Auction house Noonans is planning the sale of the Hammersley Collection of exceptional British milled sovereigns on Feb. 19.

The sovereign is the standard gold coin of the United Kingdom, struck for more than 200 years in .9167 fine (22-karat) gold, with changing designs reflecting the changing monarch. Milled simply means the edge is not smooth, but has ridges. Sovereigns typically weigh 7.98 grams and measure 22.05 millimeters in diameter. Coins of multiple-sovereign denominations have been issued some years, but this collection focuses on the single sovereign denomination matching the mentioned specifications.

Sovereign’s story

Introduced as a replacement for the guinea after three decades of economic turbulence caused by war with France, the purpose of the sovereign, as its name suggests, was to re-establish the political and economic power of Britain and its Empire, according to Noonans’ auction catalog for the sale.

“Driven by the impetus provided by the burgeoning Industrial Revolution, the Sovereign had become one of the pre-eminent world currencies by the 1870s,” the catalog said. “Struck on the new machinery designed by these advances, and employing some of the ­finest engravers of their age — Benedetto Pistrucci, Jean Baptiste Merlon, William Wyon — these are industrial works of art produced for the new age.”

The milled sovereign series, as represented in the auction, has much to offer the collector.

Pistrucci’s reverse design can be fairly described as iconic, while the obverse effigies, “delicately” engraved by Pistrucci and later Wyon, offer a charming gallery of Britain’s 19th-century monarchs. Further still, the series is one of layered complexity; many of the coins are easy to acquire, even in respectable grades; others are incredibly difficult, owing to their great rarity.

The proliferation of overdates, error legends and die varieties offers a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the Royal Mint during the 19th century.

The title of the collection, “Hammersley,” was suggested by the consignor, a UK based gentleman who wishes to retain his anonymity. It references the Hammersley family of royal bankers, to whom the vendor is distantly related. The bank operated from 1786 until being absorbed by Coutts in 1840.

Many of these coins were obtained from the 2012 auction of the Bentley Collection, one of the milestone sales in the series.

The collection has several highlights among the 62 coins from George III through Queen Victoria.

Highlights from sale

An 1823 George III sovereign, showing the classic Pistrucci-designed St. George slaying the dragon image on its reverse, carries a laureate image of George III, head facing left, on the obverse.

This coin is cataloged as Bentley-14 from a 2012 sale, and as Marsh-7 in The Standard Catalogue of The Gold Sovereign, by Steve Hill, based on work by Michael A. Marsh.

Graded Mint State 63 by Numismatic Guaranty Co.,  the coin is also described by the auction house as Good Extremely Fine with “trifling bag marks across otherwise lustrous surfaces.”

It has a pre-sale estimate of £10,000 to £15,000 ($12,523 to $18,785 U.S.).

Rarest Queen Victoria coin

The 1841 sovereign is the rarest gold sovereign from the reign of Queen Victoria.

It features the shield reverse design that was used for many years, in lieu of the Pistrucci design so connected to the coin.

The set’s example is cataloged as Bentley-970 and Marsh-24, though it does not have a provenance to the Bentley Collection (it was sold in Morton & Eden’s auction No. 57, July 3 and 4, 2012).

Graded MS-64 by Professional Coin Grading Service, the coin is “About as struck with bright lustrous fields, extremely rare thus, being the key date in the Victoria Sovereign series,” and has a pre-sale estimate of £30,000 to £36,000 ($37,572 to $45,086 U.S.)

Final lot, 827

The final lot we’re highlighting is the 1863 Sovereign, with an open 6 in the date, and the digits 827 on the obverse at the truncation of Queen Victoria’s neck.

This coin also bears the shield reverse. The coin is cataloged as Bentley-1017 and Marsh-46A, and has a provenance to the 2012 Bentley auction.

According to the auction firm, the enigmatic 827 sovereigns come in two varieties: those with the die number 22 on the reverse and those without.

Both are extremely rare, the latter perhaps the more difficult to acquire in higher grades. Die numbers for 1863 run from 1 to 26, and on this basis the 827 issues are placed towards the end of the calendar year.

Some researchers proposed that the digits are related to a series of experiments in November of that year, investigating the brittleness of gold and using numbered bars of gold.

Graded NGC About Uncirculated 55, and described by Noonans as having “scattered marks, otherwise Good Very Fine with traces of diffused lustre,” the coin has a pre-sale estimate of £10,000 to £15,000 ($12,523 to $18,785 U.S.).

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