4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820
What a stunning portrait of George. The third king from the family of Electors of Hanover. His great-grandfather spoke no English at all, except perhaps enough to order his dinner. This George however was born in England, and spoke English as his first language.
George had a large family, had a colony named for him..Georgia...strangely founded after the revolution, and went completely MAD for long periods, producing crisis after crisis. The eldest son stood in waiting for the job and was often on the verge of taking the regent's position, but George always recovered, till finally he descended into near complete madness and his son became Regent permanently in 1810 till George's death.
He was the longest ruling monarch till this time at over 59 years. Known generally as Farmer George because of his interest in agriculture. He suffered from Pophyria, producing oddly colored urine when he had a bout with the disease. Some speculate that this might have been the illness inherited from Henry V's wife Catherine of Valois.
George lost the colonies in America, or perhaps Parliament did.
There is much "to do" about the German make up of the royal family...Hanover from the Georges, and Saxe-Coburg from Albert and Victoria, but in truth, the entire nation is fairly German from the Angles and Saxons in the early years and some of the Vikings...and English is actually a form of Low German if one is classifying them by descent. The prejudice came to a head during the two World Wars when Germany was the aggressor. Of course the Battenburg family became Mountbatten, and the Saxe- Coburg family became Windsor, taken from the much loved castle in central England. By this time, the German has been watered down with the Queen mother, daughter of the Earl of Strathmore, Diana, a Spencer, and now Kate.
This is not the most spectacular coin, but I already have a George III coin. I was having a bit of trouble getting a photo. It is quite small and a Maundy coin. About Maundy coins. They are coins passed out at church services on Maundy Thursday by the sovereign. They are usually in sets, but often turn up as singles. I also have been spending a lot of money on coins, So, I decided to cool it a bit and perhaps replace this later. Still you get a sense of the beauty of the coin, especially on the reverse. I will keep an eye out for a better one, and I am hoping for a 1776 date...Much as I like England, or in this case Great Britain or the United Kingdom, I still like that date, even if it did drive George MAD every time it was mentioned.
This 1797 penny was under $25.00.
This silver George III Crown of 1819 was a bit under $65.00
This George III 1797 copper Two Pence coin was $41.00.
Here is a lesson for you to profit from. This coin looked so nice in the brochure, but it was sold by someone who was either very crafty or someone who was very dumb. I thought: "my what nice condition that coin is in." But when I opened it up, it was obvious that something was not right. It had been lacquered at some point in its life...well...back it goes
Well, That makes a total of four George III coins including the one I do not have the photo of. It was just that good deals kept coming up, and each one was a better coin. If they had been more expensive, and if they had each been better coins, I would have stopped with the second...but...what a boob I am.
I don't even have any particularly like George III...I guess it must be that I like the movie,
"The Madness of King George"
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