Stack's Bowers & Ponterio
August 2021 ANA Auction 16-21 Aug 2021
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
SCOTLAND. 3 Pound Piece (Portrait Ryal), 1555. Edinburgh Mint. Mary. NGC F-15.
S-5397; Fr-33; Burns-1 (fig. 819). First Period, Before Marriage. Pale yellow-gold at the centers with richer violet and crimson iridescence at the borders. The obverse is well centered with broad doubling to most of the legends and shallow irregularities at 6 and 9 o'clock. Traces of old residue are visible in the right field and throughout REGINA. The crown is tight to the edge on the reverse but the legends remain intact. An old scratch to the right of the shield has long worn into the complexion. Overall pleasing sharpness for this RARE type.
S-5397; Fr-33; Burns-1 (fig. 819). First Period, Before Marriage. Pale yellow-gold at the centers with richer violet and crimson iridescence at the borders. The obverse is well centered with broad doubling to most of the legends and shallow irregularities at 6 and 9 o'clock. Traces of old residue are visible in the right field and throughout REGINA. The crown is tight to the edge on the reverse but the legends remain intact. An old scratch to the right of the shield has long worn into the complexion. Overall pleasing sharpness for this RARE type.
The tree pound piece, and its fractions, displays one of the earliest numismatic portraits of Mary and the only individual portrait ever rendered in gold. While designated as "nobles" in the official records, "three pound piece" soon became the shorthand for this regal issue. Burns reports early references to them as "the pund piece with the quenis face" in 1591 and as the "Scotis thrie pund peces" in 1596. Also called a portrait ryal by modern collectors, this issue remains incredibly elusive with only about a half-dozen offered publicly in the past two decades.
From the Loch Ness Collection.
Estimate: $12000 - $18000