Baldwin & Sons
Auction 73 8 May 2012
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
THE BENTLEY COLLECTION OF BRITISH MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS. Victoria, Sovereign, 1850, inverted A for V at start of legend, second larger young head left, no single strand of hair at terminal of ponytail which is partly disjointed, date below, some doubling of legend letters both sides, hairline raised flaw in GRATIA, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, emblems below, 7.96g (cf Marsh 33 R; MCE 511; S 3852C). Surface marks, once cleaned now lightly toned, a couple of digs on bust, otherwise bold very fine and extremely rare.
ex St James’s Auction 13, 6 May 2010, lot 958
Calendar year mintage 1,402,039
Another variety only discovered in the last decade since the publication of Marsh’s “The Gold Sovereign”, this most interesting variety is still only demonstrated by a few specimens. The engraver in haste, or due to lack of sharpness in eyesight, or daylight, has obviously selected an A punch rather than a V when stamping in the letters onto the obverse die, or perhaps the correct punch could not be located in the time allowed. He and his superiors either never noticed, and / or could not afford to waste a valuable die for a tiny error the legacy of which has passed to us as an interesting true variety in the coinage of 1850.
Additionally this coin exhibits a weaker rendering of the ponytail terminal, which in the first smaller young head usually has a single curving strand of hair to finish it off, and with the two multi-strand turnings of hair above fully jointed. This 1850 Sovereign does not have the single strand termination and shows a multi-strand ending at the part above. The next part above that is only partially joined on one side rather than both. This weaker rendering occurs very rarely.
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.
The Reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
House of Hanover
Born: 24 May 1819
Accession: 20 June 1837
Married: Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 10 February 1840
Coronation: Thursday 28 June 1838
Children: four sons, five daughters
Died: 22 January 1901, aged 81
Estimate: £800-1000
ex St James’s Auction 13, 6 May 2010, lot 958
Calendar year mintage 1,402,039
Another variety only discovered in the last decade since the publication of Marsh’s “The Gold Sovereign”, this most interesting variety is still only demonstrated by a few specimens. The engraver in haste, or due to lack of sharpness in eyesight, or daylight, has obviously selected an A punch rather than a V when stamping in the letters onto the obverse die, or perhaps the correct punch could not be located in the time allowed. He and his superiors either never noticed, and / or could not afford to waste a valuable die for a tiny error the legacy of which has passed to us as an interesting true variety in the coinage of 1850.
Additionally this coin exhibits a weaker rendering of the ponytail terminal, which in the first smaller young head usually has a single curving strand of hair to finish it off, and with the two multi-strand turnings of hair above fully jointed. This 1850 Sovereign does not have the single strand termination and shows a multi-strand ending at the part above. The next part above that is only partially joined on one side rather than both. This weaker rendering occurs very rarely.
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.
The Reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
House of Hanover
Born: 24 May 1819
Accession: 20 June 1837
Married: Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 10 February 1840
Coronation: Thursday 28 June 1838
Children: four sons, five daughters
Died: 22 January 1901, aged 81
Estimate: £800-1000