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The rare UK coin set to sell for £300,000 at auction this month

On May 26, Noonans will auction a rare Edward VIII halfcrown dated 1937, one of only two believed to be in private hands.
Edward abdicated in 1936 before any coins in his name were released into circulation in Britain; patterns prepared for the coins were locked away without royal approval.
When sitting for engraver Humphrey Paget on April 28, 1936, Edward chose to show his left side, creating an effigy that makes a "conspicuous break with almost 300 years of tradition," Bradley Hopper, head of the coin department at Noonans, said.
The piece was originally sold at auction in the USA in 1978 and "has remained in the same collection for the past 40 years," Hopper said.
Other pattern sets reside in the Royal Mint Collection, Royal Collection, and Tyrant Collection, though experts deem it improbable any will reach market soon despite a five-pound coin selling for $1.9 million in 2021.

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