BALDWINS TO AUCTION FINAL PART OF THE BENTLEY COLLECTION

Baldwin’s are delighted to present the third and final part of this historic collection, due to be offered for sale by public auction on the 8 May in London. It will draw to a close the sale of the most spectacular and comprehensive assemblage of British gold Sovereigns. Part three will contain 307 lots of the London Royal Mint issues not already offered. Each example is described in as much detail as possible in the same vein as the previous two parts. After the final part has been sold a limited edition Collectors catalogue will be produced containing all three parts together with prices realised and any corrections made.

Lot 941, undoubtedly the highlight and the most valuable coin in this part of the sale is the George III 1819 Sovereign by Benedetto Pistrucci. The key date of the London series had a very low calendar mintage (3,574) and there are fewer than ten known examples in private hands. The preference of the public at that time was for spending and saving with banknotes instead of gold. It is suggested that most of the new sovereigns of 1817 found their way overseas with tourists wanting to spend freely on the continent and the subsequent demand therefore diminishing into the 1818 issue and beyond. Once restrictions on payment of gold were removed by the Bank of England from 1820-23 the Sovereign only then became more firmly established and took over as the payment medium from banknotes.

Elsewhere in the collection are two further high-value George III sovereigns. Lots 940 and 957, an 1816 gold pattern sovereign engraved by Thomas Wyon Jnr and an 1818 Gold Proof Sovereign, engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci are both estimated at £15,000 – 20,000.

Lot 957, an 1830 George IV, Proof Sovereign, engraved by William Wyon after Francis Chantrey’s model, depicts the head of the King facing left on the obverse and, on the reverse, carries eight hearts in the Hanoverian Arms like the currency pieces, as opposed to the seven heart semee plain edge piece published in part one of the Bentley Collection for the very first time.

For more information, see: www.baldwin .co.uk

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