拍品 550
550
George IV (1820-30), proof Halfcrown, 1821, first, laureate head left, rev. inverted, crowned and heavily garnished shield, thistle with smooth leaves to left, shamrock with long stems to right, initials WWP (William Wellesley Pole) on shamrockk leaves, initials JBM (Johann Baptist Merlen) in border by stems of shamrock, edge milled (ESC 632 R2; Davies 172), attractively toned, practically as struck, very rare with the heavier garnishing
George IV (1820-30), proof Halfcrown, 1821, first, laureate head left, rev. inverted, crowned and heavily garnished shield, thistle with smooth leaves to left, shamrock with long stems to right, initials WWP (William Wellesley Pole) on shamrockk leaves, initials JBM (Johann Baptist Merlen) in border by stems of shamrock, edge milled (ESC 632 R2; Davies 172), attractively toned, practically as struck, very rare with the heavier garnishing

細節
George IV (1820-30), proof Halfcrown, 1821, first, laureate head left, rev. inverted, crowned and heavily garnished shield, thistle with smooth leaves to left, shamrock with long stems to right, initials WWP (William Wellesley Pole) on shamrockk leaves, initials JBM (Johann Baptist Merlen) in border by stems of shamrock, edge milled (ESC 632 R2; Davies 172), attractively toned, practically as struck, very rare with the heavier garnishing

拍品專文

Merlen, a Flemish engraver who had worked at the Paris mint under the First Empire, was engaged at the Royal Mint on the recommendation of Pistrucci. He was much admired as an engraver of detailed armorial bearings, and Hawkins describes this reverse as 'eminent for the neatness, elegance, and minuteness of detail'. The signature is not noted in ESC, but see Davies p.36 note.
Merlen made a very similar reverse for the Shilling, and there is an unrecorded example of a signed proof, dated 1820, in this sale, lot 553.