Owner Comments:
****This is one of several coins that hold a special place within my larger collection. It resided in the Boulton Family Estate Collection until it was retailed by my late friend Bill McKivor (a well-respected dealer) in the early 2000s. From there, it was sold to my late friend, Cory Collins, who held onto it for over two decades before selling it to me. Along with this coin, Cory generously sold me several other Soho restrikes from the Boulton Family Estate, which are all denoted with both the Boulton and Collins provenances. Although these pieces are beautiful, rare, and well preserved, the joy I experience from owning them is derived from the memories I formed with Cory over the years of our friendship. We made a point to see each other every FUN show and these visits quickly became the highlight of my numismatic calendar. In the intermediary, we would often spend several hours a week chatting on the phone about the minutiae of the Soho Mint that would otherwise be lost to the average collector. I deeply miss my friend, but I am grateful that these coins remind me of all the great memories we shared over the years.****
The bulk of the Taylor restrikes are marred with huge patches of die rust, areas devoid of detail due to over polishing, doubled or recut legends, and often rims that were filed by him after striking to remove burs. This coin is a quintessential example a Taylor Restrike. The extensive die rust is evident of the obverse. The reverse rims show evidence of Taylor filling them to remove imperfections such as burs after the coin was struck. To an untrained eye, it would be tempting to conclude that this coin is severally damaged. On the contrary, it is essentially in the same condition it left Taylor’s workshop. However, unlike the vast majority of Taylor’s restrikes, this piece is struck in copper. The bronzing process would help obscure the swath of imperfection found on coins struck from such rusty dies, so it is not surprising that he preferred to produce bronzed proofs as opposed to plain copper pieces. Peck describes this variety as
very rare.
Obverse: Peck (1970) describes this as obverse Type 4, with a small draped bust and large letter. King George III is depicted facing right. A wreath consisting of ten leaves and two berries (the upper-most berry is double-cut) rests on his head, which is tied by a riband with one loop and two loose ends. A large curl appears above his ear. A large, free flowing curl falls from behind his ear and rests on the front of his right shoulder. Another clump of hair appears flowing down and resting on the back of his neck before coming to an end on his right shoulder. The king is wearing tight fitting drapery, which is secured by a brooch on his right shoulder with eight stones. Peck notes that the ermined borders are sharply cut on this variety. The engraver’s initial “K” appears on the truncation followed by three equally sized dots in a triangular formation. An indistinct hair curl rests on his right shoulder. The entire obverse design, excluding the king’s face, is marked with very fine rust marks, which makes the finer details of the design harder to distinguish. The legend GEORGIUS III · D: G · REX. is contained within the sizeable broad rim. Evidence of existence die rust is evident around the entire legend.
Reverse: The reverse depicts a seated Britannia facing left. She is wearing close fitting drapery, which is secured by a pendant on her left shoulder. A small tiara rest on her head. Her hair is tightly secured in a bun. Her right arm is extended to the left, holding an olive branch with ten leaves. The lowest of which is relatively large and weakly connected to the branch. Her left arm is down with a trident clasped in her hand. The middle prong points just right of the second “N”. Although it is implied that she is sitting on a rock, the design seems to depict her resting on an oval shield with the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew (heraldically colored). A large rock appears to the right of the shield with three small incuse dots in a triangular shape on the most extreme lower part. There is only a small patch of sea in the background. Below the right side of the shield appears another rock with the word “
SOHO” in raised letters (note there is no stop after SOHO). In the foreground below Britannia there is a series of two large waves, which are crested with foam. A three-masted war ship with six incuse gunports appears on the distant horizon in the background. The rendering of this ship is very different relative to other varieties. The most important distinction is the unusually tall masts and presence of only one stay from the foremast to bowsprit. A Union flag is hoisted at the stern. A smaller and indistinguishable flag appears at the bow. The legend
BRITANNIA. occurs at the top within a sizeable broad rim. The date
1797 appears at the bottom. Like the obverse, the reverse is marred with fine die rust. The notable difference between the two sides is that the reverse has been dramatically filed to move any evidence of die rust.
Edge: Plain
Notes: Unlike the other examples in my collection, this restrike is analogous with the final adopted design for the currency issues. Perhaps it is this similarity that prompted George Selgin to illustrate this exact coin in his book:
Good Money Birmingham Makers, The Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage 1775-1821. This is one of those coins that you can look at a hundred times and still find something new on each inspection. The die rust, filed rims, and host of minor alterations carried out by Taylor make this a fun piece to study. I also cannot help but get a good chuckle out of the cartoon-like ship Taylor produced on the reverse. Compared to Kuchler’s work, this ship has the appearance of a middle-school art project. Nonetheless, it is far superior to anything I could ever create.