James II, 1685-88. Gold Touching Ceremony Touch-Piece. Touched By King James II To Cure The ‘King’s Evil’. 18-19mm Diameter, 1.84g. Rare.
 
Obv: Three masted ship "The Sovereign of the Seas" at full sail left, legend and outer toothed border surrounding legend, IACO. II. D. G. M. B. FR. ET. HI. REX. Rev: St Michael slaying the dragon with lance, legend and outer toothed border surrounding legend, SOLI. DEO. GLORIA.
 
Since the Middle Ages / Medieval period it was believed that a touch from royalty could heal the ‘king's evil’ or scrofula (morbium regis) – a swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck caused by tuberculosis, which if untreated turned into sores. The belief was that healing could be achieved in the Monarch’s role as the anointed representative of Christ. This then became formalised in ‘touching ceremonies’ which allowed the Monarch's divine powers to be witnessed by the masses.
The ‘touching’ was a common practice in Britain during medieval times, characterized as a test of royal legitimacy, where the King or Queen at the time would personally touch and hang symbolically holed coins (now talismans) about the neck of the infirmed, in order to cure illnesses such as the Scrofula disease. The Angel was the coin of choice due to its representation of the defeat of the dragon, a symbol of Evil, associated with disease. With sole ceremonial purpose, the Touch Piece such as this example offered for sale was designed to replace the gold Angels, preserving the Archangel design, but adding the Royal Ship on the reverse, in allusion to the monarch. The practice lasted for centuries, Queen Anne (1702-14) was the last monarch to “Touch” in England.
The demand for the royal touch was so high that bronze or copper admission tokens were introduced to keep a record of numbers. At the ceremony, the sufferer of illness was presented with a gold touch-piece handled and touched personally by the King / Queen, the pieces would commonly be hung on a ribbon and worn as a necklace.
Under the Commonwealth during the Cromwell period, the ceremony was stopped. When the healing ritual was reintroduced at the Restoration of Charles II, 1660-1685, a gold medalet as seen here, now specifically a touch-piece was created rather than gold Angel currency used previously. This medalet was designed solely for the touching ceremony and would have been touched by the respective monarch.
 
Reference: Noel Woolf, "The Sovereign Remedy" publication, estimates some 36,000 pieces were used during the reign of King James II.
 
A historical and appealing example, an interesting piece with Royal links to King James II himself. Nice clear details throughout, some wear due to touching. A rare survivor of significant history.