Victoria 1887-M Sovereign, Melbourne Mint, DISH M1, hooked J

Victoria (1837-1901), gold Sovereign, 1887 M, Melbourne mint, Australia, Jubilee bust facing left, small crown and veil on head, pearl earring and 13 pearl necklace, J.E.B. initials spread and raised on truncation with hooked J, stops in a curved arc, initials of engraver J Edgar Boehm, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, VICTORIA D:G: BRITT: REG: F:D:,rev. St George and dragon right, broken lance to left on ground-line, WWP under lance, mintmark M at centre of ground-line, date in exergue, initials B.P to upper right for engraver Benedetto Pistrucci, weight 8.00g (DISH M1 R3; Hill 131 R3; Bull EGC 1744; S.3868A).Perhaps once cleaned, of bright appearance, with nicks and many surface marks, almost very fine and very rare.

Calendar Year Mintage 62,000.

The Latin legend translates as "Victoria by the grace of God," on obverse and as "Queen of the Britons, Defender of the Faith" on the reverse.

As with Sydney, the Melbourne branch mint was initially sent just six pairs of dies to produce the new Jubilee head gold Sovereigns, all with the J.E.B. initials featuring a hooked J, with the letters punched onto each individual obverse die by hand. Melbourne Mint records state that on average for the year 44,641 sovereigns were produced from each die pair. Therefore each hooked J variety like this coin represents around just 4.75% of the years Jubilee sovereign production of 940,000. It is an extremely hard coin to find and was not represented in either the "Bentley Collection" sold at Baldwin 2012-13 or the "Quartermaster Collection" sold at Monetarium, Australia in 2009.