Baldwin & Sons
Auction 73 8 May 2012
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THE BENTLEY COLLECTION OF BRITISH MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS. Victoria, Brockage obverse, Sovereign, 1856, WW incuse on truncation without stops, second larger young head left, date below, curvy 6 with bulbous top, toothed border, VICTORIA DEI GRATIA, rev with an incuse and reflected impression of the obverse, 8.01g (cf Marsh 39; MCE 517; S 3852D). Previously graded by PCGS as MS63, a few light surface marks and hairlines, short scratch on reverse, a little off-centre, superb proof-like with a red copper tone, otherwise as struck and of the highest rarity.
ex Heritage Long Beach Sale, Dallas, Texas, California, 2 June 2006, lot 13173
Calendar year mintage 4,806,160
A true one-off. A brockage occurs when the striking process goes awry. When a coin is struck, one die is static and fixed in position, usually the obverse as in this case when made in 1856. The glitch in the process occurs with the feeding in of the blanks of gold. A blank flan previous to the brockage we have here, would have entered the striking chamber and not seated quite on target, therefore it would be unable to exit easily after striking. This coupled with the tonnage of pressure of the reverse die coming down to strike its design, the blank adhered to the moving reverse die, instead of exiting the chamber automatically. The next blank gold flan to be struck, our soon to be brockage coin herewith, will have entered the chamber and the reverse die with the previous coin stuck to it, will have struck this newly entered flan with an obverse impression on its reverse, as well as receiving the obverse impression as usual. At this point the problem in the process is usually discovered, and it is likely the scratch on the reverse is perhaps from a tool used to prise the coin off the dies where it was stuck. Brockages are often spectacular and occur in gold coinage with much less frequency than the silver and copper due to the higher quality control in working with gold flans.
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: £2000-2500
ex Heritage Long Beach Sale, Dallas, Texas, California, 2 June 2006, lot 13173
Calendar year mintage 4,806,160
A true one-off. A brockage occurs when the striking process goes awry. When a coin is struck, one die is static and fixed in position, usually the obverse as in this case when made in 1856. The glitch in the process occurs with the feeding in of the blanks of gold. A blank flan previous to the brockage we have here, would have entered the striking chamber and not seated quite on target, therefore it would be unable to exit easily after striking. This coupled with the tonnage of pressure of the reverse die coming down to strike its design, the blank adhered to the moving reverse die, instead of exiting the chamber automatically. The next blank gold flan to be struck, our soon to be brockage coin herewith, will have entered the chamber and the reverse die with the previous coin stuck to it, will have struck this newly entered flan with an obverse impression on its reverse, as well as receiving the obverse impression as usual. At this point the problem in the process is usually discovered, and it is likely the scratch on the reverse is perhaps from a tool used to prise the coin off the dies where it was stuck. Brockages are often spectacular and occur in gold coinage with much less frequency than the silver and copper due to the higher quality control in working with gold flans.
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: £2000-2500