LOT 4041

Great Britain. Hanover Victoria AV Half Sovereign. Dated 1887. Royal Mint. 2nd portrait. No JEB. Joseph Edgar Boehm, engraver.

VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRIT: REGINA F: D:, crowned and veiled Jubilee bust to left; no JEB on truncation / BRITANNIARUM REGINA FID: DEF:, crowned and embellished shield-of-arms; date in exergue. Marsh 478B; SCBC 3869C. PCGS MS61-S3869C / 49916579, Without JEB.3 1/4 in. (33.78 grams total, 82 mm including case).

Acquired on the UK coin market.
From the private coin collection of a West London, UK, gentleman.

The issues the mint encountered with the Jubilee coins are well documented and were exacerbated by the pressure for the coins to be ready for the Queen's Golden Jubilee on 20 June 1887. Records show that 1,771,425 half-sovereigns were struck in 1887, but only 871,770, less than 50% of the total, were fit for circulation. The Jubilee head series—in all denominations—provides collectors with a unique insight into the workings of the Mint. Due to time restraints the Jubilee head designer Joseph Edgar Boehm’s initials JEB were individually punched onto six master dies for each mint (London, Sydney and Melbourne) by Royal Mint employee William Poplett, creating no less than 23 varieties of 1887 Jubilee Head half sovereigns. It is unknown at which point in the process Jubilee coins without the JEB were struck. They were possibly the first coins struck before William Poplett punched in the JEB on six master dies. In any case, the 1887 half sovereign without JEB is extremely rare. In their publication 'The Jubilee Head Gold Half Sovereign 1887-1893' (Sovereign Rarities, 2019), David Iverson and Steve Hill estimate that no more than three dies were used with no JEB, indicating a production estimate of around 10,000 coins.