Great Britain 1949 half crown
This specimen was lot 3940 in Goldberg sale 85 (Los Angeles, June 2015), where it sold for $3,408. The catalog description[1] noted, "Great Britain. VIP Proof Halfcrown, 1949. George VI. Obverse portrait of king by H Paget left. Reverse, Royal arms with interlinked crowned Gs at sides. An excessively rare coin from the later years of the reign of the brother of King Edward VIII. There are probably only around 5 or 6 of these 'VIP' Proof coins known - an insufficient mintage to satisfy today's collectors - and they were given as presentation pieces. A brilliant mint state specimen. NGC graded Proof 67." This type was issued in large numbers 1949-52 but the matte proofs are rare.
Recorded mintage: 28,273,000 plus proofs.
Specification: 14.14 g, copper-nickel, 32.3 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-879.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- 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, 1901-2000, 47th 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.
- [1]Goldberg, Ira, Larry Goldberg, Aleeza Brown, Yifu Che, Jason Villareal and Stephen Harvey, Goldberg Sale 85: the Pre-Long Beach Auction, Los Angeles: Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, 2015.
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