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- *1820 George III Gold Pattern Two Sovereign Graded NGC PF61 CAMEO
*1820 George III Gold Pattern Two Sovereign Graded NGC PF61 CAMEO
Obverse:
The King's head right, laureate with short hair; the tie has a loop with two ends, neck bare. The date appears at the bottom of the coin below the truncation. Obverse Legend: GEORGIUS III D:G:BRITANNIARUM REX F: D:
Reverse:
St George with streamer flowing from helmet, mounted and slaying the dragon with a sword. No Legend. The designer's initials B.P. for Benedetto Pistrucci appear in the emerge to the right below the ground line.
Edge Inscribed: DECUS ET TUTAMEN. ANNOREGNI LX.
Condition:
Click here for this coins NGC Authentication & Population Report.
Graded by NGC International as Proof 61 Cameo. Weak or average strike with no trace of wear. More marks and/or multiple large abrasions.
Click here for detailed information on NGC Grading Scales.
Reference: Marsh T1 | Mintage: 60 | Rating: Rare 3
Edge: Inscribed | Die Axis: Reverse | Type: Pattern | Mint: London
Weight: 15.98g | Diameter: 28.40mm | Fineness: 22ct | Gold Content: 0.4706 troy oz
Comment:
The Latin legends translate as "George the Third by the grace of God, King of the Britons, Defender of the Faith" on the obverse, with the edge inscription translating as "an ornament and a safeguard, in the 60th year of the reign" a reference to the safeguarding of the coin from the by then defunct illegal practice of clipping the edges of the coins which was prevalent in the hammered period of minting over a 150 years before.
These extremely rare Two Sovereign pieces, as they were officially called then, were struck along with the even rarer and larger Five Sovereign pieces dated 1820 in late January 1820. Only the larger Five Sovereigns and Two Sovereigns as they were called had not come to fruition as gold coins were experiencing a slow reintroduction following on from the Napoleonic Wars and the more widespread use of banknotes for larger transactions. The shift back to a staple gold coinage was not really fully in vogue until a few years into the reign of George IV, and no large gold coins had been produced for currency since the last Five Guinea pieces dated 1753 were produced in calendar year 1754.
Brother of the Duke of Wellington and Master of the Mint William Wellesley Pole was keen to introduce the larger Five and Two Sovereign pieces and set Italian engraver Benedetto Pistrucci as "Chief" in all but name to work on the project which seemed to be reaching its resulting struck culmination as the sickly King neared the end of his long life on the evening of the 29th January 1820. The Victorian writer Edward Hawkins says the Mint workers produced the coins through the night that the King passed away, producing these coins effectively as a limited edition a "momento mori" to the King.
In his 1850 Numismatic Chronicle article Edward Hawkins gives the names of the recipients of the Five Sovereign pieces of which 25 lettered edge pieces were struck. The Two Sovereign pieces were also supposed to be limited to 25 examples, however Hawkins says that 60 lettered edge pieces were struck by mistake. A number of these Two Sovereign pieces have found their way into institutional collections, therefore only a limited number of the 60 pieces thought to have been minted have survived to the present day for collectors to possess. Credit Sovereign Rarities.
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