George III 1818 Crown, TVTΛMEN edge error, inverted V for A

George III (1760-1820), silver Crown, 1818 LIX, with unbarred A in TVTΛMEN error, laureate head right, PISTRUCCI below truncation, date below, legend and outer toothed border surrounding, GEORGIUS III D: G: BRITANNIARUM REX F: D:, rev. St. George and dragon right, PISTRUCCI in exergue, Order of the Garter motto in French surrounding, .HONI . SOIT. QUI. MAL . Y. PENSE., outer toothed border surrounding rim, edge inscribed in raised letters and dated, DECUS ET TUTΛMEN* ANNO REGNI LIX*, 27.88g (Bull p.286 note; cf.Davies 4; cf.ESC 214; S.3787). Worn from circulation, poor to fair with clear edge reading and error, only the third time this cataloguer has seen such a piece in 35 years of dealing.

The Latin legend translate as on the obverse "George the Third, by the grace of God, King of the Britons, Defender of the Faith" and the French on the reverse, "Evil to him who evil thinks," additionally on the edge "An ornament and a safeguard, in the fifty eighth year of the reign".

Perhaps the favourite coin of William Wellesley Pole the Master of the Mint at this time and older brother of the Duke of Wellington, the silver Crowns engraved by Italian engraver Benedetto Pistrucci were released with a glowing sense of pride in that Pole ordered that each piece was wrapped in tissue paper before being sent out to the banks for circulation. Considered as a piece of numismatic art by Pole who had made the sometime fiery Pistrucci the Chief Engraver in all but name, as an Italian could not hold such an office in the Royal Mint officially at that time, the name of the engraver features prominently in full on both sides of the coin.

The unbarred A in TVTAMEN certainly seems to be the use of an inverted V in error as there is no trace of a horizontal bar whatsoever and it was the same with the other two examples catalogued by this writer in the past. One of these was the one sold at Spink in the Rees-Jones collection of crowns in November 1996, lot 204 which was an ex-brooch mounted coin. None of these error pieces seem to have ever turned up in better condition than fine.