Starting bid 500'000EUR (about $790k) Top pop: this is the only graded coin and the most beautiful of the 4 minted known! From the Quartermaster collection, Monetarium (Australia) Pty. Ltd., 4th June 2009, N°196 (AU$ 800 000 + fees) and previously Paul Terry and R. Jaggard collection in 1989 PCGS SP66. Fleur de coin. Unique. This is the only Specimen strike known. There are just three other coins known of normal striking. It is the greatest rarity of the Sovereign series. This is the rarest mint of the Sovereign series, even rarer than the London 1819 sovereign, of which ten to twelve coins are listed. Our coin, which comes from the 2009 Quartermaster collection, is the finest known one, in a SPECIMEN strike, a hypothesis indicating that it may have been minted in 1926 in London from Australian dyes. 1920 Sidney strike is not official, gold price following the end of the first world war led to the end of sovereign production in London in 1917, in Ottawa in 1919, in Bombay in 1918 then in 1920 in South Africa and in Australia. The figure of 360 000 coins minted in Sidney in January 1920 is in fact for the 1919 edition. This series is in fact the result of a private commission from Jacob Garrard (1846-1931) for his wedding anniversary the 15th April 1920. With his seven children, his wife and him, we can assume that nine coins were minted, each having received a coin and only four coins are known to exist today, this one being the most beautiful. In the same auction also the insanely gorgeous Adelaide 5 pounds - starting bid 700'000EUR (about $1.1M) Top Pop: it is the only one graded! PCGS SP66+. Fleur de coin. An exceptional coin, the rarest type of 5 pounds! Work by Joshua Payne. Special strike of 7 minted only, by the Melbourne mint in 1921 on the original die. This is the finest known specimen. South Australia was officially established as a British colony on the 28th December 1836 (known and commemorated as Proclamation Day). It became an autonomous colony in 1856 with the ratification of a new constitution by the British parliament, with secret ballot and a two-chamber parliament. In 1857, there are 109 917 inhabitants. The city of Adelaide owes its name to the queen Consort, wife of king William IV. It was founded in 1836 to welcome free British people. In 1851, the discovery of gold sparked a gold rush and about 8 000 men left Adelaide hoping to make fortune. The gold nuggets they found helped reduce the economic crisis. An analysis office is founded in 1852 manufacturing ingots and then choosing to do this mint which met the need to convert the gold nuggets, without royal approval. It was a local engraver, Joshua Payne, using local equipment, who produced these gold coins with this first legal tender in the country for the Government Assay Office in Adelaide. Coins of 10 shillings, 1 pound and 5 pounds were planned but only the one-pound coin is minted and used. On our extremely rare pattern, weight and alloy are indicated as on the one-pound coin. For the Five pounds coin, it is 1 ounce, 8 pennyweights, and 4 grains (44.102 g), as well as the 22-karat fineness. Following this minting first step, a branch of the Royal Mint is established in Sidney and will begin producing gold sovereigns. In 1921, the Melbourne Mint struck seven dies of the five pounds coin, modeled on Joshua Payne’s coin from 1852. Another die is known at the Victoria Museum in Melbourne, extremely rare and of the greatest interest. https://or-numismatique-monaco.com/en/auction/7
The 1920S sold for €942,400 including buyers premium (about AUD $1.48 million), setting a world record price for a gold sovereign. The Adelaide 5 pound sold for €992,000 (about AUD $1.56 million) including buyers premium, setting the record for most valuable Australian coin.
