1 Guinea - George III 1st portrait (1761)

About the 1761 1 Guinea - George III

The 1761 1 Guinea - George III is a circulating 1 guinea coin, struck in 91.67% gold. It weighs 8.4g and measures 24mm across. Reverse design: Crowned quartered shield showing the arms of England & Scotland, France, Ireland and Hanover, divided date above, legend around.

It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1891), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

George III came to the throne in 1760, and his first guineas are dated 1761. The guinea was then the principal gold coin, fixed at 21 shillings since 1717, and the Royal Mint Museum records that guineas and half guineas were struck in nearly every year from 1761 to 1799. Clayton notes that the first reverse design was used from 1761 to 1786, while the portrait changed several times.

The first portrait was used only in 1761. Clayton lists the date alone under the first head, Coin Hunter lists a single 1761 guinea and CoinVarieties describes it as a one-year type and the rarest guinea of George III. No mintage figure survives. From 1763 a second portrait replaced it, after a year, 1762, in which no guineas were dated.

The obverse shows a young head of the king laureate to right, with GEORGIVS III DEI GRATIA. The Royal Mint's 1906 catalogue notes three distinct curls hanging behind the neck. The Royal Mint Museum credits the youthful portrait to Richard Yeo, who did the work as Assistant Engraver because the Chief Engraver, John Sigismund Tanner, had failing eyesight.

The reverse is a crowned, garnished shield bearing England and Scotland impaled, France, Ireland and the Electorate of Hanover, with M B F ET H REX F D B ET L D S R I A T ET E and the date around. The Royal Mint Museum translates it as King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Arch Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. The edge is grained.

Varieties and errors

The Royal Mint Museum holds a 1761 pattern guinea and a proof, both with plain edges, catalogued separately on the site as the 1761 pattern guinea.

Collecting notes

The young head with three curls behind the neck is the first check, since later portraits are older and more mature. Weight is the second: Clayton gives 8.4 g for George III's guineas. Copper-alloy pieces dated 1761 exist both as gaming counters, such as those in the Fitzwilliam Museum, and as counterfeits, such as those in Amgueddfa Cymru, and the museum examples weigh between about 2.9 g and 4.4 g. A milled edge separates a currency coin from the plain-edged patterns and proofs.