The Stack’s Bowers Galleries World Coin Auction Sessions for the August ANA World’s Fair of Money are now online and can be viewed here. Our current highlight is a fabulous and large world gold type: a Queen Anne Post-Union 5 Guineas. One of the defining moments of Queen Anne’s reign was the formation of Great Britain through the union of the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland. It took nearly five years of difficult negotiations and there were a few setbacks before the merger was completed. The Queen was an ardent supporter of the union.
The obverse design features a lovely draped bust of Queen Anne facing left, with the legend: "ANNA. DEI. GRATIA." (Anne, By the Grace of God). The obverse legend continues on the reverse: "MAG. BRI. FR. ET. HIB. REG." (Great Britain, France and Ireland, Queen) with the date of 1706 at the apex. The union of England and Scotland also meant the coat of arms needed to be reworked. The shields at twelve and six o’clock dually represent England (Three lions passant guardant) and Scotland (single lion rampant within a border). The three o’clock shield represents France (Triple fleur de lis) with the nine o’clock shield signifying Ireland (Harp). The four shields are separated by scepters, each topped with a symbol for each of the four kingdoms (cross for England, thistle for Scotland, fleur de lis for France and harp for Ireland). This example offers lovely strike details and impressive quality for this large gold issue. It is surely a worthy candidate for a high-end type set.
While we are no longer accepting consignments of world and ancient coins or world paper money for our August 2018 ANA Auction, we are accepting consignments for our October 2018 Collector’s Choice Online Auction as well as the January 2019 New York International Auction. In addition, we are taking consignments of Chinese and other Asian coins and currency for our April 2019 Hong Kong Showcase Auction. If you are interested in consigning your coins and paper currency (whether a whole collection or a single rarity) contact one of our consignment directors.
