Description
George VI of the House of Windsor, King of the United Kingdom 1936-1952 AD, Gold Four Coin Proof Set, 1937, Coronation Year issue, including the Five Pound, Two Pound, Sovereign and Half Sovereign, and housed in official Royal Mint box of issue. Obverse of each: Bare head of King George VI facing to the left, engraver’s initials “HP” (Humphrey Paget) below truncation, legend surrounds, “GEORGIVS VI D:G: BR: OMN: REX F:D: IND: IMP.”. Reverse of each: Saint George, wielding sword and wearing plumed helmet and billowing cloak, mounted atop his horse which rears right above a fallen dragon, his broken lance remains half embedded and the shaft rests to the left on the exergual ground-line, engraver’s initials ‘B.P’ (Benedetto Pistrucci) and date in exergue. Marsh-F40, T46, 296B, 543A; S-PS15. The well-known 1937 Coronation proof gold set of George VI, each piece with some minor hairlines, mostly the half sovereign, otherwise lightly toned and typically brilliant, would likely grade PF63-64, Proof and near Fleur de Coin.
The obverse Latin legend of each coin reads unabridged as “Geōrgius Sextus, dei grātia, Britanniārum Omnium Rēx, Fideī Dēfēnsor, Indiae Imperātor”, with an English translation of “George the Sixth, by the Grace of God, King of all the British people, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India”.
