Two Headed Gold Dollar Star Of Sale

Numismatic News - One coin ruled them all at Dix Noonan Webb's fall sale held in London on Sept. 21-23: an 1804 George III "dollar" believed to be unique.

The item consisted of a double obverse strike involving two different effigies of the monarch. These effigies are those used by the Bank of England during the British currency shortage of 1804 that followed hard on the heels of a resumption of war with Napoleonic France. At this time crown-sized silver coins of Spain, France and the USA had their designs overstruck by an effigy of George III and Britannia.

In the DNW catalog the gold dollar is credited to William (W.J.) Taylor after John Phillp and Conrad Küchler. C. Wilson Peck's "English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum" states that Taylor obtained a number of bank dollar dies, "which he used freely for re-striking."

Clearly the coin's origins mattered little to sale bidders. In as-struck condition the dollar went to the block with an estimate of £100,000-150,000. That estimate proved right on the money. When the dust settled it had found a new home for $171,600 [£132,000].

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