THE ‘most beautiful British coin’ discovered in Gwynedd house has sold for £110,000 at auction.
The extremely rare Victorian ‘Una and the Lion’ five sovereign coin was estimated to fetch between £70,000 and £120,000, and was sold in a Rogers Jones’ auction in Chester last week
The ‘Una and the Lion’, was designed by engraver William Wyon and features a young Queen Victoria, just two years after she was crowned.
The obverse side features the young monarch as Una from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, accompanied by a lion symbolising England.
Only a very limited number of these coins are believed to have been produced, with estimates ranging between 200 and 300 in total. As a result, they rarely appear at auction and are highly sought after by collectors across the globe.
The current world record price for a Una and the Lion coin stands at £340,000.
The bidding of the Una and the Lion started at £40,000 and went swiftly up to £100,000 with interest in France against two UK-based bidders before finally settling at a £110,000 hammer price.
“With fewer than 300 believed to have been produced, these coins rarely come to auction, as reflected in the worldwide interest it has received,” said Charles Hampshire, Auctioneer, Valuer and Partner at Rogers Jones, who auctioned the coin on April 9.
“Finding it in a house clearance amongst a huge consignment of coins felt like discovering a diamond in hiding; it truly is a work of art in its own right”
Rogers Jones Auctioneers will be launching its first Welsh Sale of 2026 in April, featuring fine art from all across Wales, including rare pieces from Gwen John and Kyffin Williams.
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