Great Britain 1866 1/2 sovereign
This specimen was lot 21208 in Heritage sale 3010 (Boston, August 2010), where it sold for $1,265. The catalog description[1] noted, "Victoria Half Sovereign 1866, Young Head, Die #21, MS63 NGC, bold strike, satiny luster with light abrasions accounting for the numerical grade assigned; lightly clashed dies. Lots of eye appeal for the grade, a desirable piece." This bust was used on the half sovereign, or ten shilling coin, 1838-85. This date is somewhat common. Die numbering was an experiment done at the mint 1863-80 apparently in an attempt to gather data on die life. Die numbers are also noted on sixpences, shillings, florins and sovereigns.
Recorded mintage: 2,059,000.
Specification: 3.99 g, 0.917 fine gold.
Catalog reference: KM 735.2; S.3860.
- [1]Tucker, Warren, Scott Cordry and John Kraljevich, Heritage Sale 3010: World Coins, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2010.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Bressett, Kenneth E., A Guide Book of English Coins, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 2nd Ed., Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing, 1962.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
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