Stanley Gibbons Baldwin's
Auction 79 8 May 2013
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
BRITISH COINS
The Bentley Collection of British Milled Gold Sovereigns
Extremely Rare Silver Pattern for a Sovereign, Undated, c.1816George III, Pattern Sovereign, undated, struck in silver, engraved by Thomas Wyon Jnr after Pistrucci's model, laureate head right, with ties at back, four leaves at top of laurel wreath that consists of 13 leaves, toothed border on obverse only, legend GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA no punctuation, rev struck en médaille, crowned square shield of arms, quartered with the arms of Hanover as an escutcheon, five strings to Irish harp, crown with twelve jewels on left arch, twelve on right arch, central crown upright with parallel vertical lines of jewels, seven to left and seven to right, legend BRITTANIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR, no punctuation, last word weak so that upper serifs on letters absent or weak, edge straight grained milling, 5.64g, 23.7mm (cf WR 183; Montagu 588; Murdoch 253; ESC 1245 R6). With an attractive dark tone, apart from weakness in striking of legend, good extremely fine and of the highest rarity.
ex B A Seaby Ltd, February 1977
ex Herman Selig collection (part II), Coins of George III, Spink Auction 131, 2 March 1999, lot 1169
The key features of this early undated pattern are Wyon's George III portrait as used and adopted for the silver Shilling, the 13 leaf wreath with 4 leaves at the top, 5 strings to the Irish harp, as the dated silver pattern offered in part one of the Bentley Collection (lot 1), though this rendering is perhaps earlier as it is undated and the reverse has a different arrangement of the crown jewel band and arches.
Estimate: £4000-5000
The Bentley Collection of British Milled Gold Sovereigns
Extremely Rare Silver Pattern for a Sovereign, Undated, c.1816George III, Pattern Sovereign, undated, struck in silver, engraved by Thomas Wyon Jnr after Pistrucci's model, laureate head right, with ties at back, four leaves at top of laurel wreath that consists of 13 leaves, toothed border on obverse only, legend GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA no punctuation, rev struck en médaille, crowned square shield of arms, quartered with the arms of Hanover as an escutcheon, five strings to Irish harp, crown with twelve jewels on left arch, twelve on right arch, central crown upright with parallel vertical lines of jewels, seven to left and seven to right, legend BRITTANIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR, no punctuation, last word weak so that upper serifs on letters absent or weak, edge straight grained milling, 5.64g, 23.7mm (cf WR 183; Montagu 588; Murdoch 253; ESC 1245 R6). With an attractive dark tone, apart from weakness in striking of legend, good extremely fine and of the highest rarity.
ex B A Seaby Ltd, February 1977
ex Herman Selig collection (part II), Coins of George III, Spink Auction 131, 2 March 1999, lot 1169
The key features of this early undated pattern are Wyon's George III portrait as used and adopted for the silver Shilling, the 13 leaf wreath with 4 leaves at the top, 5 strings to the Irish harp, as the dated silver pattern offered in part one of the Bentley Collection (lot 1), though this rendering is perhaps earlier as it is undated and the reverse has a different arrangement of the crown jewel band and arches.
Estimate: £4000-5000