Lot 1477

Description

Queen Victoria, pattern Sydney Mint half sovereign, 1855, milled edge, (3.98g) second type portrait by L.C.Wyon depicting Queen wearing a wreath. Minor contact marks, good extremely fine and excessively rare.

Ex W.E.Purnell Collection. There are six known specimens: 1.) J.G.Murdoch, V.M.Brand, Capt.V.Hewitt and John Ahbe Collections, Spink Australia Sale 6 (lot 983), Spink Noble Sale 39 (lot 1044) and Noble Numismatics Sale 62 (lot 1419). 2.) Ex Spink & Son, Strauss Collection, Quartermaster Collection (lot 229). 3.) The British Museum (ex Clarke-Thornhill in 1935). 4.) Museum Victoria (ex A.H.Baldwin in 1929). 5.) Spink Australia Sale 15 (lot 474) private collection but not the Victorian collection referred to in the catalogue text. 6.) The present coin originally said to be number 5 above.