Edward IV, rose noble. Obverse: the king standing, facing, in a ship, holding a sword and shield, a full-blown rose on the side of the ship and at stern, flag with letter 'E'. Legend: 'EDWARD . DI . GRA . REX . AGL' . ET . FRANC' . DNS' . IB'. Reverse: within arched tressure with trefoil in each spandrel, floriated cross with rose on sun in centre and lion surmounted by crown in each angle. Legend: 'IhC . AVT . TRANSIENS : PER . MEDIVM : ILLORVM . IBAT'.

This is one group of nine gold coins found in the Greenwich Palace excavations of 1970-71, in the lower Grand Square of the Old Royal Naval College. Six were from the reign of Edward IV (1461–83) and three from that of Henry VII (1485–1509), of slightly varying dates within each reign. All except one were ‘angels’ or ‘half-angels’ (of which there were two, one of Edward, one of Henry). The exception was the present single rose noble of Edward IV (MEC2690). The group was judged at Southwark Coroner's Court on 19 November 1971 to have been a hoard concealed for safety and declared treasure trove and Crown property (a status now obsolete under the Treasure Act, 1996). They were then passed to the British Museum under delegated rights provisions, which retained one Edward IV angel dated 1473-77 and one of Henry VII dated 1500-07 were allocated to the British Museum (object nos. 1972, 0206.1 and 2). The other seven were transferred to the NMM to which all nine were partly of interest since their obverses bear a ship of medieval ‘hulk’ form as part of the design. The three angels of Edward IV in the NMM group are MEC2691–93 and his half angel MEC2694. The angel and half-angel of Henry VII are MEC2695 and 2696. (MEC0038 is a related item as a Flanders gold noble of around 1400, also with a ‘hulk’ obverse, but this was previously purchased in1960). ‘Angels’ get their name from the reverse design of St Michael the Archangel slaying a dragon.