British Coins from the Collection of Ian Sawden

George III (1760-1820), Pre-1816 issues, A 1797 Cartwheel Penny in gold:

Proof Penny, 1797 (late Soho), in gold, laureate bust right, wreath with 10 leaves, rev. Britannia seated left, edge plain, thin flan, 26.96g/6h (BMC 1111, this piece [KP 15]; WR 158; Selig –; S 3777). Light surface marks and hairlines, two small rim nicks, a few light reverse scratches and has been polished, otherwise very fine and of the highest rarity, doubtless struck for a special purpose; believed only one other known £20,000-£26,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, British Coins from the Collection of Ian Sawden.

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Provenance: E. Wertheimer Collection, Glendining Auction, 24 January 1945, lot 166; King Farouk Collection, Sotheby Auction (Cairo), 24 February-6 March 1954, lot 820; Lady Duveen Collection, Glendining Auction, 29 September 1964, lot 58; A Collection of Valuable Gold Patterns and Proofs, Glendining Auction, 13 April 1972, lot 398; with Spink 1990s; Baldwin FPL Winter 2009 (BM 091); bt Baldwin September 2010.

The only other late Soho striking in gold of a cartwheel penny is that illustrated by Alex Wilson and Mark Rasmussen in 2000 (p.203), a coin formerly in the collections of Capt. Frederick Parr, of Clevedon, Somerset (Puttick & Simpson, 14-15 August 1871), John Marshall of Belmont (Sotheby, 13-14 August 1875, lot 62), Samuel Addington, Hyman Montagu (Copper Coins of England, 2nd edn, 1893, p.95), John Murdoch (Sotheby, 15-19 March 1904, lot 213), George Simmons (Glendining, 27-8 March 1946, lot 93), E.H. Gouldburn (Christie’s, 27 November 1962, lot 320), ‘Ridgemount’ (Spink 69, 20 April 1989, lot 357) and ‘Nimrod’ (Baldwin’s of St James’s 49, 27 October 2020, lot 1047, £130,000)