Patterns & Proofs

Lot 1394    Session 5 (7.30pm Wednesday)    Patterns & Proofs

Estimate $55,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $58,000

QUEEN VICTORIA, Sydney Mint pattern or specimen two pounds, 1887. Fields scuffed on both sides, underlying brilliance otherwise nearly uncirculated and extremely rare.

A few examples were struck at Sydney for presentation to VIPs at the time of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. A few were struck subsequently for VIPs right up to the closure of the Sydney Mint in 1926. The known specimens in private hands are:- 1) A.H.F. Baldwin (probably from Le Souef in 1926) sold in Sale 1 (lot 499) and Sale 6 (lot 990) and Sale 11 (lot 524). 2) Spink Australia Sale 3 (lot 296)(from McWhirter and possibly Murdoch, Whetmore, Capt. Vivien Hewitt and Spink London) then Sale 30 (Sharps Pixley Collection, lot 1313). 3) Allan Sutherland, acquired in New Zealand in 1930s then Sale 9 (lot 1234). 4) Sale 20 (lot 716) possible later striking with 'orange peel' fields. 5) Sale 67 (lot 1248) previously offered in Sothebys sale November 1997 in London, said to have come from Paris a few years earlier. 6) The present coin in this sale obtained from England by B.Winsor ten years ago.