Extremely Rare “Pattern” Sovereign
HANOVER. temp. Victoria. 1837-1901. Gilt Æ Pattern Sovereign (20mm, 4.28 g, 12h). By J. Coryton and A. Kirkwood. Dated 1889. PROPOSED // CORYTON // COINAGE, laureate and draped bust of George III right, scroll designs in field / SOVEREIGN // 1889, crown above, scroll designs in field. EF. Extremely rare – the only example in CoinArchives.
Reportedly ex Puttick & Simpson (7 February 1898).
“According to its inventor, ‘The Coryton system of Coinage’ made its value ‘recognisable at a glance or by a touch’, this through ‘making each coin of a special form’ and by protecting gold coins by ‘a band of phosphor bronze or other substance of great endurance’.” Stocker, M. “The Coinage of 1893.” British Numismatic Journal, vol. 66, 1996, p. 71.
