St. James's Auctions
Auction 32 19 May 2015
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Elizabeth II, proof sovereign, 1953, first coinage with BRITT:OMN in royal title, young laur. bust r., rev. St. George and the dragon, milled edge (S.4122; W&R.448 [R5, but R7 for availability], this coin, described in error as plain edge), a beautiful choice coin, perfectly struck for the style (of low relief), with untouched mirrored fields and original, lightly hazed surfaces, FDC, of the highest rarity
*ex National Museum of Wales collection, 1953 proof gold set sold privately with official permission from the Department of Trade & Industry, c1990, via Spink (see accompanying letter from Mark Rasmussen, numismatist)
the set sold privately 2005 through Mark Rasmussen and the coins dispersed separately later that year
this coin ex Hemisphere Collection, Baldwins Auctions, 8 May 2014, lot 2081, realised £384,000 inc. b.p.
A one-year type, differing in legend to later issues, this is probably the only example available to commerce, and is the plate coin in Wilson & Rasmussen's English Pattern Trial and Proof Coins in Gold. It is valued in the Standard Catalogue at £400,000.
No currency sovereigns were minted in London after the 1925-dated pieces struck during the reign of George VI, and those were intended entirely as bullion reserves held by the Bank of England. The sovereigns of 1917 were never seen in the homeland, as explained in lot 89. It was not until twelve years after the end of World War Two that the Royal Mint again issued gold, in 1957. Today of course collectors have a variety of golden royal portraits of Elizabeth II to select from, but the first sovereign of this reign has almost never been available at any price. During the years 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1963 a handful of Proofs of Record were struck in each year, 1957 being the most frequently seen, 1963 being the rarest. All have reeded edges. The queen's image is sensitively rendered in low relief, an artistic decision no doubt intended to offer a subtle 'view' of the then-new monarch, as modelled by Mary Gillick, one of seventeen artists contending by contest to win the award offered by the Royal Mint. The mint's Advisory Committee on coinage, headed by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, found her rendition of the queen's image to 'possess charm'; it was modelled from life, during a special sitting arranged for the artist. By contrast to the Proofs of Record just mentioned, the magnificent proof offered in this lot was part of one of the four-piece gold sets struck in tiny numbers for the Royal coronation, but never sold to the public. Once again, we are indebted to Challis for insight into why this never occurred: he mentions (on page 589) that a record number of forty thousand proof sets of the copper-nickel and bronze coinage was sold to the public, 'but sadly there was no place in the sets for the traditional gold coins. Dealers and collectors had reminded the authorities that it was customary to include gold coins but in the end it was decided that their inclusion would be too much of an extravagance'. If this seems a peculiar statement, consider that rationing continued for years after the end of World War Two and that Britain's economy did not really recover from the ravages of war until the 1970s. In consequence, once again history repeated itself from the point of view of the numismatic collector – quite unintentionally, a great rarity was born of necessity.
This example is only the second to be offered on the open market, the first being the Norweb piece that was apparently acquired from Seaby's c1960 and was sold at Spinks in 1985 for £24,000 hammer price. It is the numismatic world's good fortune that the National Museum of Wales applied to the Department of Trade, and was given permission, to sell their 1953 gold set in order to make other purchases for their numismatic collection, their reasoning being that there was another set housed in the Royal Mint Museum at nearby Llantrisant. Sadly for the numismatic world, however, this piece was subsequently stolen and has since disappeared from the market.
Estimate: £250,000-300,000
*ex National Museum of Wales collection, 1953 proof gold set sold privately with official permission from the Department of Trade & Industry, c1990, via Spink (see accompanying letter from Mark Rasmussen, numismatist)
the set sold privately 2005 through Mark Rasmussen and the coins dispersed separately later that year
this coin ex Hemisphere Collection, Baldwins Auctions, 8 May 2014, lot 2081, realised £384,000 inc. b.p.
A one-year type, differing in legend to later issues, this is probably the only example available to commerce, and is the plate coin in Wilson & Rasmussen's English Pattern Trial and Proof Coins in Gold. It is valued in the Standard Catalogue at £400,000.
No currency sovereigns were minted in London after the 1925-dated pieces struck during the reign of George VI, and those were intended entirely as bullion reserves held by the Bank of England. The sovereigns of 1917 were never seen in the homeland, as explained in lot 89. It was not until twelve years after the end of World War Two that the Royal Mint again issued gold, in 1957. Today of course collectors have a variety of golden royal portraits of Elizabeth II to select from, but the first sovereign of this reign has almost never been available at any price. During the years 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1963 a handful of Proofs of Record were struck in each year, 1957 being the most frequently seen, 1963 being the rarest. All have reeded edges. The queen's image is sensitively rendered in low relief, an artistic decision no doubt intended to offer a subtle 'view' of the then-new monarch, as modelled by Mary Gillick, one of seventeen artists contending by contest to win the award offered by the Royal Mint. The mint's Advisory Committee on coinage, headed by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, found her rendition of the queen's image to 'possess charm'; it was modelled from life, during a special sitting arranged for the artist. By contrast to the Proofs of Record just mentioned, the magnificent proof offered in this lot was part of one of the four-piece gold sets struck in tiny numbers for the Royal coronation, but never sold to the public. Once again, we are indebted to Challis for insight into why this never occurred: he mentions (on page 589) that a record number of forty thousand proof sets of the copper-nickel and bronze coinage was sold to the public, 'but sadly there was no place in the sets for the traditional gold coins. Dealers and collectors had reminded the authorities that it was customary to include gold coins but in the end it was decided that their inclusion would be too much of an extravagance'. If this seems a peculiar statement, consider that rationing continued for years after the end of World War Two and that Britain's economy did not really recover from the ravages of war until the 1970s. In consequence, once again history repeated itself from the point of view of the numismatic collector – quite unintentionally, a great rarity was born of necessity.
This example is only the second to be offered on the open market, the first being the Norweb piece that was apparently acquired from Seaby's c1960 and was sold at Spinks in 1985 for £24,000 hammer price. It is the numismatic world's good fortune that the National Museum of Wales applied to the Department of Trade, and was given permission, to sell their 1953 gold set in order to make other purchases for their numismatic collection, their reasoning being that there was another set housed in the Royal Mint Museum at nearby Llantrisant. Sadly for the numismatic world, however, this piece was subsequently stolen and has since disappeared from the market.
Estimate: £250,000-300,000