St. James's Auctions
Auction 32 19 May 2015
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Victoria, pattern sovereign, 1870, milled edge, WW incuse without stops on truncation, engraved after William Wyon, muled with the George III reverse, engraved after Benedetto Pistrucci, young head l., rev. St. George and the dragon, (W&R.313 [R7], this coin; Douglas-Morris 208), proof impression, mirrored fields showing some hairlines, die-pitting on the queen's portrait, slight edge bruise at 7 o'clock on reverse, otherwise good extremely fine, unique
*ex Vivian Hewitt collection, acquired by Spink in the late 1960s
ex Douglas-Morris collection, Sotheby's, 26 November 1974, lot 208
ex Bank Leu, Zürich, 26 October 2004, bought via Spink & Son
ex Bentley Collection, Baldwin's Auctions, 8 May 2013, lot 1211, realised £30,000
Unknown to almost all collectors prior to its appearance in the Douglas-Morris Collection sale of 1974, this is indeed a fantastic sovereign, showing the traditional Young Head portrait of Queen Victoria seen on all 1870 sovereigns but muled with the St. George reverse modeled by Pistrucci for the original sovereigns of 1817 to 1820 (and thus the only known sovereign featuring die-pairings from different reigns). The Douglas-Morris catalogue noted that the reverse is 'exactly as Pistrucci's design and almost certainly struck from one of his surviving dies'. The reason for minting it remains an enigma.
Estimate: £20,000-25,000
*ex Vivian Hewitt collection, acquired by Spink in the late 1960s
ex Douglas-Morris collection, Sotheby's, 26 November 1974, lot 208
ex Bank Leu, Zürich, 26 October 2004, bought via Spink & Son
ex Bentley Collection, Baldwin's Auctions, 8 May 2013, lot 1211, realised £30,000
Unknown to almost all collectors prior to its appearance in the Douglas-Morris Collection sale of 1974, this is indeed a fantastic sovereign, showing the traditional Young Head portrait of Queen Victoria seen on all 1870 sovereigns but muled with the St. George reverse modeled by Pistrucci for the original sovereigns of 1817 to 1820 (and thus the only known sovereign featuring die-pairings from different reigns). The Douglas-Morris catalogue noted that the reverse is 'exactly as Pistrucci's design and almost certainly struck from one of his surviving dies'. The reason for minting it remains an enigma.
Estimate: £20,000-25,000