George IV 1826 proof Five-Pounds, bare head by Wyon, PF61

George IV (1820-30), gold Proof Five Pounds, 1826, engraved by William Wyon, bare head left, date below, legend and toothed border surrounding, GEORGIUS IV DEI GRATIA, rev. quartered shield of arms with an escutcheon of the Arms of Hanover upon crowned ermine mantle, legend and toothed border surrounding, BRITANNIARUM REX FID: DEF:, edge inscribed in raised letters and dated, DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI SEPTIMO (WR 213 R3; L&S 27; Hill F6 S; S.3797; Fr.373; KM.702). Some light hairlines and nicks, nick by chin, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as PF61, becoming rarely available on the UK marketplace these days.

NGC certification 583996-011.

Though these coins have become very rare to source within the UK, with most of the population of graded and slabbed examples now residing overseas, we have seen auction sales of three other higher grade examples in November 2020 alone, and this coin is priced in accordance with the following achievements at those auctions, all as graded by NGC.

A PF66* ultra cameo the finest graded sold on the continent for the rough equivalent of £370,000.

A PF66 ultra cameo sold in North America for the rough equivalent of £275,000.

A PF62+ ultra cameo sold in the Far East for the rough equivalent of £195,000.

It is thought that circa 400 Proof sets of the coinage were produced by the Mint in 1826, though there may have been some extra coins sold singly as well at the time. The current number of records of slabbed 1826 proof Five Pounds across both services totals 125 gradings.

The Latin obverse legend translates as "George the Fourth, by the Grace of God" continuing on the reverse as "King of the Britains, Defender of the Faith," and on the edge "an ornament and a safeguard, in the seventh year of the reign."