Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 34 12 Jun 2019
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G British Coins, Victoria, pattern five pounds, 1839, young head l., 5 scrolls on front fillet, rev. 'Una and the Lion' without garter star on queen's shoulder, DIRIGIT legend, plain edge (S.3851; W&R.277; Douglas-Morris 228), some filing on edge, an appealing example of this classic coin despite hairlines on the surfaces and a few contact marks, otherwise about FDC, the masterpiece of engraver William Wyon
The plain edge type with DIRIGIT in the legend is exceedingly rare – in fact twenty times as rare as the lettered edge type. Its time-honoured design based on the Elizabethan episodic poem The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser, this famous coin designed by William Wyon was originally struck for inclusion in the young Queen Victoria's Coronation proof set of 1839, but collector demand continued through 1887 and the Royal Mint produced additional pieces all during that time. As well, patterns were made of slightly varying style, including the coin offered in this lot. Patterns all show the reverse legend as it appears on this specimen. The images, both the portrait and the famed Una leading the lion, seem as if chiselled from stone, they are so sharp. The reverse seems to suggest that England had a boundless future under its young, vibrant, teenaged queen, and indeed the 64 years of her reign came to be known as the Victorian Age. The reverse legend reads 'May God Direct My Steps', and so it seems He did as the Empire reached its finest hour under Victoria's eye.
(40000-60000 GBP)
The plain edge type with DIRIGIT in the legend is exceedingly rare – in fact twenty times as rare as the lettered edge type. Its time-honoured design based on the Elizabethan episodic poem The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser, this famous coin designed by William Wyon was originally struck for inclusion in the young Queen Victoria's Coronation proof set of 1839, but collector demand continued through 1887 and the Royal Mint produced additional pieces all during that time. As well, patterns were made of slightly varying style, including the coin offered in this lot. Patterns all show the reverse legend as it appears on this specimen. The images, both the portrait and the famed Una leading the lion, seem as if chiselled from stone, they are so sharp. The reverse seems to suggest that England had a boundless future under its young, vibrant, teenaged queen, and indeed the 64 years of her reign came to be known as the Victorian Age. The reverse legend reads 'May God Direct My Steps', and so it seems He did as the Empire reached its finest hour under Victoria's eye.
(40000-60000 GBP)