Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3044 3-4 January 2016
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Great Britain
Victoria palladium-hydrogenium Pattern 1/2 Sovereign 1869 MS61 NGC, Royal mint, KM-, S-, WR-, VPT-455. Reeded edge. Extremely rare; one of just three known examples. Obv. Young head of Victoria left. Rev. PALLADIUM - HYDROGENIUM * 1869 * around GRAHAM [for Thomas Graham, Master of the Royal Mint]. A most curious piece, this was ordered into production by Thomas Graham, a chemist who was named Master of the Royal Mint in 1855. He is famous for his experiments with gasses (credited with discovering "Graham's Law," related to the effusion of gasses), and he discovered in 1866 that palladium could absorb multiples of its own volume of hydrogren, making it a harder and less ductile metal. He called this new allow "hydrogenium", as noted on the reverse of this coin. The result on this coin is an oddly textured surface that one really needs to see in hand to fully appreciate. Both other known examples have appeared on the market in the last decade- the Montagu-Murdoch specimen, which was sold by Spink in September 2006 (Spink 6018, lot 105) and the Farouk example, sold by DNW in September 2010 (DNW 88-89, lot 1800). Lot comes with original red leather case. From the RichLyn Collection
Estimate: 8000-12000 USD
Victoria palladium-hydrogenium Pattern 1/2 Sovereign 1869 MS61 NGC, Royal mint, KM-, S-, WR-, VPT-455. Reeded edge. Extremely rare; one of just three known examples. Obv. Young head of Victoria left. Rev. PALLADIUM - HYDROGENIUM * 1869 * around GRAHAM [for Thomas Graham, Master of the Royal Mint]. A most curious piece, this was ordered into production by Thomas Graham, a chemist who was named Master of the Royal Mint in 1855. He is famous for his experiments with gasses (credited with discovering "Graham's Law," related to the effusion of gasses), and he discovered in 1866 that palladium could absorb multiples of its own volume of hydrogren, making it a harder and less ductile metal. He called this new allow "hydrogenium", as noted on the reverse of this coin. The result on this coin is an oddly textured surface that one really needs to see in hand to fully appreciate. Both other known examples have appeared on the market in the last decade- the Montagu-Murdoch specimen, which was sold by Spink in September 2006 (Spink 6018, lot 105) and the Farouk example, sold by DNW in September 2010 (DNW 88-89, lot 1800). Lot comes with original red leather case. From the RichLyn Collection
Estimate: 8000-12000 USD