1/2 Guinea - George III 2nd portrait

The half guinea occupied an awkward position in everyday British commerce — large enough to be inconvenient for small transactions, too small for serious mercantile use — and by the 1770s there was growing pressure to reform the gold coinage entirely. George III's second portrait, by Richard Yeo, replaced the first-year issue almost immediately after the 1763 coinage was found unsatisfactory, and Yeo's dies were themselves criticized by contemporaries for failing to capture a likeness the king approved of.

Spink 3732 covers a twelve-year run, but annual output was highly irregular, with some years seeing negligible production as silver shortages and wartime financing repeatedly distorted mint priorities.