Fantastic Rarity Pedigreed to the 18th Century – Ex. Pittman, Farouk, Murdoch, Rostron, Lloyd, Duke of Devonshire, Trattle, Dummer
Charles II gold Proof Pattern Crown 1662 PR63 Cameo NGC, KM-PnA33 (Rare), ESC-426 (R5; 4 Known; prev. ESC-69), L&S-1A, W&R-50 (R5), Murdoch-616 (this coin), Montagu-823. 52.74gm. Raised edge lettering. DECVS ET TVTAMEN (“An Ornament and a Safeguard”) edge. By Jan (John) Roettiers. A fantastic rarity struck in the earliest years of Charles II’s reign, and an offering that ranks leagues beyond many of even the “best” survivors of his reign, by virtue of its combined elusiveness, choice preservation, and opulent golden presentation.
It is difficult to overstate the importance and desirability of the offering at hand, a type that has seen inclusion in some of the most impressive collections of the last century and beyond, including the likes of Pittman, Farouk, and Murdoch, with a world-class pedigree traceable to 1765. Wilson and Rasmussen rate the type as “R5,” corresponding to a total known issuance of only 6-10 examples. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this offering is the finest representative of its type certified by either NGC or PCGS, and it quickly becomes apparent that any serious collector could hardly locate a better example among the exceedingly few survivors extant, of which no more than a very few, at most, could be uncertified. In David Aker’s 1999 catalog of the Pittman Collection, it was noted that this very example was one of Pittman’s most treasured coins (“the highlight of his British collection”), and one which he regularly took with him to dozens of coin shows across the country for display. In hand, it is not difficult to see why this was so.
The strike, for all practical purposes, is flawless. Charles’ portrait has been produced with such clarity and sharpness that it easily rivals the detail of coinage struck centuries after its production. His visage, laden with golden frost, displays hardly a hint of contact, while the fields below, flashy and opulently decorated in iridescent honeyed amber tone, yield a clean contrast against the crisp design motifs. Waves of brilliance ripple across the surfaces upon inspection, establishing a sense of preservation that would be the envy of other conditional survivors of the era, infinitely more so for a coin of such immense rarity. Indeed, Akers may easily have been correct when he suggested that this offering could be the single finest example of the 1662 gold Pattern Crown of either edge variety in existence, and the “royal” pedigree of this stupendous Pattern certainly indicates as much. In every respect, an absolute “wonder coin”!
As a point of interest, traces of die rust are noted in front of Charles’ portrait and in several other locations, including raised dots underneath his ordinal (II) and the “D” in “DEI.” A close comparison to the Montagu example plated in that catalog (Sotheby’s, November 1895) reveals these same diagnostics, confirming, as one would expect, that both examples were struck from the same set of dies.
Ex. Heritage Auction #296 (July 2002, Lot 12106); John Jay Pittman Collection (David Akers August 1999, Lot 3834) [cover lot]; Farouk Collection (Sotheby’s February 1954, Lot 810); Murdoch Collection (Sotheby’s May 1903, Lot 616); Simpson Rostron Collection (Sotheby’s May 1892, Lot 378); Lloyd Collection (possibly Sotheby’s July 1857, Lot 224); Duke of Devonshire Collection (Christie’s March 1844, Lot 504); Marmaduke Trattle Collection (Sotheby’s May 1832, Lot 3068); Thomas Dummer Collection (John Gerard June 1785); likely from the estate of his father Thomas Lee Dummer (d. 1765)
From the Paramount Collection
Metal: Gold
Gold Spot: $1,733/oz (03-26-2021)
Diameter: 40mm
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