George III (1760-1820), Pre-1816 issues, Pattern mule Crown, 1798 [late Soho], types G/1, after C.H. Küchler, in gilt-copper, leaf to upright of e, · · k on truncation, rev. crowned arms, semée of hearts, edge plain, 41mm, 24.11g/12h (Dickinson 9; ESC 175b; L & S –; Selig –; Bushman –). Obverse with some light spotting, otherwise extremely fine, reverse brilliant, of the highest rarity
£1,500-2,000

Dickinson has convincingly demonstrated (SNC October 1999, p.243) that the 1798-dated patterns were originally a speculative venture on the part of Matthew Boulton and had no connection with the Bank of England. By association, two obverse dies used in their manufacture were re-employed by Boulton in 1804 to strike pattern dollars of the ‘Garter’ type for the Bank (ESC 182 and 185), which led to Soho winning the business for overstriking in excess of 5 million Spanish-American 8-réales for the Bank of England and Bank of Ireland