George V gold Sovereign 1923-S MS64 PCGS, Sydney mint, KM29, S-4003. An outstanding selection from the Sydney mint with exquisite, harvest-gold color that dazzles across fresh, satiny fields, tied for finest graded by either NGC or PCGS. Other than a few small ticks on the reverse motif which preclude a finer designation, this piece is seemingly free of any noteworthy blemishes. According to Challis, the rarity of this issue lies not only in its exceptional preservation, nor in its low, original mintage of 416,000 pieces, but in the understanding that some 90 million Sovereigns were melted down and converted into bars for the Bank of England in the early 1930s, with a sizeable portion of those coming from the South African and Australian mints. Thus, it is believed that an extremely small group of specimens, perhaps no more than 25 pieces with this date and mint combination, were thought to have survived. We offered this same coin at our August 2015 auction where it realized $32,000 hammer; we do not doubt its exceptional rarity and quality will attract similarly spirited bidding. From the Caranett Collection of Sovereigns - #1 PCGS Registry Sets

HID09801242017

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