1 Crown - George III Pattern

(en) (Heritage Auctions:)The years leading up to the Great Recoinage of 1816 were turbulent for the British economy; following decades of silver and copper shortage, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars had drained resources and dramatically increased the national debt. Overvalued gold pushed the undervalued silver coins abroad, leading to severe imbalances in circulating coinage and consequent economic turmoil. To combat this, the Great Recoinage reduced the quantity of precious metals in both the gold and silver coins, rendering their face value greater than their fabric value and ensuring that they could not be traded for profit elsewhere. New coins began to be struck bearing intricate designs engraved by the Italian artist Benedetto Pistrucci.

The order in which Pistrucci's coins were introduced effectively illustrates the public demand for them--beginning immediately in 1816 with minor silver coinage consisting of Sixpences, Shillings and Halfcrowns (which had been out of production since 1787 and desperately needed), followed by the Sovereign and Half Sovereigns in 1817 and finally topped off by the Crowns in 1818. Of this entire mintage, the Sovereign is perhaps the most iconic, successor to the 21-Shilling Guinea but reduced to a rounder 20 Shillings and bearing the celebrated design of St. George vanquishing the dragon. The Crown, being a less vital and larger silver denomination, was the last of the common types to be produced but followed a year of intense experimentation and pattern creation, cumulating in such masterpieces as the present offering.

A successor to his St. George design, Pistrucci created this Crown as a larger, silver version of his Sovereign (which had become an instant numismatic icon).

Possibly a unique piece