Ancient, British and World Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

Anne (1702-1714), Before Union, Five-Guineas, 1703 vigo, first bust by John Croker, with stops on obverse, reverse crowned shields, rose in centre, sceptres in angles, regnal edge year secvndo (MCE 197; SC 5: S 3561), 41.8 gms. Very lightly cleaned at some time, a few surface marks, good extremely fine, the reverse retaining some original brilliance, extremely rare, a superb coin, possibly the finest example known (£40,000-60,000)

It is believed that less than 20 examples of this coin exist. Of the four examples that have appered at Public Auction in the last 25 years, Douglas-Morris, Sharps Pixley, “Vigo Bay” Collection and Bowers and Ruddy, this appears to be the superior example.
At the destruction of the combined French and Spanish fleet in Vigo Bay by Sir George Rooke, the captured bullion was mostly silver, as the gold had been off-loaded before the battle, making the “Vigo” gold issues extremely rare and highly desirable. See footnotes in Glendining’s catalogue 12 October 1992 (Lot 17), and Coincraft’s Standard Catalogue, page 416, for comments regarding obverse dies.

See Front cover illustration.