Spectacular NGC-certified "Una and the Lion" Offered in Japan Sale

1839 Victoria gold “Una and the Lion” Five Pounds Click images to enlarge.

With more than a week left before the auction concludes on May 3, 2020, online bidding for the coin had already reached 55,500,000 Yen (more than $500,000 USD). This exceeds the £340,000 (about $460,000 USD) that the coin realized in September 2017 when it was offered by Baldwin’s of St. James’s, an auction house based in London.

Only around 400 examples were struck of the 1839 “Una and the Lion” Five Pounds, which is generally regarded as the most beautiful coin in British numismatics. The coins were struck to celebrate Victoria, who became Queen of England in 1837 at the age of 18. Her 63-year reign was one of the longest of all time.

Its obverse features a beautifully executed bust of the young queen, framed by the legend VICTORIA D: G: BRITANNIARUM REGINA F: D:, which is Latin for “Victoria by the Grace of God, Queen of the British territories, Defender of the Faith.”

The more famous reverse also features Victoria, this time as Lady Una, a character from Edmund Spenser’s 1590 poem The Faerie Queene. She is pictured directing a lion (a symbol of England), while holding a scepter in her outstretched right hand and a globus cruciger (a cross-bearing orb) in her left. The memorable scene is surrounded by the Latin motto DIRIGE DEUS GRESSUS MEOS, which translates to “May the Lord direct my steps.”

NGC's certification of this Una and the Lion ultra-rarity is backed by the industry-leading NGC Guarantee, which guarantees that the encapsulated coin is genuine and not overgraded. This helps give confidence to buyers around the world, whether they are bidding in London, Tokyo or online.

Taisei Coins, which has served the collecting community in Japan for half a century, is an Official Submission Center for NGC in Japan.