Watch List notes:

Crown 1834 ESC 275 the John Jay Pittman example (David Akers sale Numismatic Inc 6-8 August 1999 Lot 3864) choice FDC pleasing old grey tone with orange and gold hues in places, free of contact marks and hairlines a choice coin. Rated R5 by ESC 5 - 10 examples known, and in today's buoyant and international market a difficult piece to estimate. Heritage of Dallas sold a high grade example in 2011 which realised $69,000 (£44,000 at 2011 exchange rates, £56,000 at todays) but key date rarities in choice grades have surged forward since then. For example the sister coin to this the 1831 crown with a mintage 10 to 15 times greater than the 1834 would have realised £8000 - £10000 in 2011 or put another way the 1834 could expect to realise 4 - 5 times more than the 1831 in a like for like grade, but an 1831 Crown in MS65 just realised £61,000 hammer price in St James Coinex sale September 2016. As this piece is choice and has been graded 88 by CGS one could predict an MS65 could be given if submitted to the US graders and could argue that a £200,000 - £300,000 price ticket would not be absurd. However we have estimated it more conservatively and will await the results of the bidding. All William IV crowns are rare and sought after by collectors ESC lists three varieties of the 1831 in silver these were made for inclusion in the 1831 Proof Sets which had a mintage of just 225, a gold example is known dated 1831, a trial strike in lead dated 1832 and rated R7 (one or two in existence) and the 1834. This is the first 1834 example we have offered and the only example graded by LCGS whilst we have previously offered 11 examples of the 1831 crown and LCGS have graded three 1831s. Our research has found no other 1834 crowns sold since 2011 and this Pittman example to our knowledge has not been offered at auction since 1999 so if you are interested in choice rarities of the sort offered globally once or twice a decade this is the lot for you.

Estimate: 70000-100000 GBP