Sovereign Rarities

Auction 2  –  24 September 2019

Sovereign Rarities, Auction 2

British, World and Ancient Coins

Tu, 24.09.2019, from 11:00 AM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

Extremely Rare Gold Pattern Unite by Abraham Van Der Dort for King Charles I

Charles I (1625-49), Pattern gold Unite of Twenty Shillings, cast by Abraham Van Der Dort (circa 1625), bare head bust left in lace collar, legend and toothed border surrounding, initial mark lis, .CAROLVS. D; G; MAG; BRIT; FR; ET. HI; REX. rev. struck en medaille, crowned quartered shield of arms, crowned C to left, crowned R to right, terminal mark lis, legend surrounding, .FLORENT. CONCORDIA. REGNA. edge, plain, weight 10.06g (Brooker 1239; Farquhar BNJ V, 1908, p.178; Mii 374/269; WR 22 R5; N.2655 VR). Cast and chased, smoothed in fields, though of the same full weight standard as the gold Unite, otherwise good very fine, reverse a touch stronger, and very rare.

It is interesting that this piece has been made the same weight specification as the circulation gold Unite of Twenty Shillings as Wilson and Rasmussen pitch the weight of those pieces usually encountered at a lower than currency level.

Abraham Van Der Dort was a Dutchman and medallist, who became a favourite of the King, and who ultimately became the curator of Charles I’s various collections. Much of his work is unidentified but it is known that he was appointed to provide patterns for the coinage after the King’s accession from April of 1625, which is from whence these rare high relief pattern pieces are thought to emanate. One of Van Der Dort’s four posts within the Royal household was “Master Imbosser or Maker of Medals (for life) and Provider of Patterns” on £40 salary a year. Lord Conway wrote to the Commissioners on the 26th November 1625 to instruct the making of new patterns of some new stamps of coin made by Van Der Dort. The Mint worked throughout December and wrote back on 7th January 1626, to say the high relief was causing them trouble in the striking of £1, £3 and £5 pieces, of which the coin herewith is the lowliest denomination. They went on to say the problems of striking in this minting, would cause a detrimental effect to the rate of production if such high relief coinage was to go ahead, however, if his Majesty wanted a few pieces of these denominations for his pleasure, then that will not hinder Mint activity.

This is perhaps why such pieces are so rare today as full-scale production was just not possible with the minting machinery of the time. It would also seem striking just “a few pieces of each for pleasure” was not that easy either as the coin exists in struck and cast format, with the cast like we have here being more common than the struck version, though all are very rare. Perhaps casting a number for his Majesty’s pleasure, was easier than trying to strike such pieces in high relief, and this piece weighs the same as a Twenty Shilling Unite.

Van Der Dort remained in Westminster and is mentioned in papers throughout the 1630s and clearly was becoming more intimate with the King especially in later years. Van Der Dort eventually finished by the 15th October 1639, his hand-written Catalogue of the Royal Collection at Whitehall. Not long after this though, Van Der Dort took his own life by hanging, as he had lost one of the King’s favourite miniature paintings for which he was Curator. He had secreted the piece so well he could not find it, and the embarrassment of losing such a fine piece was too much to bear. Ironically the missing piece was found not long after Van Der Dort died. A portrait of him hangs in the Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia.

Provenance:
Ex A. H. Baldwin, Auction 57, 23rd September 2008, lot 652.
Ex A. H. Baldwin, Fixed Price List, Summer 2014, item BH 104.

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Price realized --
Starting price 14'000 GBP
Estimate 20'000 GBP
The auction is closed.
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