James I vs Charles I: the facing-direction trap

Pick up any reasonably-detailed list of common UK detector misidentifications and one pairing will be near the top: James I confused with Charles I. Two bearded Stuart kings, both on hammered silver, both with the same long-cross-and-shield reverse. The single detail that settles it — almost without exception — is which way they’re facing.

The rule

James I faces right. Charles I faces left.That is the entire heart of the matter. Stuart hammered coinage alternates facing direction from one monarch to the next: Elizabeth I (left) → James I (right) → Charles I (left) → Charles II (left, in his short hammered phase). Get the facing right and you’ve done eighty per cent of the work before you read a single letter of the legend.

The four diagnostic features side by side

Why the beard alone isn’t enough

Plenty of detectorists try to lead with the beard. It works some of the time. The problem is that Charles I’s pointed Vandyke is only really obvious on better-preserved coins — and the typical UK detector find is Fine or below, with the high points worn flat. Once the beard is worn, all you’re left with is “male bust, some kind of facial hair, hammered silver” — which is half the Stuart period.

Facing direction survives wear far better than the beard outline. Even a heavily worn coin where you can’t make out individual hair strands will usually show enough of the bust shape to tell which way the head is turned. Lead with facing, then confirm with beard style if you can.

The legend, if you can read it

The Latin legend confirms the attribution categorically when the portrait is too worn to be sure. Charles I always uses CAROLVS (Charles). James I always uses IACOBVS (Iacobus = James). Even one or two surviving letters can resolve it:

• Surviving CA... or ...OLVS or ...AROLVS— Charles.
• Surviving IA... or ...COBVS or ...ACOBVS— James.
• Surviving MAG BRIT or MAG BRplaces the coin post-1603 either way — Tudor coinage never uses the “Magnae Britanniae” (Great Britain) title.

What about the reverse?

The reverse is the same in both cases — a long cross fourchee over a quartered royal shield. The shield design itself doesn’t meaningfully separate James from Charles (both use the full post-Union Stuart shield with the Scottish rampant lion in quarter 2 and the Irish harp in quarter 3). What the shield does do is rule out everything before1603 — if you can see the rampant lion or the harp, the coin is Stuart or later, not Tudor. Useful when distinguishing a worn Charles I shilling from a worn Elizabeth I sixpence.

Worked example: a worn bearded silver shilling

1. Module check: 28–32 mm, ~6 g. This is shilling territory.
2. Bust gender: clearly bearded, so a male monarch. That rules out Elizabeth I, Mary, Anne, Victoria and Elizabeth II immediately.
3. Hammered or milled?Irregular flan, no edge milling — hammered. That puts us pre-1662.
4. Facing direction: the bust is turned to the viewer’s left.
5. Beard style: pointed Vandyke visible at the chin.
6. Attribution: Charles I shilling, c.1625–1649. The Tower mint sequence of initial marks (lis, cross calvary, blackamoor’s head, castle, anchor, heart, feathers…) will narrow the date further if the initial mark is visible.

Civil War provincial mints

Charles I’s reign produced an exceptional range of provincial Civil War mints — Oxford, York, Bristol, Aberystwyth, Truro, Exeter, Newark (siege coins), Carlisle, Pontefract, Worcester, Chester, Weymouth. Many of these have distinctive iconography: Oxford’s Declaration reverse (“RELIG PROT LEG ANG LIBER PAR”), Aberystwyth’s plume above shield, siege coins on crude lozenge or octagonal flans. If the coin doesn’t look like a Tower mint product, work through the provincial repertoire before second-guessing the attribution.