Victoria AD 1837-1901 Silver Gothic Crown AD 1853 *NGC PF53*

The Latin legends translates on obverse as “Victoria by the Grace of God, Queen of the Briton’s, Defender of the Faith,” and on the reverse as “May God guard these united, in the year of our Lord 1853.” The legend on the edge translates as “An ornament and a safeguard in the seventeenth year of her reign.”

Produced six years after the much more common 1847 dated Gothic Crown of which 8,000 were struck, the 1853 Gothic Crown was struck only in a very limited number specifically for the proof set dated that year. The quantity is unknown, but it seems proof sets of coins sold slowly in those days and were only available to order through the official agents of that time Hunt and Roskell as the public were not permitted to deal directly with the Mint. The 1853 sets were not struck for any specific occasion but perhaps could be more viewed as the vanity project of the new Master of the Mint as of 1851, the astronomer Sir J. F. W. Herschel. Upon arrival he totally reorganised the Mint clean sweeping away the multiple departments in favour of a centralised office modus operandi with the Master in charge. By 1851-52 period all the older stock of 1839 proof sets had at last been sold, and so the new Master insisted that new sets of all the denominations in proof quality be produced for sale to the public through the official agents on demand, and it seems sets were then sold on a sporadic basis for years afterward. The Gothic Crown was the key piece of the silver and the largest physical coin to feature in the set dated 1853. It is arguably one of the finest designs in the entire milled series and along with the 1839 Una and the Lion gold Five Pounds is one of the most coveted designs by Royal Academy Member William Wyon.