THE BENTLEY COLLECTION OF MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS.
PART TWO. Royal Mint Issues – London. Victoria, Sovereign, 1864, die number 27, second larger young head left, WW incuse on truncation without stops, date below doubled, sharp top to 4, curvy rounded 6 with bulbous top, a hint of doubling of legend both sides, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, die number 27 below, emblems below, 7.98g (Marsh 49; MCE 525; S 3853). Once cleaned, some light surface marks and scuffs, extremely fine.
ex Randy Weir Numismatics, Unionville, Ontario, Canada, purchased 18 September 1995
Calendar year mintage 8,656,352
This coin shows a reversion to the curvy 6 but this time it is coupled with the sharp topped 4 which is usually seen with the hooked 6. There are only seven instances of this combination in 1864 die number sovereigns in the Bentley Collection, with sporadic occurrences between die numbers 21 and 36.
see footnote on Lot 443 for a brief synopsis of the 1864 die numbers and Lot 433 re the types of 6.
Estimate: £300-400