George I 1714 Guinea, Prince Elector type AU53

George I (1714-27), gold Guinea, 1714 "Prince Elector" type, first laureate head right, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, GEORGIVS. D.G. MAG.BR.FR. ET. HIB. REX. F.D., rev. first reverse with Prince Elector title, crowned cruciform shields, incorporating the Arms of Hanover, sceptres in angles, garter star at centre, date either side of tope crown, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, BRVN. ET LVN. DVX S.R.I.A.TH ET. PR. EL. (Schneider 544; MCE 245; S.3628). Well struck with the garter star evident, has been graded and slabbed by NGC as AU53, a rare one year only type.

NGC certification 4251424-003.

This one year only type represents an unusual juncture in the date of the British coinage where the last issue of the previous monarch Queen Anne, is of the matching date 1714 and is the only denomination of George I to be dated 1714, he having ascended the throne on the 1st August 1714 with the Coronation held shortly after on the 20th October. This was probably because his mother Sophia of Hanover was deemed to be Queen Anne's heir presumptive since the Act of Settlement in 1701 but she did not outlive Anne having died less than two months before her. Therefore with fresh news of the death of Sophia perhaps overshadowed by that of Queen Anne, the Hanoverian German George was an unfamiliar hereditary successor in Great Britain and Ireland as the Great Grandson of King James I. Therefore to have his new Guinea coin minted before anything else must show how its circulation helped spread the news of the change of monarch with the Elector title prominent and are the only gold coins to show this as a nod to the British succession.

The Latin legends translates as on the obverse "George, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith" and on the reverse "Duke of Brunswick and Luneberg, High Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire."