided cross pommée, small cross pommée in each angle, +FVLKE. ON. LV

Weight 1.30g

Very fine condition and rare.

All of the English coins dating to the reign of King John by class, are depicted in the name of his Father King Henry II as are those of Richard I who preceded him. The legend therefore reads "Henry King" on the obverse and "Fulke of London” on the reverse.

Capital City London upon the River Thames following Roman occupation, minted some of the earliest Saxon coins with gold Thrymsas and silver denarii with a “Londuniu” signature. Mercian Kings beginning with Offa minted coins there, but the first coin to actually say City of London upon it is the unique Ludica portrait Penny that was found in 2016, followed by subsequent coins of Ecgberht. In 871 the Danes wintered in London for the first time but was King Alfred of Wessex who settled and fortified the capital circa 880 to resist further invasions. Edward the Elder incorporated the City in Wessex in 911 and it resisted a major attack in the reign of Aethelred II in 1009. However, London submitted to the Danish Swein in 1013, but three years later the citizens accepted Eadmund Ironside as King and resisted a siege by Canute.

Later unsettled times occurred in the anarchy period of the reign of King Stephen, remaining loyal to the King except for a few months in 1141 when Empress Matilda was admitted but within a short time expelled. Coinage activity here has been mostly constant throughout history from the Romans until the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and only moving out to Wales from 1969.