Lot 2618
Great Britain. 'Ansell' Sovereign, 1859. S.3852E; Fr-387g; KM-736.3. Victoria, 1837-1901. Young bust of Victoria with hair in bun VICTORIA DEI GRATIA date below. Reverse: Crowned shield of arms within wreath BRITANNIARUM REGINA FID: DEF: emblems below. This is an unusually high grade example of this great rarity and key type coin from the popular British Sovereign series and must be one of the finest extant specimens. Lots of original color. NGC graded In a new 4 prong NGC holder. AU-55.
*The 'Ansell' Sovereign is distinguished by the small additional line placed in the center lower edge of the ribbon at the back of Victoria's head.
The coin came into existence because of the efforts of George Frederick Ansell who was a person with a good scientific knowledge employed by the British Royal Mint, in their Rolling Rooms. In 1859 a large quantity of gold was ordered to be melted and returned to the Bank of England because it was too brittle to use in gold coin production. The gold contained small quantities of antimony, lead and arsenic.
Ansell was given permission to experiment with the gold and, against expectation, he successfully rendered it fit for coinage. this was done with little addition cost and without the need for annealing. Some of the gold was used to make what became known as the 'Ansell' Sovereigns.
Michael Marsh says in his book 'The gold Sovereign, 'The new Sovereigns were in fact so tough that an ordinary man could not even break them. For his efforts Ansell received a letter of thanks from the Master of the Mint plus £100 (a large sum in those days)". Catalogue price is 3750 British Pounds in Extremely Fine.
Estimated Value $4,000 - 4,500.
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| Realized $5,175 |
