George II 1753 Two-Guineas, old head, final date AU55 - 2nd finest graded

George II (1727-60),gold Two Guineas, 1753, older laureate head left, legend and toothed border surrounding, GEORGIVS. II. DEI. GRATIA.,rev.crowned quartered shield of arms, date either side of crown, large letter legend and toothed border surrounding, M.B.FE. ET. H. REX. F.D. B.ET. L. D. S. R. I. A. T ET. E. (Schneider 581; Schneider dies 11/11; Bull EGC 579 R2; MCE 296; Traveller 2089 this coin; S.3669).Toned, with some surface marks and wear to high points, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as AU55 with special provenance label, very rare final date.

NGC Certification 2169831-037 - we note as of June 2025 that this is the second finest graded example with only four examples of this date having been graded by NGC with one a step higher. PCGS have only graded two examples one the equal of this and the other a step higher.

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 in the year 1748 totalled £338,523.

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