Great Britain 1804 1/2 guinea
This specimen was lot 20316 in Ponterio sale 176 (Chicago, August 2013), where it sold for $940. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. George III, 1760-1820. Half-Guinea, 1804. NGC MS-62. Seventh laureate bust, short hair, right. Rv. Crowned quartered shield with arms. This bust type features a very different portrait in the classical, Roman style. Fully struck on both sides. Only petty surface marks are noted, making this a bit conservatively graded. Ex: Sotheby’s, 1981." This type was struck 1804-13, presumably to pay soldiers and sailors during the Napoleonic Wars. Domestically, Great Britain operated on paper Bank of England notes; the gold standard would not be resumed until after Waterloo. The reform of 1817 terminated all guinea-denominated issues in favor of the sovereign. As the guinea was 21 shillings, this coin would have been ten shillings, six pence.
Recorded mintage: unknown but not rare.
Specification: 4.17 g, .917 fine gold, .123 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: S-3737; Fr-364; KM-651.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- [1]Ponterio, Richard, Ponterio sale 177: The August 2013 Chicago ANA Auction, World Coins, Irvine, CA: Stack's Bowers, LLC, 2013.
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