Victoria 1862 Sovereign, so called F over inverted A reverse die variety R2

Victoria (1837-1901),gold Sovereign, 1862, variety with so-called F over inverted A in DEF:, wide date with hooked 6, second young filleted head left, WW incuse on truncation for engraver William Wyon, date below, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, VICTORIA DEI GRATIA,rev.crowned quartered shield of arms, laurel wreath surrounding, emblems below, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, BRITANNIARUM REGINA FID: DEF:, with final F showing two pronged serifs sticking out of top cross bar and a prong or burr sticking out of lower serif of central bar of F, the previous letter E also double entered as usual for this variety, weight 8.00g (Bentley 1015; Marsh 45A R2; Bull EGC 1153 R2; M.C.E. 523; S.3852D).Toned, a few light surface marks, extremely fine with clear variety.

Calendar year mintage 1,653,384.

The Latin legends translates on obverse as "Victoria by the Grace of God," and on the reverse "Queen of the Briton's, Defender of the Faith."

This variety continues to puzzle numismatists as intimated by this cataloguer when previously writing up the Bentley Collection in 2012, it was always thought to be F over inverted A by Mr Marsh and others and sold for quite a premium back in the 1980s and 1990s. What is clear is that it is not really an inverted A under the F but there is clearly something going on to perhaps repair the F on the die showing burrs of metal coming out of the F in three places. The E also double entered as usual, this particular reverse die variety remains difficult for the Sovereign connoisseur to locate today. This is the first we have stocked since Sovereign Rarities started in 2016.