1723, Great Britain, George I. Silver Shilling Coin. South Sea Company Issue!
Mint Year: 1723 Condition: F-aVF! Reference: KM-539.3. Denomination: Six Pence - Struck from silver supplied by the South Sea Company! Diameter: 26mm Weight: 5.81gm Material: Silver
Obverse: Old laureate and draped bust of George I right. Legend: GEORGIVS DG M BR FR ET HIB REX F D Reverse: Crowned cruciform shields, Order of the Garter star in center. Initials of the South Sea Company (SS-C) in fields. Legend: BRVN ET L DVX S R I A TH ET EL 17-23
The South Sea Company was a British joint stock company that traded in South America during the 18th century. Founded in 1711, the company was granted a monopoly to trade in Spain's South American colonies as part of a treaty during the War of Spanish Succession. In return, the company assumed the national debt England had incurred during the war. Speculation in the company's stock led to a great economic bubble known as the South Sea Bubble in 1720, which caused financial ruin for many. In spite of this it was restructured and continued to operate for more than a century after the Bubble.
George I (George Louis; German: Georg Ludwig; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698.
George was born in Lower Saxony in what is now Germany, and eventually inherited the title and lands of the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. A succession of European wars expanded his German domains during his lifetime, and in 1708 he was ratified as Prince-elector of Hanover. At the age of 54, after the death of Queen Anne, he ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Although over fifty Catholics bore closer blood relationships to Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701 prohibited Catholics from inheriting the throne, and George was Anne's closest living Protestant relative. In reaction, the Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Anne's Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but their attempts failed.
During George's reign the powers of the monarchy diminished and Britain began a transition to the modern system of Cabinet government led by a Prime Minister. Towards the end of his reign, actual power was held by Sir Robert Walpole, Great Britain's first de facto Prime Minister. George died on a trip to his native Hanover, where he was buried.
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anonymous 2021-04-07 |