In the middle of the 1740’s, a tumultuous decade in world history by any metric, the British Royal Mint marked an important first. Located within the Tower of London, mint workers were hard at work striking what would become the 1746 proof set. This was the first proof set of royal coinage produced in England, and started a trend that continues down to the present day. Consisting of four silver denominations (the crown, half-crown, shilling, and sixpence), it is estimated that only 100 of these sets were sold to the public. Supposedly, the silver needed for these coins was acquired from the Spanish off the Pacific coast of South America as a result of privateering over the preceding years.

Throughout the last 278 years, the vast majority of the sets have been either broken up or melted down, and very few sets remain intact. In addition to this particular coin’s beautiful proof finish, it can be attributed to one of these sets based on the fact that it does not have the LIMA hallmark below the obverse bust. This is because the proofs were the only half-crowns struck without the mark in 1746.