Stanley Gibbons Baldwin's
Auction 79 8 May 2013
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G BRITISH COINS
The Bentley Collection of British Milled Gold Sovereigns
1862 Sovereign with So-called F Over Inverted A Variety
Victoria, Sovereign, 1862, spread date with hooked open 6, second larger young head left, WW incuse on truncation without stops, date below, last A die flawed with some doubling, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, emblems below, some doubling of legend in first word, last F of legend over indeterminate figure, perhaps a rotated F, but is the variety Marsh recognises as F over inverted A, 7.97g (Marsh 45A R2; MCE 523; S 3852D). Once cleaned, good very fine, reverse a little better and very rare.
ex Spink Auction, 24 September 2003, lot 1524
Calendar year mintage 7,836,413
This intriguing variety has puzzled numismatists for some time. Marsh recognised the variety early on and lists it as F over inverted A. The letter F of DEF clearly has two raised prongs sticking out of the top bar. The best conclusion when this was first discovered was that this could only be an inverted A. However, the width between the prongs is too narrow for the feet of an A or a V for that matter. This cataloguer often though it could be the result of a rotated character underneath, but nothing seems to fit the narrow width between the prongs. More recent thought by this cataloguer in the light of other Sovereign varieties seen tends to swing thinking towards merely an unfinished F punch used for this final F on this die, with extra burrs of unfinished metal adhered to the top of the F. Note however the previous F in the legend shows no such characteristic. It is still not conclusive what this last letter F is over or not as the case may be. It seems likely to be excess metal of some kind and is nevertheless a rarely seen variety
.
Estimate: £800-1000
The Bentley Collection of British Milled Gold Sovereigns
1862 Sovereign with So-called F Over Inverted A Variety
Victoria, Sovereign, 1862, spread date with hooked open 6, second larger young head left, WW incuse on truncation without stops, date below, last A die flawed with some doubling, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, emblems below, some doubling of legend in first word, last F of legend over indeterminate figure, perhaps a rotated F, but is the variety Marsh recognises as F over inverted A, 7.97g (Marsh 45A R2; MCE 523; S 3852D). Once cleaned, good very fine, reverse a little better and very rare.
ex Spink Auction, 24 September 2003, lot 1524
Calendar year mintage 7,836,413
This intriguing variety has puzzled numismatists for some time. Marsh recognised the variety early on and lists it as F over inverted A. The letter F of DEF clearly has two raised prongs sticking out of the top bar. The best conclusion when this was first discovered was that this could only be an inverted A. However, the width between the prongs is too narrow for the feet of an A or a V for that matter. This cataloguer often though it could be the result of a rotated character underneath, but nothing seems to fit the narrow width between the prongs. More recent thought by this cataloguer in the light of other Sovereign varieties seen tends to swing thinking towards merely an unfinished F punch used for this final F on this die, with extra burrs of unfinished metal adhered to the top of the F. Note however the previous F in the legend shows no such characteristic. It is still not conclusive what this last letter F is over or not as the case may be. It seems likely to be excess metal of some kind and is nevertheless a rarely seen variety
.
Estimate: £800-1000