George III 1790 Pattern Halfpenny

George III (1760-1820), Pattern bronzed copper Halfpenny, 1790, restrike by W J Taylor after J P Droz, long haired laureate head right, hair terminates in complete ringlets of hair, D.F. raised on truncation, eagle head below, legend with diamond shape stops and toothed border surrounding with raised rim, GEORGIUS III. D. G. REX. rev. inverted die axis, Britannia seated pointing left on globe with shield, paddle behind shield, date between fleurs in exergue, DROZ to upper left of exergue, F to upper right, DROZ. INV. below date, Latin legend between fleurs, BRITANNNIA, crenellated border surrounding, edge plain, weight 14.82g (Peck 990 Restrike 10). A few tiny black specks and flecks, otherwise toned, practically as struck and rare.

The Latin legends translate as on obverse "George the Third, by the grace of God, King" and on the reverse "of Britain." The D.F. on the truncation is for the original designer from whom this restrike was produced Jean-Pierre Droz, and in full should read "Droz Fecit" meaning "Made by Droz." The same for the Droz F in the upper part of the exergue, with the additional "Droz Inventor" abbreviation below the date.

The Victorian coin dealer William Joseph Taylor (1802-85) trading in London from 1829, purchased many dies at the Soho Mint sale by Fuller and Horsey in April-May 1850, the Mint having closed in 1848. Having restored many of the dies Taylor pressed them back into service producing restrikes of Soho coins for collectors as well as repairing some of the more broken dies to make some new designs of his own. C Wilson Peck attempted to class the Restrikes separately from the original Soho pieces in his publication, and Appendix 10 of his book gives a transcript of one consignment of such restrikes including 75 1790 Halfpennies of three varieties from his address at 70 Red Lion Street on 29^th June 1880.

Provenance:

Ex Glendining, 24^th February 1982, lot 147pt.

Ex Herman Selig Collection, part II, Coins of George III, Spink Coin Auction 131, 2^nd March 1999, lot 1341.