Anne 1708 Guinea Elephant & Castle VG8, of the highest rarity

Anne (1702-14),gold Guinea, 1708, Elephant and castle privy mark below second draped bust left, legend surrounding, ANNA.DEI. GRATIA., the Gratia letters wider apart, toothed border around rim both sides, rev. post-union crowned cruciform shields, sceptres in angles, garter star at centre, date either side of top crown, .MAG BRI. FR ET. HIB REG., edge obliquely milled (cf. Schneider 535-; cf, Bull EGC 469; Farey 515 ER; MCE 219; S.3573). Deep tone, despite some honest wear from circulation, graded as VG 8 by NGC, one of the rarest Guineas in the whole series, of highest rarity.

NGC Certification 6835949-003.

The Latin legends translate to on obverse "Anne by the Grace of God," and abbreviated on the reverse as "Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland."

In the appendices of the Guide to the Guinea by Roderick Farey, he reproduces a table published by Thomas Snelling in 1763 taken from the Gazetteer and London Advertiser of 23rdJanuary 1755, listing a year-by-year account of the number of guineas coins from gold imported by the Royal African company. The total for 1708 being an incredibly meagre 2,918 guineas and issued at the time it was known as the Royal African Company of England.

NB; Maurice Bull in English Gold coinage fails to log the second bust type in its entirety, he logs the first bust for elephant and castle and nothing further for the year 1708, perhaps a confusion may have arose in the cross referencing. It is possible he has mistakenly merged it with the first bust type, to explain the way in which the 1708 second bust is omitted. Irrespective of the way in which the coin has been logged, it is one of the great rarities in Milled Gold coinage. Excessively rare, seldom coming to market whether via auction or within dealers' trays. Three have come under the auction hammer in the last twenty years, all in the same pocket of time, after a cursory look at the auction archives. Further back and predictably so, both the Montagu and Murdoch collections represent this year and type.

We note the Ellerby Hoard example which was graded VF25 made £24,000 at auction 18 months ago.