Australia: Victoria gold Proof Pattern Sovereign 1853-SYDNEY PR63 Ultra Cameo NGC,...

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Legendary 1853 Sydney Pattern Sovereign - Presumed Unique in Private Hands

Victoria gold Proof Pattern Sovereign 1853-SYDNEY PR63 Ultra Cameo NGC, London mint, KM-Pn2, McDonald-101 (this coin), Rennik-pg. 24 (this coin cited), Marsh-A358 (R6), QM-24 (R7; this coin). 7.13gm. By James Wyon. A giant of the Australian series by absolutely all measures--the famed "Sydney Mint" Pattern Sovereign of 1853, the first Sovereign for the colony and one of only 4 originally produced. Commissioned following the announcement that Sydney would host the first Royal Mint branch outside of Britain in August 1853, this issue was produced by James Wyon as what was intended to be a design unique to the new mint. Completed over a year before the first circulating coins were struck at Sydney on June 23, 1855, Wyon captured a youthful portrait of Victoria in resolute and lifelike proportions that would be only slightly altered in the final design by his cousin, Leonard Charles Wyon, used on the emissions of 1855. It is thought that the reverse was loosely modeled on contemporary English 6 Pences and Shillings, with "Sydney Mint Australia" and the denomination arranged around a splay of flowers and a crown. Carefully picked out in soft frost against a darkened, mirrorlike backdrop, it seems fair to say that Wyon's engraving skill was hardly afforded a more ideal canvas, and certainly speaks volumes to the quality intended for what was to be a singular coinage within the British Empire.

Presumed unique in private hands, all other specimens are permanently impounded in museum collections--one presently residing in the British Museum (1854,1223.20), with the other two in the Royal Mint Museum in Wales (recorded in William Hocking's The Catalogue of the Coins, Tokens, Medals, Dies and Seals in the Museum of the Royal Mint, Vol I - Coins and Tokens, pg. 325 as entries 4261-4262); notably, there are none in Australian institutions, and this date was absent from famed Murdoch Collection for both the Sovereign and 1/2 Sovereign. Off the market for the last 12+ years, the present opportunity can be regarded as nothing short of once-in-a-lifetime for even the most advanced Australian and British Commonwealth collectors.

Ex. Quartermaster Collection (Monetarium, Australia June 2009, Lot 24); Monetarium, Australia to Tom Hadley (Quartermaster) in 1992; Spink Noble Numismatics Auction 39 (July 1992, Lot 1043) [part]; Spink Australia Auction 6 (November 1981, Lot 982) [part]; Sold by private treaty to A. H. F. Baldwin; Sold by private treaty to John Ahbe; Captain Vivian Hewitt Collection

From the Regent Collection

More information about Australian Coins. See also: Australia World Coin Nationality.

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