GREAT BRITAIN 5 pounds 1839 VICTORIA UNA AND THE LION NGC PF 62 ULTRA CAMEO
PRODUCT INFORMATION
NGC PF 62 ULTRA CAMEO
Gold
39.90 g
917 ‰ ( 36.59 g fine)
Victoria gold Proof "Una and the Lion" 5 Pounds 1839 PR62 Ultra Cameo NGC, KM742, S-3851, W&R-278. By William Wyon
Britain's most beautiful coin
Wyon chose to represent the young Victoria on this 5 Pounds as Una, the protagonist in the first volume of the Elizabethan poem "The Faerie Queen" by Edmund Spencer. So beloved was this design that collectors were ordering examples from the mint for decades after first production, these examples with a plain edge as oppose to lettered, produced up until 1886. This widespread admiration for Wyon's engraving has been further demonstrated in the multiple proposals to incorporate the Una and the Lion reverse into circulating coinage; first in 1839 as a proposal for a Crown, then again in 1859 as a pattern for a decimal Penny, in 1961 on a decimal 50 Cents, and finally in its appearance on the reverses of commemorative sets issued in both 1989 and 2001.
A resplendent piece, ranking amongst the most coveted of the British numismatic series and a true delight to behold.
