Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3035 3-5 September 2014
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Great Britain
George I gold 1/2 Guinea 1727 MS64 PCGS, S-3637, 2nd Laureate Head, curious error in obverse legend with the king's name spelled as "GEOPGIVS", a real jewel of a coin, exceedingly choice, with a bold strike showing all digits and letters crisply formed and the small portrait being superb, nearly immaculate surfaces, and gleaming mint luster -- a truly wondrous example of the last of only three dates struck of this type. Very rare in this grade, and in fact the entire series of "halves" -- the half guineas and the half sovereigns -- are generally rarer than the larger gold coins and yet pretty much ignored by collectors; not so rare in mediocre grades or even in sort-of XF or AU grades, but in spectacular conditions such as seen on this truly lovely half guinea of the first of the Hanoverian kings. And it is on the reverse of such coins as this that the standard royal title (contained on the obverse legend) explicates, in abbreviated Latin, the new king's German titles: Duke of Brunswick and Luneberg, Arch Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire, and Elector. Ironically, these were in their day far more important titles for a German nobleman than was being King of England, because of the vast wealth and influence of the German empire. Importantly, it was through Hanover that virtually all mail in Europe passed, and that mail was regularly opened and read by the German postal officials looking for secrets, and in this capacity the Hanoverians held the high card, as it were, militarily and in finance. The final German title shown on this coin, "EL" for Elector, however, was the most important of all -- for it is how this Prince Elector came to be King of England. When Queen Anne died in the summer of 1714, mother of fourteen children who all predeceased her, there was no direct heir to the throne, and Parliament, not wishing to undergo another "bloodless revolution" such as had ushered in William and Mary, chose as her successor the most direct blood relative, the Empress Sophia of Hanover. England would have had a Queen Sophia had she not suddenly passed away. As a consequence, her eldest son became the next English king and thus began the Hanoverian line of monarchs. The gleaming gold coin offered in this lot was one of his last coins, as George I passed away on the 11th of June 1727, having seldom visited his new kingdom.From The Law Collection
Estimate: 5000-6500 USD
George I gold 1/2 Guinea 1727 MS64 PCGS, S-3637, 2nd Laureate Head, curious error in obverse legend with the king's name spelled as "GEOPGIVS", a real jewel of a coin, exceedingly choice, with a bold strike showing all digits and letters crisply formed and the small portrait being superb, nearly immaculate surfaces, and gleaming mint luster -- a truly wondrous example of the last of only three dates struck of this type. Very rare in this grade, and in fact the entire series of "halves" -- the half guineas and the half sovereigns -- are generally rarer than the larger gold coins and yet pretty much ignored by collectors; not so rare in mediocre grades or even in sort-of XF or AU grades, but in spectacular conditions such as seen on this truly lovely half guinea of the first of the Hanoverian kings. And it is on the reverse of such coins as this that the standard royal title (contained on the obverse legend) explicates, in abbreviated Latin, the new king's German titles: Duke of Brunswick and Luneberg, Arch Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire, and Elector. Ironically, these were in their day far more important titles for a German nobleman than was being King of England, because of the vast wealth and influence of the German empire. Importantly, it was through Hanover that virtually all mail in Europe passed, and that mail was regularly opened and read by the German postal officials looking for secrets, and in this capacity the Hanoverians held the high card, as it were, militarily and in finance. The final German title shown on this coin, "EL" for Elector, however, was the most important of all -- for it is how this Prince Elector came to be King of England. When Queen Anne died in the summer of 1714, mother of fourteen children who all predeceased her, there was no direct heir to the throne, and Parliament, not wishing to undergo another "bloodless revolution" such as had ushered in William and Mary, chose as her successor the most direct blood relative, the Empress Sophia of Hanover. England would have had a Queen Sophia had she not suddenly passed away. As a consequence, her eldest son became the next English king and thus began the Hanoverian line of monarchs. The gleaming gold coin offered in this lot was one of his last coins, as George I passed away on the 11th of June 1727, having seldom visited his new kingdom.From The Law Collection
Estimate: 5000-6500 USD