George I 1725 Half-Guinea second bust MS64, second finest graded

George I (1714-27), gold Half-Guinea, 1725, second older laureate head right, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, GEORGIVS D. G. M. BR. FR. ET. HIB. REX. F.D, some stops weak or absent both sides, rev. crowned cruciform broad shields, incorporating the Arms of Hanover, ornamental sceptres in angles, garter star at centre, date either side of top crown, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, .BRVN ET. L. DVX S.R.I.A.TH ET. EL. (Schneider 552; Bull EGC 546; MCE 274; Traveller 2079 this coin; S.3637). Toned, with a nice red hue, just a few light surface marks, double struck down facial profile, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as MS64 with special provenance label.

NGC Certification 2169831-033 - we note as of June 2025 out of 56 pieces graded by NGC only one is graded finer than this coin. For comparison PCGS have graded 15 pieces of which one is also graded a step higher.

The Latin legends translates as on the obverse "George, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith" and on the reverse "Duke of Brunswick and Luneberg, High Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire."

Amazingly the calendar year output of gold coins for 1725 totalled only £58,360 which is the lowest of the reign by some margin, however the survival rate of coins dated 1725 is very good considering this low figure.

Provenance Story:

This coin has a most intriguing provenance being hidden away in a European family collection since before World War II. The "Traveller" was a wealthy gentleman who having inherited a portion of a successful family company, made a fortune by promptly selling it and then travelled the world on what was in part an extended honeymoon for the decade between the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the outbreak of World War II. With the financial instability of the great depression and after dabbling at first with gold bullion, he decided to form an enormous collection of world gold coins from ancient to modern whilst travelling the world to see the relevant dealers in their geographical locations to find the most appropriate coins. The result was a collection of some 15,000 coins, 1,700 of which we are told are British, with all going into secure hiding as of 1940 when the nazi regime encroached on where our traveller was located. Sadly, the collector died of a stroke with the stress of the world situation at this time and the collection remained hidden away for decades, stored carefully in individual envelopes in cigar boxes within locked aluminium strongboxes, that were buried in the ground in a field at the collector's property. His wife carried the secret of the burial location for the decades following and reaching the end of her life some 50 years later divulged the secret to her only daughter, whereupon in the 1990s the family retrieved all the coins intact and secured them safely in a bank vault until it was time to sell by auction in 2025. Though we often hear of buried treasure or hoards of coins from antiquity in the ground, it is not often we hear of a sophisticated coin collection actually being buried for decades, an intriguing story to permanently associate with coins of the Traveller provenance which has been written about in newspapers and online worldwide. We are lucky enough to have secured a small number of rare British coins from this esteemed collection.

Provenance:

Ex The Traveller Collection.