Obverse:

[H]ENRIC [D]I GRA REX FRANC Z AGLIE. Profile bust of Henry VII.

Reverse:

CIVITAS TORN[A]CEN. Cross fourchee over royal shield.

A minor striking split at 11 o'clock, fair to fine and very rare. An iconic coin marking Henry's conquests. 

The capture of Tournai was one of the showpiece moments of Henry VIII’s early reign and part of his attempt to revive England’s military prestige on the Continent. The strategically important town was besieged and surrendered in September 1513, briefly becoming an English possession on the Continent. England held Tournai from 1513 until 1518, when the enormous cost of maintaining the garrison persuaded Henry and Thomas Wolsey to return it to France under the Treaty of London in exchange for compensation. During the occupation, Henry ordered a special issue of silver groats and half-groats both to commemorate the victory and to supply the occupation. The commission authorising the minting at Tournai was issued on 7 March 1514. Following the treaty, some of the Tournai dies were returned to London, overpunched with the portcullis mark, and reused at the Tower. Although not a direct British coinage, the coins were circulated in Britain and are sometimes found by metal detectorists, including in Lincolnshire and on the Isle of Wight.

Ex D.C. Bianchi Collection [Bt A. Singer, May 1982]