One man's remarkable collection of Elizabethan gold coins is tipped to sell for £900,000.
George Holloway built up his collection of 33 Sovereigns over a 60 year period. It is thought to make up one tenth of all coin specimens from this period which are known to exist.
Mr Holloway, from the East Midlands, died recently and the collection is now being sold by his family with London-based auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb.
The marquee lot in the sale is a rare First Issue Sovereign, struck in 1559 and 1560, depicting Queen Elizabeth I seated on an ornamented throne. She holds an orb and sceptre on one side, and the Royal arms in the centre of a Tudor rose on the other. The coin, one of only eight known surviving examples, is valued at £80,000.
A Second Issue coin showing the Queen in a similar pose, one of 18 known examples, is tipped to fetch £50,000, while a 1592 Sovereign could make £40,000.
The fine Sovereign coins were initially introduced by Elizabeth's grandfather Henry VI and were tariffed at 30 shillings.
In 1558, Elizabeth issued a commission to Sir Edmund Peckham, authorising him to strike Sovereigns and other denominations in 22-carat crown gold. Later editions were struck to 1584 to finance the Earl of Leicester's expedition to the Netherlands in 1585.
Peter Preston-Morley, head of the coin department at Dix Noonan Webb, said: "The coins in this sale are representative of one man's remarkable study, over almost 60 years, of all the known examples of Elizabeth I's magisterial series of fine gold sovereigns.
"Mr Holloway, fondly remembered by members of the British coin trade as a diligent researcher of these coins, has left an archive detailing no less than 341 different specimens, each of them described in the detail that only a true enthusiast can muster, right down to the most minor striking characteristic.
"Initially very little crown gold was struck at the commencement of her reign, but by 1562 it had entirely displaced fine gold in the mint output, presumably because its better wearing qualities commended it to the merchants.
"The second series of Elizabethan fine sovereigns, struck in 1584 and the following years, owe their initial existence to the government authorising their issue, along with ship ryals, as a means of financing the expedition of the Earl of Leicester to the Netherlands in 1585.
"The second series is thought to have continued until the spring of 1593." Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603. The sale takes place on November 17.
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