Baldwin & Sons
Auction 73 8 May 2012
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THE BENTLEY COLLECTION OF BRITISH MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS. Victoria, Sovereign, 1860, curvy rounded 6 with bulbous top, second larger young head left, WW incuse on truncation without stops, date below, die flaw to right of zero, E of DEI possibly over rotated E, burr of extra metal at rear of E, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, emblems below, 7.99g (Marsh 43; MCE 521; S 3852D). Once cleaned, now lightly toned with associated scuffing and hairlines on obverse, otherwise about extremely fine with a stronger reverse.
ex Spink and Son Ltd, March 2005
Calendar year mintage 2,555,958
As we enter the 1860s we start to find more engraving oddities than ever, as the quality of workmanship in the gold striking department seems to become more lax, which may partly explain why the introduction of the die number system occurred, as a means of new quality control. Once that occurred, engraving errors suddenly seem to all but disappear, as will be seen later in the chronology of the Bentley Collection.
The oddity we have here is the E in DEI which is showing extra metal around its central limb. This has been theorised to be E over a rotated E as a best fit suggestion, however this still does not seem to be the explanation. It may just be as simple as a faulty E punch entered onto the die, perhaps with a burr of metal attached to the E when the punch was engraved which was forgotten to be filed away and that has also therefore been punched into the die. When that die strikes a new flan, the burr which is incuse on the die also fills with metal giving a hairline of raised metal attached to the E. Small T shaped raised burrs have been seen on other letters and figures on other denominations in the silver series, and some copper around this time in the life of the Mint. For instance, figure 1’s seem to be susceptible in the Shilling series to have a small T shape flaw underneath them occasionally. These have been theorised to be figure 1’s over a lower figure 1 or even a smaller figure 1 from the Maundy series, but is more likely something that has emanated from a faulty punch.
1860 marks the year that James Wyon retires as resident engraver at the Mint and is succeeded by his son George Wyon.
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: £700-800
ex Spink and Son Ltd, March 2005
Calendar year mintage 2,555,958
As we enter the 1860s we start to find more engraving oddities than ever, as the quality of workmanship in the gold striking department seems to become more lax, which may partly explain why the introduction of the die number system occurred, as a means of new quality control. Once that occurred, engraving errors suddenly seem to all but disappear, as will be seen later in the chronology of the Bentley Collection.
The oddity we have here is the E in DEI which is showing extra metal around its central limb. This has been theorised to be E over a rotated E as a best fit suggestion, however this still does not seem to be the explanation. It may just be as simple as a faulty E punch entered onto the die, perhaps with a burr of metal attached to the E when the punch was engraved which was forgotten to be filed away and that has also therefore been punched into the die. When that die strikes a new flan, the burr which is incuse on the die also fills with metal giving a hairline of raised metal attached to the E. Small T shaped raised burrs have been seen on other letters and figures on other denominations in the silver series, and some copper around this time in the life of the Mint. For instance, figure 1’s seem to be susceptible in the Shilling series to have a small T shape flaw underneath them occasionally. These have been theorised to be figure 1’s over a lower figure 1 or even a smaller figure 1 from the Maundy series, but is more likely something that has emanated from a faulty punch.
1860 marks the year that James Wyon retires as resident engraver at the Mint and is succeeded by his son George Wyon.
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: £700-800