A collection of rare British coins has sold for £1.1 million at auction, with a Charles I Gold Triple Unite fetching £222,000. The coin, struck in 1643 during the English Civil War, features a bust of Charles I holding a sword with an olive branch over his left shoulder. Its reverse bears the Wellington Declaration, a promise to uphold Protestantism and the laws of England.
The Victoria Una and the Lion five pounds coin, depicting a 20-year-old Queen Victoria leading a lion, sold for £204,000. Only 400 of these coins were ever minted. A James I gold sovereign from 1603, showing England and Scotland as separate entities, went for £90,000, while an Elizabeth I gold sovereign made £16,200.
A 1991 proof Queen Elizabeth II £5 coin achieved £7,800. The auction, held by The Coin Cabinet in Marylebone, totalled £1,086,000. Auction manager Louis Davern described it as a rare privilege to auction some of the finest British coins known, noting competitive bidding across all eras.
Davern highlighted the Charles I Triple Unite as exceptionally rare and historically significant, valued at 60 shillings—the highest English hammered denomination ever struck. Produced at the Oxford mint after the king's retreat from London, most were melted down after the Civil War, making surviving examples extraordinarily scarce.
