Owner Comments:
GT. BRITAIN, VICTORIA Jubilee Head, high shield with no JEB initials, GOLD HALF-SOVEREIGN 1890
(Marsh 479B; S 3869D).
OBVERSE: The bust of the Queen facing left wearing a small crown, veiled and with ribbon and star of the Garter and the Victoria and Albert order. The JEB initials standing for J.E.Boehm, the engraver of the design, are absent in this variety.
REVERSE: The Ensigns Armorial within a garnished shield surmounted by an imperial crown.
DIAMETER: 19.4 mm.
WEIGHT: 3.994 g.
FINENESS: 22 carat.
MILLESIMAL FINENESS: 916.66.
EDGE: Milled.
MINTAGE: Not known.
RATING: S (M.Marsh).
1890 GOLD HALF-SOVEREIGN MS 67
PCGS 26559637.
A superb coin, fully struck and fully lustrus.
Preserved beyond what should be possible for a coin of this age and beauty.
To find an example as beautiful as this, as pristine, and perfect, is beyond rare. Surfaces alive with intense satiny luster, obverse field flashy and reflective. Even the edge is beautiful; each letter is remarkably crisp and high-relief, the space between them brilliant. It should go without saying that MS67 is the highest certification awarded to any coin of this type. Quite extraordinary, a piece whose near-unparalleled quality and visual appeal destines it for an elite collection of British gold.
ex Kairos Collection.
ex Heritage Auction # 3021, New York, lot 21037, 6 January 2013.