Silver Half Pound of Charles I
In 1642 Great Britain was about to be plunged into its Civil War. The Tower Mint in London came under control of parliament, but other minted opened under control of the king or his supporters. This is a silver half pound, ten shilling or double crown coin struck at the Oxford Mint, but probably using dies prepared at the Shewsbury Mint. The reverse design has as its inscription an abbreviation of the king's "Declaration" made at Wellington in September 1642, in which he promised to uphold the Protestant Religion, the Laws of England, and the Liberty of Parliament.
In 1642 Galileo Galilei died and Isaac Newton was born.
There is a 1642 Living History Village of Little Woodham in Hampshire.