George V 1934 'Wreath' Crown, MS64, rarest of the type, ex Traveller

George V (1910-36), 0.500 silver Crown, 1934, Wreath type, bare head left, BM initials on truncation for engraver Bertram Mackennal, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, GEORGIVS V DEI GRA: BRITT: OMN: REX, rev. Imperial crown, date above, emblematic wreath surrounding of roses, shamrocks and thistles, initials K.G. to right of lowest rose for engraver Kruger Gray, denomination below round, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, .FID. .DEF. .IND. .IMP., edge milled (Bull 3647 R2; ESC 374 R2; Davies 1637; S.4036). A superb example with toned satin-like fields, likely picked up by the Traveller collector brand new, graded by NGC as MS64, rarest date of the type.

NGC Certification 2184434-012 currently at NGC this coin is one of only fifteen graded at this level with only six graded finer. For comparison PCGS have graded twelve at this level with only one finer.

Calendar year mintage 932.

The Latin legend translates as on obverse as "George the Fifth by the Grace of God," continuing on the reverse as "Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India."

The Wreath Crown design by Kruger Gray was much admired and the type design continued in succeeding years at the request of the Bank of England who liked to stock them at Christmas time to present to good clients, hence why the mintages were always quite small for the normal currency pieces. Bertram Mackennal (later knighted) was the Australian engraver responsible for the obverse design. The 1934 Crown was the smallest issue of the wreath crown series, probably because the silver Jubilee designs of 1935 were already being anticipated as a fresh change from the wreath issue.

This coin has a most intriguing provenance being hidden away in a European family collection since before World War II. The "Traveller" was a wealthy gentleman who having inherited a portion of a successful family company, made a fortune by promptly selling it and then travelled the world on what was in part an extended honeymoon for the decade between the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the outbreak of World War II. With the financial instability of the great depression and after dabbling at first with gold bullion, he decided to form an enormous collection of world gold coins from ancient to modern whilst travelling the world to see the relevant dealers in their geographical locations to find the most appropriate coins. The result was a collection of some 15,000 coins, 1,700 of which we are told are British, with all going into secure hiding as of 1940 when the nazi regime encroached on where our traveller was located. Sadly, the collector died of a stroke with the stress of the world situation at this time and the collection remained hidden away for decades, stored carefully in individual envelopes in cigar boxes within locked aluminium strongboxes, that were buried in the ground in a field at the collector's property. His wife carried the secret of the burial location for the decades following and reaching the end of her life some 50 years later divulged the secret to her only daughter, whereupon in the 1990s the family retrieved all the coins intact and secured them safely in a bank vault until it was time to sell by auction in 2025. Though we often hear of buried treasure or hoards of coins from antiquity in the ground, it is not often we hear of a sophisticated coin collection actually being buried for decades, an intriguing story to permanently associate with coins of the Traveller provenance which has been written about in newspapers and online worldwide. We are lucky enough to have secured a small number of rare British coins from this esteemed collection.

Provenance:
Ex The Traveller Collection, lot 1670