George II 1728 Half-Guinea young bust, MS65+ the finest currently graded

George II (1727-60), gold Half-Guinea, 1728, young laureate head left, legend GEORGIVS. II . DEI. GRATIA. toothed border around rim both sides, rev. crowned quartered shield of arms, date either side of crown, legend M.B.F.ET.H. REX. F.D.B. ET.L.D.S.R.I.A.T ET.E. (Schneider 595; Bull EGC 627 R4; MCE 334; Traveller 2099 this coin; S.3681). Toned with a little underlying brilliance, otherwise practically as struck, and extremely rare; has been graded and slabbed by NGC as MS65+ with special provenance label, very rare date in the highest level of preservation so far seen.

NGC Certification 2169831-040 - as of June 2025 this is by far the finest of the eight graded pieces of this date. We note at PCGS only one example has been graded a plus grade lower at a straight 65.

The Latin legends translate to on obverse "George II by the Grace of God" continuing on the reverse in abbreviated Latin which if in shown in full reads "Magnae Britanniae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor Brun et Lunebergen-sis Dux, Sacri Romani Imperii Archi-Thesaurius et Elector" and translates as "King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Luneberg, High Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire."

The calendar year output of gold coinage at the mint for 1728 totalled a small £53,874 worth of presumably guineas and half-guineas only.

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 A. H. Baldwin & Son Ltd, purchased 26^th October 1937.

Ex The Traveller Collection.