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Angel

1465–　・　gold　・　15th century　・　England

Angel（obverse）obverseAngel（reverse）reverse
Portable Antiquities Scheme / CC BY 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）

A gold coin issued by Edward IV in 1465, in the middle of the Wars of the Roses. On the face, the archangel Michael thrusting down the dragon. It became the standard gold coin in place of the noble. In later ages this coin went on being used as the touch piece given to patients in the rite of the king's touch, by which the hand of the king was held to cure scrofula. It is testimony to an age when money was also an instrument of magic and of medicine.