St. James's Auctions
Auction 39 30 September 2016
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
† George III, guinea, 1761, first laur. head r., two leaves above head, rev. crowned shield of arms (S.3725), practically mint state, with strong lustre and gorgeous gold colour, choice surfaces, very rare in this wonderful state of preservation
This early coin of George III is one of the least seen of all types and dates of guineas, from the first issued in 1663 until the last in 1813, and in this specimen we are looking at one of the finest known. The king aged greatly during his 60-year tenure as head of state, and the portraits of him on his coins changed as he did. This coin shows one of the youngest images of him. The stresses upon him were understandably accountable for his decline in later years: the American war for independence in the 1770s, the French Revolution with its intrigue and its numerous escapees to England from the late 1780s into the 1790s, the wars with Napoleon from the 1790s through 1815, and the king's own physical ailment which has so often been labelled insanity but in reality was a blood disease that nobody understood when it impacted him from about 1787 onwards. As the king's image aged, so did the coins upon which it was stamped: by the 1770s most of the earlier gold in circulation was in a terrible state, heavily worn through use and often damaged by being tested and shaved. Peter Woodhead explains succinctly: 'a treasury order was made in 1773 instructing its officers to assume that all coins under stated weights had been unlawfully diminished and until 21 September 1773 to accept them only by weight at the mint . . . [and] Parliament, in 1774, passed an act to call in all guineas below 128 gr.' (Herbert Schneider Collection, volume two, page 39). In all, some sixteen and a half million pounds in gold was withdrawn by these measures. Additionally, the 1770s saw significant quantities of recently minted gold shipped to America for the war effort. Considering the rarity of George III's earliest guineas (1761-1764), can there be any doubt that these dates were largely exported and/or melted during the 1770s? Survivors in any condition are rare. This example is special. (£8000-10000)
This early coin of George III is one of the least seen of all types and dates of guineas, from the first issued in 1663 until the last in 1813, and in this specimen we are looking at one of the finest known. The king aged greatly during his 60-year tenure as head of state, and the portraits of him on his coins changed as he did. This coin shows one of the youngest images of him. The stresses upon him were understandably accountable for his decline in later years: the American war for independence in the 1770s, the French Revolution with its intrigue and its numerous escapees to England from the late 1780s into the 1790s, the wars with Napoleon from the 1790s through 1815, and the king's own physical ailment which has so often been labelled insanity but in reality was a blood disease that nobody understood when it impacted him from about 1787 onwards. As the king's image aged, so did the coins upon which it was stamped: by the 1770s most of the earlier gold in circulation was in a terrible state, heavily worn through use and often damaged by being tested and shaved. Peter Woodhead explains succinctly: 'a treasury order was made in 1773 instructing its officers to assume that all coins under stated weights had been unlawfully diminished and until 21 September 1773 to accept them only by weight at the mint . . . [and] Parliament, in 1774, passed an act to call in all guineas below 128 gr.' (Herbert Schneider Collection, volume two, page 39). In all, some sixteen and a half million pounds in gold was withdrawn by these measures. Additionally, the 1770s saw significant quantities of recently minted gold shipped to America for the war effort. Considering the rarity of George III's earliest guineas (1761-1764), can there be any doubt that these dates were largely exported and/or melted during the 1770s? Survivors in any condition are rare. This example is special. (£8000-10000)