138 Victoria, Sovereign, 1864, die number 103, second larger young head left, ww incuse on truncation without stops, date below, stub top to 4, curvy rounded 6 with bulbous top, last I die flawed, obverse legend lightly doubled, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, die number 103 below, emblems below, 8.00g (Marsh 49; MCE 525; S 3853). Short scratch over “6” in date, with light surface marks, extremely fine / good extremely fine, previously graded by PCGS as MS64. £350-450 ex Douro Cargo, Spink Auction 118, 20-21 November 1996, lot 1351 (part) Calendar year mintage 8,656,352 See footnote on lot 107 for a brief synopsis of the 1864 die numbers. This coin concludes the 1864 die number coins in part one of the Bentley Collection, 32 pieces in total.
139 Victoria, Sovereign, 1865, die number 1, second larger young head left, ww incuse on truncation without stops, date below lightly doubled, curvy rounded 6 with bulbous top, toothed border both sides, obverse legend lightly doubled, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, die number 1 below, emblems below, 7.99g (Marsh 50; MCE 526; S 3853). Reverse of more of a matt appearance, light surface marks, toned, nearly extremely fine. £300-350 ex An Important Collection of Gold Sovereigns 1816-2000, offered as one lot, Sothebys, 16-17 November 2000, lot 525 (part) Calendar year mintage 1,450,238 This coin is die number 1 of 34 different numbered dies in the Bentley Collection running from 1 to 40. Marsh claims twelve other numbers exist making 52 reverse dies in total to strike about one and a half million Sovereigns. This suggests poor die longevity, however it must always be borne in mind that the calendar year mintages are exactly that, and do not reflect the dates upon the coins in that period, some of them could have been 1864 dated coins, and 1865 date coins were probably made into the first part of 1866. A statistician should be able to make more sense of the figures, given more time and research, perhaps in collaboration with the Royal Mint. There are 13 different die numbers of 1865 offered for sale herewith in part one.
140 Victoria, Sovereign, 1865, die number 5, second larger young head left, ww incuse on truncation without stops, date below, curvy rounded 6 with bulbous top, incomplete bottom loop to 5 with a squarer top, toothed border both sides, trace of doubling of legend both sides, rev crowned quartered shield of arms within laurel wreath, die number 5 below, emblems below, 7.98g (Marsh 50; MCE 526; S 3853). Once cleaned with associated surface marks and hairlines, otherwise good very fine. £300-350 ex Paul Davies Ltd. This coin was purchased from one of the groups of coins from the wreck of the RMS Douro that were not sold by auction and within the last 10 years. Calendar year mintage 1,450,238 See footnote on lot 139 for a brief synopsis of the 1865 die numbers.