Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 2021. Estimate $15000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $12200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Elizabeth I. 1558-1603. AR Eight Testerns (27.32 gm). Struck 1600-1601. Crowned coat-of-arms, crowned E R to either side; mintmark: 0 / Crowned portcullis; large chain links. KM T4.2; SCBC 2607A. Good VF, choice old collection toning. Very rare, an important pedigree, and among the finest known. ($15,000)

Ex John J. Pittman Collection (David Akers Numismatics, 6-8 August 1999), lot 3744; Stacks (September 1951), lot 651.

Minted for use by the 'Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies,' these coins were struck in denominations of 1, 2, 4, and 8 testerns. They were an attempt to devise a currency for the East India trade in competition with the Spanish reales, but were unsuccessful and quickly disappeared.