★ Extremely Rare Pattern - XF45 NGC. ★

Greece, King George I, 1863-1913. AV Essai Pattern 10 Drachmai, 1869 E (ESSAI), Paris mint, with “E” instead of “A” (mintmark) on the obverse and “E” on reverse below wreath, by Désiré-Alber Barre (KM-E10; Divo P74, RRR; IV13).

There are very few coins of the Greek series that are rare to a point where someone considers themselves lucky to handle or encounter. This is one of the pieces which falls into this category. An example displaying original fields, underlying luster with wear visible only on high-points. A real rarity.

At the time of Divo’s publication in 1969, the author mentioned that he knew of only 3 examples, one was in the Farouk Collection and the other two in private collections, of this extremely rare pattern.

Graded XF45 NGC.

Only one other graded example.