British, Italian and World Coins, Commemorative Medals, Numismatic Books

Lady Arabella Stuart, c. 1615, cast medals (2), in silver and pewter, half-length figure three-quarters left, revs. QVHO CAN COMPARE VITH ME, etc, both 50mm, 34.05g, 35.18g (MI I, 207/41) [2]. Silver very fine, pewter fine £90-120

Provenance: E.W. Danson Collection [*first bt C. Thompson August 1980; second bt Spink].

The attribution to Lady Arbella (or Arabella) remains unconfirmed, but the sentiment expressed in the reverse inscription is thought to refer to the unhappy separation she endured from her husband, William Seymour, and her subsequent incarceration in the Tower, where she starved herself to death in 1615 at the age of 40