Silver testoon of Henry VIII, third coinage: crowned bust and HENRIC VIII, reverse crowned Tudor rose and POSVI DEVM ADIVTOREM MEVM
A silver testoon of Henry VIII from his third coinage: the obverse shows a crowned, bearded, full-faced bust with the king's name and titles, the reverse a crowned Tudor rose between crowned initials with a Latin motto, 'I have made God my helper'. The coin carries the royal portrait, the dynastic badge and a claim of divine support on a piece of money that was struck in the debased silver of the Great Debasement.
- Date
- 1544
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Royal mint under Henry VIII (third coinage, struck from 1544)
- Country
- England
- Medium
- Banknotes and coins
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Tudor England
- Leader
- Henry VIII
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Economy and finance, Religion
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Regime
- Tudor England
- Leader
- Henry VIII
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Open Access), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (The Met Open Access, CC0; isPublicDomain true in the Met API)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Assunta Sommella Peluso, Ignazio Peluso, Ada Peluso and Romano I. Peluso, 2007 (2007.160.6), Open Access
Text on the object
Obverse (clockwise from the cross at the top): HENRIC·VIII·DI·GRA·AGL·FRA·Z·HIB·REX Reverse (clockwise from the cross at the top): POSVI·DEVM·ADIVTOREM·MEVM
Obverse: Henry VIII, by the grace of God king of England, France and Ireland. Reverse: I have made God my helper.
The obverse legend is worn and clipped at the edge of the flan, so the word-division and the abbreviation of FRA(NCIE) are expanded from the standard legend of the type and read with less certainty than the reverse. Mint marks and the crowned initials on the reverse are not transcribed.
