Sovereign Rarities are proud to present for their 19th Auction to be held at their London office on Tuesday 23rd September an example of the George V Silver Jubilee Crown dated 1935 struck in gold.

This coin is one of the 25 pieces struck in gold that was supplied to the public by a ballot for the right to buy as it was so heavily oversubscribed with 1,329 applicants wanting to purchase an example at the £50 asking price in May 1935. While such coins do turn up for sale (Heritage sold one in late August 2025 for a total of $150,000) the really interesting thing with this one is that it has been family owned since it was obtained new in May 1935!

After 90 years the grandchildren of the original purchaser Mrs B Hindley have decided the time is right to sell. Their grandmother, one of only six women who succeeded in purchasing one of these coins, had always told her family never to handle the coin and it sat for nine decades in its original case.

The coin is accompanied by its original paperwork from the Royal Mint signed by Deputy Master and Comptroller Robert A Johnson. A congratulatory letter of 15th May 1935 and a list sent on 23rd May 1935 of all the successful applicants. The issue of the gold crown, its method of sale and distribution by ballot even reached the realm of Parliamentary debate on 27th May 1935 (series 5, volume 302) with all the names and addresses of the recipients listed and still available to see on Hansards Parliamentary Proceedings of the House of Commons ROYAL MINT (DISTRIBUTION OF GOLD PIECES). (Hansard, 27 May 1935)

One of the most interesting things to note today is that the issue price of £50 was a great deal of money in 1935 especially when compared to the then current retail values of significant collector coins as gleaned from the Spink Numismatic Circular. A Victoria Una and the Lion Five Pounds of 1839 appears for sale in the August 1935 edition for £20 and a slightly lesser grade one on the October edition at £16/10. Even the following year in March of 1936 an 1839 Five Pounds was still only £22, a coin that easily tops £200,000 at auction today when very well preserved.

The release of the 1935 gold Silver Jubilee crown to the public numbered just 25 pieces, which is one sixteenth of the approximated mintage of the Una and the Lion Five Pound piece at circa 400 pieces. This comparison speaks volumes as to perhaps how under appreciated by value this rarity truly is, it being almost now at the halfway point in date between the issue of the Una and lion of 1839 and today.

Just how many more of these 1935 gold crowns are still with the original owner families is impossible to fathom, but the cataloguer Steve Hill can honestly say it is only the second time in a 35 year coin career that he has encountered a gold crown from the original family ownership. The last time being in the late 1990s when he met a 99 year old original successful applicant and recipient of the coin – Norman B. Kark (died in 2000 age 101), something that is impossible to occur now.

The Hindley example of the 1935 Crown in gold for George V's Silver Jubilee has since been certified by NGC as number 8464516-001 with a resulting straight grade of PF64 + Ultra Cameo and we expect it to sell in the region of £100,000+.

The online catalogue will appear at www.sovr.co.uk this coming week.

To see the paperwork accompanying this George V Silver Jubilee Crown dated 1935 struck in gold, see:
Hindley 1935 George V Silver Jubilee Crown in gold(https://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/albums/72177720328713335/)

The other major consignment for the 23rd September auction is the Thorburn Collection of coins and medallions of 1887 mostly issued to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria and numbering to over 200 pieces in 198 lots. The collection has all 1887 dated denominations whether young, gothic or Jubilee style head of nearly all formats and die variations.

This is the most significant collection of coins of one date to come to public auction in this generation and perhaps ever as it also contains many patterns and proofs with some unique. More will be revealed in the succeeding E-Sylums, but for now three of the most significant and valuable gold coins are the 1887 Pattern Five and Two Pound gold coins without the B.P. designer initials in the exergue on the reverse (NGC PF62 Cameo at £30,000-40,000 and NGC PF61 Ultra Cameo at £15,000-£20,000 respectively) and the 1887 Proof Young Head Sovereign with shield back reverse from London (NGC PF64 Cameo at £25,000-£35,000).

The "no B.P." Five and Two Pound pieces were pre-production trials of those denominations in early 1887 before the official proof and currency pieces appeared for sale and circulation after the Golden Jubilee date in June 1887. Both are each thought to number to less than 20 pieces in existence and remain the most highly prized of the Jubilee Five and Two Sovereign pieces.

The young head Proof Sovereign is even more of an extreme rarity with almost certainly less than five produced and hardly ever encountered for sale. This shield reverse and its St George reverse counterpart were thought to have been ordered in a very small number of proof assemblages of the young head coins of 1887 for a special VIP order perhaps by one of the branch mints for exhibition.