Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 22027 - The "Ellerby Area" Hoard of English Gold Coins
Lot: 241

The Remarkable "Ellerby Area" Hoard of English Gold Coins (1610-1727) | NGC AU55 ~ Mint Error | George I (1714-1727), A Reverse Brockage Guinea, 1720, obverse as tail but incuse, rev. crowned shields cruciform, six strings to harp, six hearts to Hanoverian shield, edge obliquely milled, 8.34g [128.7grns], 12h (PAS: YORYM-18E848 = BM 2019 T668/238 this coin; cf. MCE 252; cf. Farey 640; cf. EGC 512; cf. Spink 3631), a trace of haymarking below French shield on reverse (proper) and a small dig below 1 of date, otherwise a spectacular example of this mint error, bright and lustrous and well-centred, a really pleasingly good very fine, of the highest rarity, with brockages seldom if ever encountered in the English early milled gold series and all the more extraordinary given the private hoard context, the undisputed doyen of this sale, with NGC 'Ellerby' Certification, graded MINT ERROR AU55 (#6380983-238)

Only three brockages of the Guinea series have appeared at worldwide public auction since the millenium. A reverse brockage of a 1694 Guinea (NGC VF30 - Heritage, 15 April 2011, lot 24085 - $12,000); and curiously two examples from the reign of King George I - both obverse brockages. The fourth bust (1716-1723) Guinea (NGC VF25 - Heritage, 6 January 2019, lot 30568 - $7,200) is joined by a second bust (1725-1727) Half-Guinea (SJA 31, 16 December 2014, lot 60 - £4,400). Given the 250 years of issue of the Guinea, it is evident how excessively rare such a mint error ever entering circulation truly is. Mercifully thanks to the careful storage conditions of Sarah Fernley, this survives not only as the most striking example of such a brockage, but the finest by some margin ever to be encountered at auction.

Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£52,000

Starting price
£2500