Baldwin & Sons
Auction 88 8 May 2014
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BRITISH COINS, MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS, Victoria, hand-written unsigned note on embossed "Osborne" headed notepaper, 174mm x 113mm, with 11mm black border frame, dated August 14th 1870, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, statesman Robert Lowe (1811-1892; Chancellor 1868-1873, later Viscount Sherbrooke from 1880) approving a design change to the sovereign and a wish to retain specimen coins. The letter reads:-
"The Queen ack-nowledges the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Letter of the 16th & entirely approves the suggestion of issuing the Sovereigns of which he sends her a specimen case – currently within the other coins in use. May she retain the tracing-? He has received the returns?
Aug: 14.1870"
With one horizontal crease otherwise in very good condition. ex St James's Auction 4, 8 May 2006, lot 722 (part)
Supplied with a copy of a letter from the Royal Archives, dated 1 March 2007, where three letters including this were submitted for comparison to those in the Archive. The accompanying copy of the letter from the Assistant Archivist, confirms that this note offered herewith, appears to be in Queen Victoria's hand, and compares well with other unsigned notes the Queen wrote herself rather than dictating to a private secretary.
The content of the note shows approval for issuing the Sovereigns which led to the reintroduction and revival from 1871 of St George & the dragon of the same design as used for George IV 1821-1825. The "tracing" referred to must refer to some art work or drawings.
This note does make one wonder if the specimen coins seen by the Queen at this juncture included the unusual George III reverse design pattern (WR 313; Bentley 1211) of which there is only one recorded in private hands, or whether it was the more commonly encountered 1871 Proof Sovereign.
Estimate: £500-700
"The Queen ack-nowledges the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Letter of the 16th & entirely approves the suggestion of issuing the Sovereigns of which he sends her a specimen case – currently within the other coins in use. May she retain the tracing-? He has received the returns?
Aug: 14.1870"
With one horizontal crease otherwise in very good condition. ex St James's Auction 4, 8 May 2006, lot 722 (part)
Supplied with a copy of a letter from the Royal Archives, dated 1 March 2007, where three letters including this were submitted for comparison to those in the Archive. The accompanying copy of the letter from the Assistant Archivist, confirms that this note offered herewith, appears to be in Queen Victoria's hand, and compares well with other unsigned notes the Queen wrote herself rather than dictating to a private secretary.
The content of the note shows approval for issuing the Sovereigns which led to the reintroduction and revival from 1871 of St George & the dragon of the same design as used for George IV 1821-1825. The "tracing" referred to must refer to some art work or drawings.
This note does make one wonder if the specimen coins seen by the Queen at this juncture included the unusual George III reverse design pattern (WR 313; Bentley 1211) of which there is only one recorded in private hands, or whether it was the more commonly encountered 1871 Proof Sovereign.
Estimate: £500-700