Great Britain 1894 half crown
This specimen was lot 34349 in Heritage sale 3067 (Long Beach, September 2018), where it sold for $660. The catalog description[1] noted, "Great Britain: Victoria 1/2 Crown 1894 MS66 NGC. Tied for the finest certified from NGC with none graded finer by PCGS, this stunning and lustrous 1/2 crown appears to be in a class of its own. A mottled peach color highlights the soft graphite fields on the obverse, before revealing a full rainbow of iridescence in the margins that contains ever color from cobalt to seafoam to yellow to crimson. The reverse margins appear especially autumnal in tint, making the deeply impressed nature of the devices all the more clear imbuing the central shield with a frosted appearance." This bust of the queen was used from 1893 until her death in 1901. The type is fairly available but 1893 is the only date for which proofs are listed. A half crown was 2½ shillings or one-eighth of a pound.
Recorded mintage: 1,525,000, the best date.
Specification: 14.14 g, 0.925 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM 782, S-3938.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Bressett, Kenneth E., A Guide Book of English Coins, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 2nd Ed., Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing, 1962.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Rayner, P. Alan, and Maurice Bull, English Silver Coinage from 1649, 6th Ed., London: Spink & Son, 2015.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- [1]Cristiano Bierrenbach, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, 2018 September 6-11 Long Beach Expo World Coins & Ancient Coins Signature Auction #3067, Dallas: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2018.
Link to: