George III 1820 pattern proof Two-Pounds PF60 ULTRA CAMEO

George III (1760-1820), gold Pattern Two Pounds, 1820, laureate head right by Benedetto Pistrucci, date below, legend and toothed border surrounding, GEORGIUS III D: G: BRITANNIARUM REX F: D:, rev. inverted die axis, St George and dragon right, initials W.W.P. raised on ground below broken lance for Mint Master William Wellesley Pole, B.P. to upper right of exergue, edge inscribed in raised letters, DECUS ET TUTAMEN* ANNO REGNI LX* (Hawkins 134; Schneider -; WR 179 R3; Hill T1 R3; S.3784). Some light surface marks, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as PF60 ULTRA CAMEO, very rare, one of only sixty struck.

NGC Certification 5746954-001.

With only sixty pieces struck, the gold Pattern Two Pounds is one of the hardest of this denomination to obtain for a collector, and highly coveted as a magnificent example of the work of Benedetto Pistrucci, in a last swansong coin for the reign of King George III, under the Master of the Mint William Wellesley Pole, who was the brother of the Duke of Wellington. A gold Five Pounds and Two Pounds had been in gestation since 1816 when ideas for the new "recoinage" which reintroduced the Sovereign as a denomination were coming to fruition.

However, it was not till 1819-20 that the physical manifestation of the gold Five Pounds and Two Pounds came to exist.

Edward Hawkins writing in his article "Gold Coins of England" in volume 13 of the Numismatic Chronicle 1850-51, page 170 talks of the workers at the Mint preparing the gold patterns of the Five Pound and Two Pound piece, and working through the night when the death of George III was expected hourly. The coins were literally finished as the King passed away on 29^th January 1820 and only 25 pieces of each had been officially ordered. However, by some misunderstanding, 60 examples of the gold Two Pounds were physically struck, perhaps because it became readily apparent that the King had passed away, and that such pieces would become some sort of "memento mori" in memory of his long reign.

Provenance:

Ex St James Auction 11, 8^th May 2009, lot 215.

Ex Heritage Auction 3085, 3^rd August 2020, lot 30183.