Baldwin & Sons
Auction 88 8 May 2014
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BRITISH COINS, MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS, George V, Gold Sovereign, 1917, bare head left, B.M. on truncation, latter stop weak and smaller, toothed border and raised rim, georgivs v d: g: britt: omn: rex f: d: ind: imp:, rev struck en médaille, St George slaying dragon with sword, horse with long tail, broken lance on groundline to left, wwp in relief under lance, date in exergue, tiny b.p. to upper right, finely toothed border within twin linear concentric circles and raised rim (Bentley 363; Marsh 219; MCE 645; S 3996). Some bagmarks, surface marks and hairlines, one small dig above snout of horse on the reverse, otherwise extremely fine and finer than the recent Bentley example, the rarest London mint Sovereign of the 20th Century.
Calendar year mintage 1,014,714
Three years into war and still over one million Sovereigns were produced for the reserves of the Bank of England. Nearly all the 1917 issue were exported to America in lieu of payments and most were never seen by the public. They were held probably at Fort Knox for many years until the USA passed the Gold Reserve Act at the time of the Great Depression in 1934 where all coin was converted to bars. The scant few genuine survivors we have today, were those that ended up in overseas payment to other nations other than the USA, and before 1925 for the reasons set out in the previous lot.
The London mint totalled an output of 122,787,360 Sovereigns across a mere eight dates during the reign of George V. This was over 18 million more than were produced in London during the whole reign of Edward VII which was for nine different dates.
Estimate: £10,000-12,000
Calendar year mintage 1,014,714
Three years into war and still over one million Sovereigns were produced for the reserves of the Bank of England. Nearly all the 1917 issue were exported to America in lieu of payments and most were never seen by the public. They were held probably at Fort Knox for many years until the USA passed the Gold Reserve Act at the time of the Great Depression in 1934 where all coin was converted to bars. The scant few genuine survivors we have today, were those that ended up in overseas payment to other nations other than the USA, and before 1925 for the reasons set out in the previous lot.
The London mint totalled an output of 122,787,360 Sovereigns across a mere eight dates during the reign of George V. This was over 18 million more than were produced in London during the whole reign of Edward VII which was for nine different dates.
Estimate: £10,000-12,000