1899 Perth Sovereign - PCGS MS65

Australia, 1899 Perth Sovereign -

There are coins and then there are coins. From the moment I first laid eyes on this 1899-P sovereign in June 2009, I knew I was looking at something special. Flashy and original, with silken fields and a relatively sharp strike, this specimen was—and is—undoubtedly the finest-known example of the Perth Mint’s first sovereign. The oldest record of its appearance on the market comes from way back in July 1993, where the coin went under the hammer in a Spink Noble Numismatics auction (lot 1377). Coin dealers Windsor and Sons placed the coin into the Quartermaster Collection in 2005, where it resided until it came up for sale again during the Quartermaster auction in June 2009. The coin was hotly contested, with a Perth dealer and Sydney dealer competing for it toward the end. Coin dealers KJC (Australia) Pty Ltd placed it into the collection of one of their clients, where it resided for five or six years. In late 2015, the coin re-emerged, at which point I arranged for it to be certified with PCGS. It graded a solid PCGS MS65, and became the equal finest-graded example certified by PCGS. It was the equal-finest graded example in 2015 and continues to be the equal-finest graded example today (9/17). In fact, I’m surprised it didn’t make MS66, as it looks the part and is only minimally bagged. One to keep for the long haul, in my view.