Goldberg Coins & Collectibles Auctions    
       

       

                             



Sale 31: The Pre-Long Beach Auction May 30 - June 1, 2005
             

             
            Lot 2454Great Britain. Three Shillings silver Bank Token, 1811. 
            George III. S-3769. Draped bust in armor. For years at the end of 
            this reign, and in fact during what is known to history as The 
            Regency period, when King George was suffering his dementia and his 
            son stepped in to fill many of his royal duties, England was at war 
            with Napoleon. Specie was in very short supply. Gold was virtually 
            nonexistent in the homeland, being hoarded. A special "Military 
            Guinea" and its half were authorized strictly to pay troops abroad, 
            fighting forces. At home, silver had vanished because of fears of a 
            bad outcome to the war. No coins in silver were struck for the 
            Crown. Earlier, the Bank of England had gathered Spanish silver 8 
            Reales coins and had overstamped them as emergency issues, known 
            today as the Bank Dollars. By 1811 things were a little less 
            uncertain, and the Bank of England once again issued coins in the 
            king's name. Several denominations appeared, all of them different 
            from traditional denominations so as not to cause confusion. The 
            largest were these "3 Shillings" coins. Two types were made, two 
            head styles, and today they are elusive in high grade but otherwise 
            common. The Cheshire collector notes: "I collected several Bank 
            Tokens of the same date because, even until recently, they seemed 
            relatively cheap. And it was possible to put together a group of 
            these pieces with different colour tones at no great expense!" Here 
            is the first, showing light silvery gray toning. A distinctive 
            feature of these is the shallow engraving. NGC graded MS-61. 
            Estimated Value $200-250. 

            Provenance: The Cheshire Collection.
             Realized $210
             


          








Courtesy Ira & Larry Goldberg Auctioneers, Beverly Hills, CA. www.goldbergcoins.com