Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3061 7-8 Jan 2018
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Great Britain
Victoria Proof Pattern "Palladium-Hydrogenium" 1/2 Sovereign 1869 PR65 PCGS, 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]. This example is boldly struck, with brilliant luster and surfaces free of significant marks. 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 alloy "hydrogenium", as noted on the reverse of this coin. We only know of three examples of this rare issue: (1) an MS61 example sold in Heritage auction 3044, January 2, 2016, Lot 31277, where it realized $7500, (2) The Montagu-Murdoch specimen, which was sold by Spink in September 2006 (Spink 6018, lot 105), and (3) Farouk example, sold by DNW in September 2010 (DNW 88-89, lot 1800). We do not know if this is either the Farouk coin, or the Montagu-Murdoch coin, as we do not currently have images of those two examples, but it is possible that this is one of the two. Included is the original black leather case of issue. Extremely rare.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 10000-12000 USD
Victoria Proof Pattern "Palladium-Hydrogenium" 1/2 Sovereign 1869 PR65 PCGS, 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]. This example is boldly struck, with brilliant luster and surfaces free of significant marks. 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 alloy "hydrogenium", as noted on the reverse of this coin. We only know of three examples of this rare issue: (1) an MS61 example sold in Heritage auction 3044, January 2, 2016, Lot 31277, where it realized $7500, (2) The Montagu-Murdoch specimen, which was sold by Spink in September 2006 (Spink 6018, lot 105), and (3) Farouk example, sold by DNW in September 2010 (DNW 88-89, lot 1800). We do not know if this is either the Farouk coin, or the Montagu-Murdoch coin, as we do not currently have images of those two examples, but it is possible that this is one of the two. Included is the original black leather case of issue. Extremely rare.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 10000-12000 USD