PR62 DEEP CAMEO Victoria (1837-1901), gold Pattern Sovereign, 1887, with 14 pearl necklace, London, Tower Hill Mint, Golden Jubilee style bust facing left, small crown and veil on head, double pearl earring and fourteen pearl necklace, J.E.B. initials, raised fully on truncation with imperfect angled J, for engraver J Edgar Boehm, garter star on breast with extra rays to usual intrudes field, abbreviated Latin legend and toothed border surrounding closer to crown but more distant than regular proof issue, VICTORIA D:G: BRITT: REG: F:D:, beaded border and rim a little thicker than regular proof, rev. struck en medaille, St. George and dragon right, horse with short tail, thicker bunched streamer to St. George’s helmet, broken lance to left on ground-line, tiny WWP indistinct under lance, initials of William Wellesley Pole, Master of Mint when design introduced, date in exergue, out of alignment and the 7 with light doubling evident at upper right, initials BP indistinct to upper right, no stops, filled up B with P like an inverted triangle, for engraver Benedetto Pistrucci, edge milled (cf.Bentley 1228; cf.WR 333; cf.Marsh 131C cf.S.3866B). Toned with the typical yellow hue of this rare pattern, has been graded by PCGS as PR62 DEEP CAMEO, one of only three known of this die combination of the extremely rare 14 pearl necklace pattern.

PCGS Certification 395632.62/34150646

This intriguing type of pattern with fourteen pearl necklace was first reported by this cataloguer in the Spink Numismatic Circular of April 2001 with a coin that was subsequently sold in Spink Auction 1279 of 12th July 2001, lot 167. This example then found its way to the Bentley Collection part three sold Baldwin Auction 79, 8th May 2015, lot 1228.

Only three more of that variation of the fourteen-pearl pattern with the regular proof reverse have turned up since, with the most recent sold an NGC graded PF62+Cameo in Auction World in Tokyo, Japan on the 17th January this year, lot 3533 for approximate equivalent of £17,000, a total population in commerce of four pieces at time of writing.

However, the coin offered herewith carries a different reverse taken from a uniface pattern in the Royal Mint collection (3785), most identifiable by the thicker bunched streamer and the indistinct BP initials without stops. This variation was first written up in the British Coin News magazine in January 2009 by Richard Maile after being authenticated by Robert Mathews, and is currently only one of only three pieces known to be in commerce.

The others being (a) ex Heritage Auction USA, 6th January 20114, lot 24192 catalogued as a regular proof; and (b) ex London Coins Auction, 7th June 2015 lot 2839 possibly the coin from the article by Richard Maile.

The linking of the trial uniface reverse to the fourteen pearl obverse demonstrates these patterns came before the more regular proof with the thirteen pearl necklace and are very important numismatically.

Provenance:
Ex Atlas Numismatics purchased June 2018.

Estimate: £ 10,000 - 15,000