Sovereign Rarities Ltd
Auction 2 24 Sep 2019
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
The Impressive "Fine Work" gold Five Guineas of King William III
William III (1694-1702), gold Five Guineas, 1701, fine work style with plain sceptres on reverse, laureate head right, legend and toothed border surrounding, GVLIELMVS. III. DEI. GRA., rev. crowned cruciform shields, plain sceptres in angles, Lion of Nassau at centre, date either side of top crown, legend and toothed border surrounding, .MAG BR.FRA ET.HIB REX., edge inscribed in raised letters, upright orientation to obverse, +DECVS. ET. TVTAMEN. ANNO. REGNI. DECIMO. TERTIO+., weight 41.80g (Schneider 480; MCE 172; S.3456). Attractively toned, some light hairlines, has been graded and slabbed by NGC as MS61.
NGC certification 4862557-001.
The "Fine Work" gold Five Guineas is one of the most desirable on the merit of its design and execution, though it is in fact the most commonly encountered Five Guinea piece of the series with the highest number present on "The Rarity of Five Guinea Pieces – An Analysis" which appeared in the preface of the Samuel King Collection of Highly Important English Gold Coins sold at Spink on 5th May 2005 co-written by the present cataloguer, with 256 examples traced at that time. This is also because gold output was very high in 1701 at £1,190,019 worth of gold coins produced across the four denominations of that year. Sir Isaac Newton was by now the Master Worker of the Mint since 1699 and had applied his mind to the problem of circulating foreign gold coin in the UK which was prevalent at this time with French Louis d'Or and Spanish Pistoles both circulating in commerce at 17/6d each when compared to a freshly minted Guinea at 21/6d. Newton tested the worn foreign coin and typically found it to be worth 17/1d and emphasised to the Treasury secretary that such coin was merely bullion and not official coin of the realm. A resulting Proclamation of 5th February 1701 brought the value of the foreign coin down to 17 Shillings, with the consequence that many were sent to the Mint for converting to current coin, and some £1,400,000 worth accounted for more or less the whole coinage of 1701 and 1702 like the Five Guinea piece herewith.
Provenance:
Ex A. H. Baldwin and Sons Ltd, purchased Autumn 2011.
William III (1694-1702), gold Five Guineas, 1701, fine work style with plain sceptres on reverse, laureate head right, legend and toothed border surrounding, GVLIELMVS. III. DEI. GRA., rev. crowned cruciform shields, plain sceptres in angles, Lion of Nassau at centre, date either side of top crown, legend and toothed border surrounding, .MAG BR.FRA ET.HIB REX., edge inscribed in raised letters, upright orientation to obverse, +DECVS. ET. TVTAMEN. ANNO. REGNI. DECIMO. TERTIO+., weight 41.80g (Schneider 480; MCE 172; S.3456). Attractively toned, some light hairlines, has been graded and slabbed by NGC as MS61.
NGC certification 4862557-001.
The "Fine Work" gold Five Guineas is one of the most desirable on the merit of its design and execution, though it is in fact the most commonly encountered Five Guinea piece of the series with the highest number present on "The Rarity of Five Guinea Pieces – An Analysis" which appeared in the preface of the Samuel King Collection of Highly Important English Gold Coins sold at Spink on 5th May 2005 co-written by the present cataloguer, with 256 examples traced at that time. This is also because gold output was very high in 1701 at £1,190,019 worth of gold coins produced across the four denominations of that year. Sir Isaac Newton was by now the Master Worker of the Mint since 1699 and had applied his mind to the problem of circulating foreign gold coin in the UK which was prevalent at this time with French Louis d'Or and Spanish Pistoles both circulating in commerce at 17/6d each when compared to a freshly minted Guinea at 21/6d. Newton tested the worn foreign coin and typically found it to be worth 17/1d and emphasised to the Treasury secretary that such coin was merely bullion and not official coin of the realm. A resulting Proclamation of 5th February 1701 brought the value of the foreign coin down to 17 Shillings, with the consequence that many were sent to the Mint for converting to current coin, and some £1,400,000 worth accounted for more or less the whole coinage of 1701 and 1702 like the Five Guinea piece herewith.
Provenance:
Ex A. H. Baldwin and Sons Ltd, purchased Autumn 2011.