A Rare British Gold Coin Soared to Nearly Double Its Pre-Sale Estimate

The 1711 gold 5-guinea DECIMO (edge inscription) variety was from the Frank Waley Collection of Hammered Silver and Milled Gold Coins.

A rare British gold coin soared to nearly double its pre-sale estimate during Stanley Gibbons Baldwin’s auction Dec. 11 in London.

The 1711 gold 5-guinea DECIMO (edge inscription) variety was from the Frank Waley Collection of Hammered Silver and Milled Gold Coins. It realized £144,000 ($180,135 U.S.), including 20% buyer’s fee against a pre-sale estimate of £80,000 ($100,075 U.S.).

The coin is among the last gold 5-guinea coins struck during Queen Anne’s reign, which ended in 1714. Her successor, King George I, had silver 5-guinea coins struck during his reign.

Queen Anne ascended to the English throne in 1702, following the death of King William III. She was the last monarch of the Stuart dynasty.

The popular queen had a relatively short reign, from March 8, 1702, until her death at the age of 49 on April 23, 1714, at Kensington Palace in London. She was buried at Westminster Abbey where she had been crowned queen on April 23, 1702.

A queen’s life

Married to Prince George (1653 to 1708) brother of the Danish king, Christian V, she bore 19 children, of which 14 were stillbirths or miscarriages. The others died at an early age.

Queen Anne was considerably overweight and unable to walk, so her staff transported her in a specially made chair.

Anne’s reign was dominated abroad by the War of the Spanish Succession, which raged from 1702 until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The most significant political event of Anne’s reign was the Act of Union, effective from May 1707, uniting England and Scotland as Great Britain.

The coin’s obverse features a diademed queen with a draped bust. The reverse depicts crowned shields. The coin is “as struck,” graded MS-62 by PCGS, the second highest grade example, behind one graded MS-62+.

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