George I 1720 Guinea Fourth head, rare date XF45

George I (1714-27), gold Guinea, 1720, fourth laureate head right, legend and toothed border surrounding, GEORGIVS. D.G. M.B.FE. ET. HIB. REX. F.D., rev. crowned cruciform shields, incorporating the Arms of Hanover, sceptres in angles, garter star at centre, date either side of top crown, BRVN ET. L. DVX S.R.I.A.TH ET. EL., edge, diagonally grained, weight 8.35g (Schneider -; Bull EGC 512; MCE 252; Farey 0640; S.3631). Lightly toned, with some surface marks, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as XF45, the rarest date for the denomination in this reign with only eight examples graded across both services.

NGC certification 5880617-019.

The abbreviated Latin legends translate 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 as "Duke of Brunswick and Luneberg, High Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire."

For the 1720 calendar year, output of gold was £885,859 which was the third highest of the reign. Sir Isaac Newton was the Master Worker of the Mint at this time and was the first to officially call the gold coinage the "guinea" in a report made in the Mint papers of 1717. The gold coins had been called Guineas colloquially since the time that gold dust and metal began to be imported from the African country of Guinea, during the reign of Charles II.