Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 2312. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $10000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HANOVER. Victoria. 1837-1901. AV Sovereign (6h). "827" experimental issue. Dated 1863. VICTORIA DEI GRATIA 1863, young head left, with fillet; 827 on bust truncation / BRITANNIARVM REGINA FID : DEF :, crowned coat-of-arms; no die number below arms. G.P. Dyer, "1863 Sovereigns Numbered 827," NumCirc 1977, pp. 421-422 (this coin illustrated); Marsh 46A; Schneider -; SCBC 3852F. In PCGS slab, graded AU53. Very rare.($7500)

As of 1980, six specimens of the "827" sovereign had been identified, four with a die number 22 on reverse, two without a die number. The present piece was the first of the two unnumbered specimens to be discovered.

Although there is no direct documentary evidence concerning the existence of this coin, it is likely that it falls into the same category as the 1859 Ansell sovereign. It is recorded that in November 1863 the Mint received a shipment of gold ingots from the Bank of England that proved to be unworkable in their native state. The ingots were sent to two refiners, Rothschild's and Brown & Wingrove, for further processing. It is known that Rothschild's processed two 200-ounce ingots with control numbers of 816 and 830, and it is possible that 827 was another of the experimental ingots, with the coins struck from the re-processed metal being marked accordingly.