Baldwin & Sons
Auction 73 8 May 2012
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THE BENTLEY COLLECTION OF BRITISH MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS. Victoria, Sovereign, 1850, second larger young head left, ponytail terminates in single curved strand of hair, date below, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, emblems below, 7.97g (Marsh 33 R; MCE 511; S 3852C). Only the lightest of surface marks, a superb coin, uncirculated and very rare in this quality.
ex Randy Weir Numismatics, Unionville, Ontario, Canada, purchased 22 March 1990
Calendar year mintage 1,402,039
With a relatively low calendar year mintage the 1850 Sovereign has always been considered a rare date in the series, and was perhaps more highly thought of in dealer’s lists of some 50 or 60 years ago, where it is rated as very rare. Other specimens must have come to light since then, as in this cataloguer’s experience the date is merely rare and is on par for availability with the 1849 Sovereign, which is of a similar quantity of mintage, and rated therefore the same by Marsh. Of course in the top grades, as we have demonstrated here, any Sovereign, even for a more common mintage, can be considered rare or even very rare.
The Second Larger Young Head type Sovereign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
Victoria Second Small Young Head Type Currency Sovereign
From 1848 the size of Victoria’s young head bust increases to fill more of the available field and is therefore rendered closer to the legend lettering. This may have been an attempt to prolong the life of the dies, which are subjected to multiple tons of pressure in use, and as conjectured in the footnote for the previous lot after a Royal Mint Commission in this year investigated the die and matrix production. The Chief Engraver, William Wyon was called to give evidence on die production to this commission.
This second larger young head type sovereign was in use from 1848-1855 inclusive and is of the same general design as the previous smaller bust with the engravers initials W.W. raised with stops on the bust. The easiest way to tell the sizes of the bust, particularly when looking at the changeover year of 1848, is too look how close the front hair band fillet is to the legend as it is this point that differs most in the sizing of the busts.
In 1853 there was a slight change on some dies produced and the engravers initials WW are incuse on the truncation without stops and this runs concurrently from 1853-1855 with the first type and then alone from 1856-1870 inclusive. Strangely the 1853 proof has one stop between the letter W’s only on the truncation.
From 1863 until 1874 the reverses of the shield type feature an additional “die” number below the shield. These will be discussed at the relevant point in the cataloguing as they form quite an extensive series.
Estimate: £800-1000
ex Randy Weir Numismatics, Unionville, Ontario, Canada, purchased 22 March 1990
Calendar year mintage 1,402,039
With a relatively low calendar year mintage the 1850 Sovereign has always been considered a rare date in the series, and was perhaps more highly thought of in dealer’s lists of some 50 or 60 years ago, where it is rated as very rare. Other specimens must have come to light since then, as in this cataloguer’s experience the date is merely rare and is on par for availability with the 1849 Sovereign, which is of a similar quantity of mintage, and rated therefore the same by Marsh. Of course in the top grades, as we have demonstrated here, any Sovereign, even for a more common mintage, can be considered rare or even very rare.
The Second Larger Young Head type Sovereign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
Victoria Second Small Young Head Type Currency Sovereign
From 1848 the size of Victoria’s young head bust increases to fill more of the available field and is therefore rendered closer to the legend lettering. This may have been an attempt to prolong the life of the dies, which are subjected to multiple tons of pressure in use, and as conjectured in the footnote for the previous lot after a Royal Mint Commission in this year investigated the die and matrix production. The Chief Engraver, William Wyon was called to give evidence on die production to this commission.
This second larger young head type sovereign was in use from 1848-1855 inclusive and is of the same general design as the previous smaller bust with the engravers initials W.W. raised with stops on the bust. The easiest way to tell the sizes of the bust, particularly when looking at the changeover year of 1848, is too look how close the front hair band fillet is to the legend as it is this point that differs most in the sizing of the busts.
In 1853 there was a slight change on some dies produced and the engravers initials WW are incuse on the truncation without stops and this runs concurrently from 1853-1855 with the first type and then alone from 1856-1870 inclusive. Strangely the 1853 proof has one stop between the letter W’s only on the truncation.
From 1863 until 1874 the reverses of the shield type feature an additional “die” number below the shield. These will be discussed at the relevant point in the cataloguing as they form quite an extensive series.
Estimate: £800-1000