Mary, 1553-1554. AV Sovereign, 1553, Tower, im. pomegranate. Queen enthroned holding orb and sceptre, rev. royal arms on Tudor rose. Annulet stops. 15.42 g. Schneider 704 - same dies; N.1956; S.2488. A well struck example of this majestic type. Deep orange tone. Good VF. Rare. NGC AU 55 (8905348-006) Purchased Spink, 22 May 2006. Ex SCMB June 1966, no. G1315; The Property of a Lady (Glendining, 31 March 1965), lot 58. This Sovereign marks the first appearance of a female monarch on the English gold coinage. The concept of a woman reigning in her own right was without established precedent in England, yet the full-length figure of the Queen enthroned and crowned, holding orb and sceptre, provides a clear statement of female sovereignty. The royal arms on the reverse are set upon the Tudor rose, uniting her authority with the dynasty from which her claim derived. The pomegranate mint mark, the badge of her mother, Katherine of Aragon, offers a further subtle dynastic reference. More pointed still is the reverse legend, from Psalm 118:23, which reads in full A DOMINO FACTUM EST ISTUD, ET EST MIRABILE IN OCULIS NOSTRIS (‘This is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes’). The preceding verse declares that ‘the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’ – a striking resonance in the context of Mary's exclusion from the succession and her eventual accession. The legend was retained by Elizabeth I, herself once excluded from the succession, and subsequently by James I, whose own path to the English throne was similarly unsettled.