Owner Comments:
GT. BRITAIN, GEORGE V GOLD SOVEREIGN 1914
(Marsh 216; S 3996).
OBVERSE: The King's bare head facing left. Designed by Edgar Bertram Mackennal.
REVERSE: St. George mounted and slaying Dragon with sword. Date at the bottom with small letters B.P. to right.
DIAMETER: 22.05mm.
WEIGHT: 7.9887g ( 0.9170 gold).
FINENESS: 22 Carat.
EDGE: Milled.
MINTAGE: 11,501,117
RATING: C (M.Marsh).
GEORGE V, SOVEREIGN, 1914
ex THE BENTLEY COLLECTION OF BRITISH MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS.
George V, Sovereign, 1914, bare head left, rev St George slaying dragon with sword, date in exergue, 7.99g (Marsh 216; MCE 642; S 3996). Ex Randy Weir Numismatics, Unionville, Ontario, Canada, purchased 25 March 1992. Calendar year mintage 11,501,117. Mintage of gold still continued to be high even though World War I commenced during this year. Following the outbreak the Government issued Treasury banknotes to the value of Sovereigns and Half-Sovereigns ,which were convertible to gold on demand at the Bank of England. However the public were encouraged not to do this, as the gold was no doubt needed elsewhere for purchases of vital supplies from overseas. The coinage of the reign of King George V features a bare head portrait of the King facing to the left by the Australian sculptor, Edgar Bertram Mackennal (12 June 1863 – 10 October 1931), whose initials appear on the truncation of the bust and with the titles georgivs v d: g: britt: omn: rex f : d : ind : imp :. Mackennal was famed for his artistic sculptures, but became more numismatically interesting, as the designer of the Olympic Medals for the London Olympic Games of 1908. This led to the commission for the Coronation Medallion for King George V, and he then successfully won the commission for the coinage and for postage stamp portraits. One other Royal commission was to design the tomb for King Edward VII at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. He was also the first Australian citizen to be knighted, in 1921 and was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1922. For the Sovereign the classic St George and dragon design continues engraved, after Pistrucci with his initials in the exergue, and amazingly still featuring the tiny wwp under the lance for William Wellesley Pole from his days of the Master-ship of the Mint circa 1820. Had the London Mint continued to produce gold Sovereigns from 1928, like some of the Colonial Mints did, then a smaller portrait of George V would no doubt have appeared as at Melbourne, Perth and Pretoria. More significantly, the reverses of these Colonial small head pieces are revised and the wwp initials disappear at last.
KING GEORGE V
The Reign of King George V (House of Windsor) : 1910-1936.
Born: 3 June 1865.
Accession: 6 May 1910.
Married: Mary of Teck, 6 July 1893.
Coronation: Thursday, 22 June 1911.
Second Coronation as Emperor of India at the Delhi Durbar: Tuesday, 12 December 1911.
Children: five sons, one daughter.
Died: 20 January 1936, aged 70.
1914 GOLD SOVEREIGN MS 65
NGC 2776090-002
A true GEM with excellent provenance. A beauty with satiny luster and a sharp strike. Common in XF and AU as one of the "kings sovereigns" but difficult to find with mint frost and such choice surfaces. Only a handful of sovereigns of this king have been graded above MS63 by each TPG company.
NGC Pop 3 with one grading higher.
ex BENTLEY COLLECTION. Purchased at A.H. BALDWIN Auction 73, 8 May 2012, lot 360. Self submitted.