Description
George III of the House of Hanover, King of the United Kingdom 1760-1820 AD, Silver Bank of England Emergency Dollar (26.80g, 40mm) of 5/- or 5/6 (after 1811), 1804, Soho Mint, Birmingham. Obverse: Laureate and draped bust of King George III facing to the right, legend surrounds, “GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA REX”. Reverse: Britannia seated facing to the left holding olive branch and spear, her left arm rests on shield, motifs of industry below; castellated garter bearing the legend “FIVE SHILLINGS DOLLAR” surrounds, date below, outer legend surrounds, “BANK OF ENGLAND”. Spink-3768. Nicely toned with underlying rainbow patina, well struck with virtually no host coin visible; some typical minor hairlines although not very apparent to the naked eye, details Extremely Fine.
Although the emergency issue oval and octagonal counter-stamp dollars were an effective supplement to English regal coinage during the late 18th and early 19th century, the ease of counterfeiting the rather simple counter-stamp forced the striking of a new ‘Bank of England Dollar’. Similar to their predecessor, the new Dollar was also valued at 5 shillings, although later revised to 5 shilling 6 pence after 1811, and also make use of a host coin, in many cases the Spanish 8 real. The major change was the employment of an entirely new design over the previously mentioned counter-stamp, completely overstriking the host coin with a most archetypically british reverse, the figure of Britannia, now within a castellated border, and the laureate and draped bust of King George III on the obverse. The ‘Bank of England Dollars’ were all dated 1804, although were continuously for many years thereafter, and were eventually recalled between 1817-1818 AD.
