St. James's Auctions
Auction 32 19 May 2015
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The Famed 1819 Sovereign
George III, sovereign 1819, laur. head r., rev. St. George and the dragon (S.3785; M.3), almost very fine but details remain bold, including the date, the surfaces showing originality and almost no marks
The rarest of all London sovereigns, this the second finest known.
The ancient Royal Mint, situated within the walls of the Tower of London for centuries, was replaced early in the 19th century by a new facility, called the Tower Hill Mint, located outside the walls of the Tower but nearby. Challis (A New History of the Royal Mint, 1992) informs us that the move into the new mint 'proceeded slowly' after the handsome new structure itself was completed, beginning in the summer of 1810. It was two years until the new mint was in operation (August 1812), using new presses and numerous innovations largely borrowed from the Soho Mint's manufacturing methods. And yet, the coinage remained of the old style for another four years (and largely consisted of the 'token coinage' of silver denominations, bearing the likeness of King George III but issued for the Bank of England during the wars with Napoleon). Gold was of the old denominations, with the guinea being valued at 21 shillings and struck only in 1813: together with the French 20-franc gold pieces dated 1815 (with the portrait of Louis XVIII), these were used largely to pay British troops engaged against Napoleon. Minting equipment kept failing in these first few years at the Tower Hill Mint, and the prices of precious metals fluctuated during this period; they did not settle down to traditional values until the final defeat of Bonaparte. When these troubles were put behind, the now-familiar and so-called New Coinage commenced in 1816 for the silver denominations, and in 1817 for the gold sovereign and its half. Technically, the new coins came into being only following the report of the 'committee on coin' dated 21 May 1816. Standard weights were determined thereby, and gold (not silver) was set as 'the sole standard of value', Challis tells us, with all coins of lesser value than the gold sovereign being dependent on the sovereign's intrinsic and legal value. The guinea was thus abandoned to history, as authorities agreed with merchants that the 'pound' system with which they all became familiar during the recent war, seen on banknotes, had become the customary way of reckoning.
The sovereign, equal exactly to 20 shillings, was born of genius; the conception of Benedetto Pistrucci, who produced the models and attempted early engraving, was ultimately engraved by Thomas Wyon with the titular assistance of William Wellesley Pole (elder brother of the Duke of Wellington), and their efforts combined to create one of the most beloved of all coins, featuring the classic image of St. George slaying the dragon (or devil). The half sovereign's reverse gave way to a simple but beautiful rendition of the royal shield, the coin not being large enough to display the St. George motif as it was intended to be seen. The hand-finishing of the dies used for the sovereign, in its original conception during its brief appearance from 1817 into early 1820, when the king passed away, is evident in the various small differences in details, such as the 'ascending colon' which distinguishes the variety of the lovely 1818 sovereign seen in this collection, whereas the 1819 sovereign displays a 'descending colon'. The new mint's machinery was working splendidly by the time gold was first made in 1817, and more than 3.2 million sovereigns were minted during that first year; wealthy collectors as well as monarchists across the kingdom tended to save the glittering, new gold coins as souvenirs. The next year, the mintage was again sizable, more than 2.3 million pieces. This dropped to a mere 3,574 coins during the third year of issue, 1819, although the extreme rarity of this date a mere ten years after its creation (as explained in the Bentley sale catalogue, Part 3, Lot 941) suggests that even this meagre issue could include coins dated 1818. Research into mint records revealed in the Bentley catalogue indicates that all 1819 sovereigns were struck during the course of five days' minting from August to November, and that all gold used to strike them came from 'private sources, most likely firms in the City of London', not from the Bank of England as had by then become the custom. Whatever the source of their gold, sovereigns dated 1819 were nearly impossible to locate by contemporary collectors.
Then in 1820 mintage jumped again, to more than 900,000 coins, and yet the final year has become difficult to locate in mint state. Clearly, sovereigns dated 1820 suffered both constant use and subsequent melting – the charm of a new coin had worn off with the public after four years, and few seem to have been saved. In fact, countless sovereigns of George III were taken abroad by tourists and many others were exported for commercial exchange. Does this also explain the relative rarity of the 1818 sovereign? Many had been made from melted gold obtained from older coins: across the kingdom, more than 500 exchange stations had been set up by the end of 1817, Challis explains, with tons of old coins coming in to the new mint in caravans of coaches and wagons and in ships from Scotland. In its desire to clean out the old coinages, the mint even accepted counterfeits for melting. Clearly, old gold was made into brand-new sovereigns and half-sovereigns during 1818, accounting for the high mintage figures. When this massive re-coinage ended, the mint no longer depended on 'supplies of bullion from private individuals' (Challis, page 484), but instead struck volumes of coins determined by government need. The Bank of England became the main supplier of gold. The relative scarcity of sovereigns dated 1818 compared to those dated 1817 and even those dated 1820 must be explained by the exigencies of commerce and exportation, but the great rarity of the 1819 sovereign is easily understandable – the new sovereign was plentiful by the end of the year 1818, universally accepted and in the main lauded for its beauty and its solid intrinsic value. It seems that sovereigns dated 1819, scarcely made at all, simply entered commerce ignored for their date and were heavily used for the next century, at home and abroad. Almost none were minted. Few were saved. And a great rarity was born.
Estimate: £45,000-55,000
George III, sovereign 1819, laur. head r., rev. St. George and the dragon (S.3785; M.3), almost very fine but details remain bold, including the date, the surfaces showing originality and almost no marks
The rarest of all London sovereigns, this the second finest known.
The ancient Royal Mint, situated within the walls of the Tower of London for centuries, was replaced early in the 19th century by a new facility, called the Tower Hill Mint, located outside the walls of the Tower but nearby. Challis (A New History of the Royal Mint, 1992) informs us that the move into the new mint 'proceeded slowly' after the handsome new structure itself was completed, beginning in the summer of 1810. It was two years until the new mint was in operation (August 1812), using new presses and numerous innovations largely borrowed from the Soho Mint's manufacturing methods. And yet, the coinage remained of the old style for another four years (and largely consisted of the 'token coinage' of silver denominations, bearing the likeness of King George III but issued for the Bank of England during the wars with Napoleon). Gold was of the old denominations, with the guinea being valued at 21 shillings and struck only in 1813: together with the French 20-franc gold pieces dated 1815 (with the portrait of Louis XVIII), these were used largely to pay British troops engaged against Napoleon. Minting equipment kept failing in these first few years at the Tower Hill Mint, and the prices of precious metals fluctuated during this period; they did not settle down to traditional values until the final defeat of Bonaparte. When these troubles were put behind, the now-familiar and so-called New Coinage commenced in 1816 for the silver denominations, and in 1817 for the gold sovereign and its half. Technically, the new coins came into being only following the report of the 'committee on coin' dated 21 May 1816. Standard weights were determined thereby, and gold (not silver) was set as 'the sole standard of value', Challis tells us, with all coins of lesser value than the gold sovereign being dependent on the sovereign's intrinsic and legal value. The guinea was thus abandoned to history, as authorities agreed with merchants that the 'pound' system with which they all became familiar during the recent war, seen on banknotes, had become the customary way of reckoning.
The sovereign, equal exactly to 20 shillings, was born of genius; the conception of Benedetto Pistrucci, who produced the models and attempted early engraving, was ultimately engraved by Thomas Wyon with the titular assistance of William Wellesley Pole (elder brother of the Duke of Wellington), and their efforts combined to create one of the most beloved of all coins, featuring the classic image of St. George slaying the dragon (or devil). The half sovereign's reverse gave way to a simple but beautiful rendition of the royal shield, the coin not being large enough to display the St. George motif as it was intended to be seen. The hand-finishing of the dies used for the sovereign, in its original conception during its brief appearance from 1817 into early 1820, when the king passed away, is evident in the various small differences in details, such as the 'ascending colon' which distinguishes the variety of the lovely 1818 sovereign seen in this collection, whereas the 1819 sovereign displays a 'descending colon'. The new mint's machinery was working splendidly by the time gold was first made in 1817, and more than 3.2 million sovereigns were minted during that first year; wealthy collectors as well as monarchists across the kingdom tended to save the glittering, new gold coins as souvenirs. The next year, the mintage was again sizable, more than 2.3 million pieces. This dropped to a mere 3,574 coins during the third year of issue, 1819, although the extreme rarity of this date a mere ten years after its creation (as explained in the Bentley sale catalogue, Part 3, Lot 941) suggests that even this meagre issue could include coins dated 1818. Research into mint records revealed in the Bentley catalogue indicates that all 1819 sovereigns were struck during the course of five days' minting from August to November, and that all gold used to strike them came from 'private sources, most likely firms in the City of London', not from the Bank of England as had by then become the custom. Whatever the source of their gold, sovereigns dated 1819 were nearly impossible to locate by contemporary collectors.
Then in 1820 mintage jumped again, to more than 900,000 coins, and yet the final year has become difficult to locate in mint state. Clearly, sovereigns dated 1820 suffered both constant use and subsequent melting – the charm of a new coin had worn off with the public after four years, and few seem to have been saved. In fact, countless sovereigns of George III were taken abroad by tourists and many others were exported for commercial exchange. Does this also explain the relative rarity of the 1818 sovereign? Many had been made from melted gold obtained from older coins: across the kingdom, more than 500 exchange stations had been set up by the end of 1817, Challis explains, with tons of old coins coming in to the new mint in caravans of coaches and wagons and in ships from Scotland. In its desire to clean out the old coinages, the mint even accepted counterfeits for melting. Clearly, old gold was made into brand-new sovereigns and half-sovereigns during 1818, accounting for the high mintage figures. When this massive re-coinage ended, the mint no longer depended on 'supplies of bullion from private individuals' (Challis, page 484), but instead struck volumes of coins determined by government need. The Bank of England became the main supplier of gold. The relative scarcity of sovereigns dated 1818 compared to those dated 1817 and even those dated 1820 must be explained by the exigencies of commerce and exportation, but the great rarity of the 1819 sovereign is easily understandable – the new sovereign was plentiful by the end of the year 1818, universally accepted and in the main lauded for its beauty and its solid intrinsic value. It seems that sovereigns dated 1819, scarcely made at all, simply entered commerce ignored for their date and were heavily used for the next century, at home and abroad. Almost none were minted. Few were saved. And a great rarity was born.
Estimate: £45,000-55,000