George VI gold Matte Proof 1/2 Sovereign 1937 PR64 PCGS, KM858, S-4077, W&R-443 (R7). A bona fide numismatic treasure of the absolute highest rarity. In December 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated after less than a year on the throne in order to marry the divorcee Wallis Simpson, thrusting his reluctant brother George into the position of King as George VI. Accordingly, the painstakingly prepared dies bearing Edward's portrait had to be discarded and new dies produced bearing George's visage, and from these the 1937 coronation Proof Sets were struck. 5501 of these sets were produced in gold available for collectors to purchase, making them a not-uncommon sight today; however, at the time, issues arose as to how to include images of these new coin sets within adverts. Photographic technology had yet to be perfected in the late 1930s, particularly where numismatics was concerned. Whilst early coin sales catalogues had made do with simply creating wax casts of coins for inclusion as plates (a practice which may make numismatists today shudder), flash photography was the vogue by this point, and yet this method could not be applied to brilliant Proofs due to the issues of the metal's reflectivity. Consequently, with limited options open to them, the Royal Mint had no choice but to alter the surfaces of the coins themselves to dull them, rendering them suitable for flash photography. Whilst matte proofs are typically made by sandblasting the dies before production begins, each matte proof coin of George VI had to be sandblasted individually! Only a tiny number of coins underwent this laborious process, making them exceedingly elusive and desirable today. Visually captivating, one is so used to seeing brilliant Proof examples of this year that the present matte offering is a dynamic departure. The planchet is colored a mustard-yellow, a light russet tone playing at the peripheries; whereas some examples which underwent the sandblasting process develop a 'stippled' texture to their surfaces, this piece manages to appear smooth and sleek yet with no reflectivity whatsoever - a perfect contender for photography! We handled another example of this extremely rare issue in our August 2018 ANA sale; a PR62, which realized $13,200. The present offering, however, is the single highest graded of just four seen by either NGC or PCGS, and so we anticipate an even greater collector response. An outstanding piece of British numismatic history of highest rarity, deserving of an elite collection of British gold.

HID99912102018