George III pattern half-sovereign, 1816

RMM 1180

George III

coin
pattern

half-sovereign

1816

plain

360

Tower Hill

gold

3.61g

In preparing the post-Waterloo coinage of George III there was a great deal of experimentation, much of it centring on design. The talented Italian gem engraver, Benedetto Pistrucci, had started working at the Royal Mint during the first half of 1816 and he was prolific in creating a number of distinctive portraits of the king. Illustrated here is one of them on a pattern half-sovereign of 1816, executed with a height of relief much greater than was used on regular circulating coins. There are pattern sovereigns with the same portrait and it eventually came to be used on currency shillings and sixpences, albeit at a reduced relief. British coins of this period and through the nineteenth century were produced with a stronger modelled form than is the case today, one of the arguments in favour of this being that the designs would last longer in circulation. The downside, though, was that coinage dies would have to work harder and would consequently be subject to higher rates of wear and therefore need replacing more frequently. What is particularly remarkable about this pattern half-sovereign is that it appears to be the same thickness as any other half-sovereign of the time and yet in achieving a much higher relief there is no evidence of ghosting on the reverse. The term, ghosting, refers to when metal is drawn from one side of a coin to make up the design on the other, a classic example occurring on the coinage of George V. Bertram Mackennel, one of the most celebrated sculptors of the day, modelled the coinage effigy higher than was ideal for the purposes of day-to-day production which resulted in reverse designs, such as St George and the dragon on sovereigns, being framed by a ghostly outline of the king’s portrait. It is likely that this pattern half-sovereign of George III would have been hot-struck, involving heating the blank before striking to soften it, and it is possible that a pre-formed blank was used, which would have aided in forming the height of relief without compromising the design on the reverse. But even working with a higher relief, an engraver is still performing a sleight of hand in creating the illusion of substantial depth without there being very much there at all.

Hocking 1792
Webster 945

Wilson & Rasmussen 201