The Hammersley Collection of Exceptional British Milled Sovereigns

Foreword

The collection presented here for sale represents the finest group of milled sovereigns to be dispersed in London for over a decade. Formed in the immediate aftermath of the Bentley sales in 2012 and 2013 the collection contains many of the key rarities from the series, including the 1823 [Lot 10], the 1841 [30], the 1859 Ansell [49] and the 1863 ‘827’ [53]. It is no small benefit that all of these coins are beautifully preserved. Indeed, the reader will notice throughout the catalogue coins of consistently exceptional quality, reflecting not only the vendor’s superb eye, but also his predisposition towards patience; the latter trait being all too rarely found in the collectors of today.

Introduced as a replacement for the Guinea after three decades of economic turbulence caused by the war with France, the purpose of the Sovereign, as its name suggests, was to reestablish the political and economic power of Britain and its Empire. Driven by the impetus provided by the burgeoning Industrial Revolution, the Sovereign had become one of the pre-eminent world currencies by the 1870s. Struck on the new machinery designed by these advances,...