MORE SOVEREIGN RARITIES AUCTION 10 SELECTIONS

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V26 2023 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 26, Number 39, September 24, 2023, Article 20

Here are some final selections from the upcoming Sovereign Rarities Auction 10. Nice coins! -Editor

Sovereign Rarities E-Sylum ad Auction 10

The day is almost upon us for Sovereign Rarities Auction 10, starting at 10:30am on Tuesday the 26th of September. This week we'll be highlighting some of our selection of Modern, Islamic, World, and Commemorative Medals. These include an Elizabeth II 2020 and 2022 gold proof 5oz ‘Three Graces' and ‘200th Anniversary of the Death of George III'; a gold Afghani Mohur of Durrani Taimur Shah; a Chinese gold Sycee c.1750 from the Nanking Cargo Hoard, a silver Ingot from the Russo-Chinese Bank; a gold Dutch 1619 Cavalier d'Or from Utrecht; a gold Portuguese 1833 Peça (or 7500 Reis) of Maria II; and lastly, a large silver Diamond Jubilee Medal of Queen Victoria.

The design reflected the cultural zeitgeist of Wyon's era. This was a time of renewed interest in the classical world – the Elgin Marbles had recently been transported from Greece to Britain – and Wyon looked to neoclassical sculptures like Antonio Canova's The Three Graces for inspiration. In Greek mythology, the Three Graces are the daughters of Zeus, the ruler of the gods on Mount Olympus. Classical texts describe them as being able to bestow certain qualities upon mortals: Euphrosyne (mirth), Aglaia (elegance) and Thalia (youth and beauty). Extracting them from their usual artistic setting, Wyon recast them as figures representing England, Scotland and Ireland. Coming soon after the 1801 Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland, Wyon set out to convey the equality of the two nations.

Lot 223: Elizabeth II 2020 gold proof 5oz '200th Anniversary of the Death of George III' PF70 UCAM

This weighty 2020 5 ounces of Ten Pounds piece was struck in .999 fine gold to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Death of King George III on the 29th of January 1820. A striking and rare piece, the reverse design shares an uncanny similarity with the style of Benedetto Pistrucci, the King's favourite engraver, as well as Pistrucci's portrait of the King issued for the Great Recoinage of 1816. Graded by NGC as PF70 Ultra Cameo, and with a First Day of Issue designation, this certainly isn't one to miss out on.

A year before the death of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the Sikhs conquered Multan in 1772. Timur Shah ascended to the throne of the Durrani Empire after his father's death. Due to Sikhs having been in possession of the provinces of Lahore and Multan, these provinces served as a barrier for any attempt by Timur Shah to invade. Timur Shah thereupon tried to recover Multan by diplomacy, which only resulted in his diplomat being executed by Sikh bandits. This aggravation led to the Battle of Rohtas in 1779, around the time this coin was struck.

The "Nanking" wreck subsequently proved to be the VOC Retourschip Geldermalsen. She was built in 1742 for the Zeeland chamber of the VOC, with a tonnage equivalent to 1,155 metric tonnes, one of the largest Dutch Eastindiamen. She foundered on a coral reef in the South China Sea in January 1752. The celebrated Amsterdam auction disposed of over 100,000 pieces of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain and 124 10-Tael gold sycees, eighteen of which were shoe-shaped and 106 of this rectangular shape.

Under the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) that ended the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing empire had to pay a significant indemnity to Japan. French and Russians were involved in the syndication of Chinese government borrowing to raise the indemnity funds, and soon felt the need for a dedicated institution to handle the corresponding loans. The decision to create the Russo-Chinese Bank was made on the 5th December 1895 at the Russian Embassy in Paris - a joint initiative of Russian finance minister Sergei Witte and French diplomat Auguste Gérard. By the start of the 20th century, the Russo-Chinese bank was the second largest bank in all of mainland China.

This gold 1619 Cavalier d'Or of Utrecht in the Netherlands is one of great pieces of numismatic design ever to come out of the Low Countries. By all accounts a rarer date for the issue, the 1619 was only first recorded in the Delmonte guide as a standard strike in his revision of the book in 1978, in which he managed to give a breakdown of mintages for the years 1608-1620. Few of these examples ever come up, with even fewer garnering a mint state designation from NGC or PCGS.

Maria's first reign was interrupted by the absolutist uprising led by her uncle, fiancé and regent Miguel, who proclaimed himself King of Portugal on the 23rd June 1828. This lead to the Liberal Wars which lasted until 1834, the year in which Maria was restored to the throne and Miguel exiled to Germany. In 1836 she married Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was proclaimed King Dom Fernando II a year later in accordance with Portuguese law. She faced a series of difficult pregnancies and ultimately died in childbirth in 1853 at the age of 34.

On the 20th June 1897, the sixtieth anniversary of her accession, Victoria wrote in her journal: This eventful day, 1897 has opened, and I pray God to help and protect me as He has hitherto done these sixty long eventful years! I feel sad at the new losses I have sustained, especially the last one of our beloved Liko! God will surely help me on! How well I remember this day sixty years ago when I was called from my bed by dear Mama to receive the news of my accession! This large silver medal commemorating the event was designed by George William de Saulles, incorporating earlier designs by Thomas Brock and William Wyon.

There's still time to bid, so please register on our website at www.sovr.co.uk! As mentioned prior, the live auction commences at 10:30am on Tuesday 26th September. You can view the auction online or in-person at our office at 17-19 Maddox Street, Mayfair, W1S 2QH. Good luck to all those bidding, and we thank you for your participation.