Collectors continue to love big, flashy, gold coins, and the economic uncertainty over the past year has made gold coins from around the world a desired asset.

Heritage’s Nov. 5 World and Ancient Coins Platinum Night auction realized more than $8.5 million. Leading the bidding was an 1826 George IV gold £5 coin graded Proof 66 Ultra Cameo by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. that sold for $360,000.

Only 150 examples were produced, featuring the masterful engraving of William Wyon. The coin was produced as part of a Proof set where the artist idealized the sitter’s features, as so often seen in Royal portraiture. Wyon would enjoy a 23-year-long career as the Royal Mint’s chief engraver, and the Royal Mint Museum adds that, while he excelled in earlier coins like the subject offering, “His enduring reputation rests rather on his coin and medal portraits of Queen Victoria.”

Heritage added, “The devices are so thickly overlaid in mint frost and the fields bathed in sparkling reflectivity as to leave utterly little wanting in terms of its technical execution,” calling it “an unmissable opportunity, and undoubtedly a crown jewel for even the most scrupulous of British coin cabinets.”

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