The Three Graces 1817 Silver Pattern
By Coinsanduk | Sunday, 2 June 2024
The Three Graces is one of the world's most sought-after coin designs by William Wyon, early career masterpiece.
Produced in 1817, this pattern crown is depicting England, Ireland, and Scotland anthropomorphized as the Three Graces of Greek mythology wrapped in a circular embrace, the three Goddesses together represent the United Kingdom.
Wyon looked to neoclassical sculptures like Antonio Canova's The Three Graces for inspiration. In Greek mythology, the Three Graces are the daughters of Zeus. The three goddesses, in Greek mythology, (Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia), in whom beauty was deified.
As an engraver, Wyon was as prodigious as he was talented, and The Three Graces design marked the start of an astonishing body of work. It was followed by the seated Britannia of the 1820s, the lion sixpences and shillings of George IV, and a regal Una and the Lion on the famous five-pound piece of 1839, along with his coin and medal portraits of Queen Victoria for which he is perhaps best known.
This pattern coin never entered circulation.
More than 200 years after the original design was struck, the Royal Mint have produced a reinterpretation of William Wyon RA's masterpiece.
Recent sales
- £227,760 - NGC PR-65 - March 26, 2021
- £167,280 - NGC - PR-64 - August 16, 2019
- £163,800 - NGC - PR-63 Cameo - January 8, 2024
- £159,120 - NGC - PR-64+ Cameo - January 7, 2019
- £120,120 - NGC - PR-65 - January 13, 2020
Only 50 of these patterns were produced, and of this number few can have survived in as remarkable a state as this near-gem.
Caracteristics and features
- Alloy: Silver
- Diameter: 40 mm
- Edge: Plain
- KM-PnA77
- L&S-152
- ESC-2020 (formerly ESC-223)
- Legend: Obverse, GEORGIUS III D: G: BRITANNIARUM REX F: D:, Reverse, FOEDUS INVIOLABILE
