1921 Melbourne Sovereign - PCGS MS64

Australia, 1921 Melbourne Sovereign -

I’ve been chasing the 1921-M sovereign for years. It’s a tough date and one of the most elusive issues across the entire sovereign series. The number of coins currently in existence is not known, but it’s clear that the bulk of the 240,121 pieces minted is no longer available to collectors. In fact, the date is so rare that prior to the 1970s, numismatists, dealers, and catalogues commonly suggested that the date did not exist! (The 1970s edition of the Renniks catalogue describes the existence of the 1921-M and 1927-M sovereigns as “Unverified”.) I’ve always rated the 1921-M sovereign as the rarest of the George V sovereigns, after the 1920-S—certainly rarer than the 1926-S, which is generally considered the second-rarest George V sovereign, after the 1920-S. The coin photographed above is equal-finest graded by PCGS at MS64 (1/15) and the nicest I’ve seen on the market for a number of years. The coin once belonged to the famous Quartermaster Collection (2009), Paul Terry Collection (1992), and R. Jaggard Collection (1989). Very rare this nice, and once sold, will be difficult to replace, particularly in this grade.