SOVEREIGN RARITIES AUCTION 10

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V26 2023 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 26, Number 37, September 10, 2023, Article 23

Here's the announcement for Auction 10 from Sovereign Rarities in London. A nice mix of great coins. -Editor

Sovereign Rarities E-Sylum ad Auction 10

Another year has rolled by all too fast and the Coinex season is upon us again, so it is with great pleasure that we invite you to view and bid in Sovereign Rarities Auction No. 10. With a few recent additions to the team, now numbering 12 permanent staff, we all look forward to welcoming you to our Mayfair office and our stand at Coinex. The auction comprises of 351 lots, including Ancient, British Hammered and Milled, World Coins, Commemorative Medals and Banknotes. Below we've highlighted a selection of Ancient and Hammered pieces, among many, that feature in the sale.

Early posthumous issue, Magnesia ad Meandrum, c. 319-305 BC, head of Athena right, rev. A?????????, Nike standing left, holding wreath and stylis, owl beneath left wing, monogram under right, thyrsus in right field, 8.51g, 11h (Price 1964 var [monogram as 1963]. Graded by NGC as Ch XF Strike 5/5 Surface 3/5, scarce with these field symbols.

Rome, Aug.-Dec. AD 165, L. VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, rev. TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Victory standing right, placing shield inscribed VIC AVG on palm tree, 7.27g, 5h (RIC III 525 [Marcus Aurelius]). Graded by NGC as Choice AU* 5/5 5/5 "Fine Style".

Lot 8: Alfred the Great portrait silver Penny, London mint, moneyer Tilewine AU Details The portrait silver Penny with the monogram of Londonia on the reverse has always been the most desirable type coin of Alfred for any collector to attain in their collection. The example demonstrated here has the rarer smaller London monogram with moneyer name above and below. For further reference see "The London Monogram Coinage of Alfred the Great and the Danelaw" by William A. Mackay, British Numismatic Journal, volume 89, 2019, pages 19-107.

Queen Mary issued all her gold coinage to the fine standard of 23 carats and 3½ grains (0.995 fine) and to the weight of 240 grains (15.55g) as originally set by her grandfather, King Henry VII. Mary's hammered gold sovereigns, are the only issue of this hammered gold coin denomination that carry an actual date, albeit in Roman numerals, either 1553 or 1554.

First introduced in 1604 and struck in some of the finest gold of the period, the Rose Ryal (so called for the large rose centred on the reverse) is one of the most iconic hammered coins in British history, and one of the most sought after by collectors. This particular example is attractively toned and well-struck. The unique Latin legend on the reverse translates as This is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes, taken from a Bible Psalm that was particularly liked by the King.

The weight is in the same range of the second coinage Rose Ryal of King James I issued some 20 years previously and this coin may have been made to test the reaction of the introduction of the thirty-shilling face value as opposed to a lighter twenty-shilling piece. This coin also fits into the weight pattern of the unique pattern Triple Unite (Sixty Shillings of gold) by Van Der Dort that was sold in the Baldwin Rarity auction of ex vault stock back in 2006, that coin weighed 27.20g and sold for a then record price of £241,500 which also supports this pattern herewith as a Thirty Shilling face value. Such practice of un-denominated coins issued and accepted on their weight was already a system in use in the Germanic parts of Europe with issues of multiple ducats with face value based upon weight. As a struck pattern coin this piece is of the highest numismatic importance.

This is the largest denomination gold coin of the Commonwealth, with all hammered coins of this period being the first British coins to have legends in plain English. The gold of the third long accounting period of the Commonwealth totalled £23,111 from 1st December 1653 until 30th November 1657 which covers four different dates. The 1656 Unite is rarer than the Oliver Cromwell gold portrait Broad of the same face value and survival is actually not a great deal different from that of the Fifty Shillings also of 1656.

This coin does not have the inverted A for V on the reverse as per the Bull entry. The Commonwealth coinage was the only to have legends in English language until the 1953 Crown of Queen Elizabeth had an edge inscription in English.

We hope you get time to visit us and view everything on offer, as well as our extensive retail stock. If not in person though, please feel free to visit our website and view the auction digitally at www.sovr.co.uk. Good luck to all those bidding!