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Spink Highlights from 2004
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Coins
by Stephen Hill, Associate Director

2004 was an excellent year for the Spink Coin Department, with the achievement of a very significant auction record, and a strengthened market for British, ancient and modern coins.

In 2003 we auctioned the first part of the “once in a lifetime” Slaney collection and we thought that this achievement would be hard to beat in 2004. However, I feel we have surpassed ourselves this year, mainly because of two particularly successful events. The first was the highly acclaimed Marshall collection that was auctioned at the end of March, another “old” collection which had been safely housed with its owners since the 1940s. Though not as large as the Slaney collection, the quality was of the same high level and this was proven by the top prices that were realised on auction day. A new record was made for a British Shilling at auction, when we sold the Henry VIII Testoon for a total of £34,500. Many of the coins in this sale sold for several hundred times what was paid for them back in the forties.

The new world record price for an English coin was established at Spink’s Coinex auction, when the unique gold Penny of Coenwulf, King of Mercia, was sold for £230,000. This surpasses by a considerable margin the previous record, also set by Spink, of £170,500, which was achieved for the 1818 ‘Three Graces’ Pattern Crown in gold, sold at the Selig Auction in 1999. It is noteworthy that this is the third world record for an English coin in succession to be held by Spink, confirming our position as market leaders in English coins.

The second highlight of the Coinex auction was without doubt the Pimprez Hoard of 12th century pennies, recently unearthed in Picardy in northern France. That this hoard should have come to London for sale was something of a coup for Spink, as this was the first time a hoard had been given an export licence by the French authorities. For the specialist collector of Henry I and Stephen the coins were a delight. Not only were numerous mints and moneyers represented, some of them for the first time, but the quality of the coins was well above the average. The detailed catalogue combined with the list of prices realised makes a valuable reference.

The Numismatic Circular has gone from strength to strength this year and we have listed roughly £1.8 million worth of coins, books, medallions and tokens throughout 2004. We look forward to working to maintain these high standards throughout 2005.

Spink Highlights from 2004
Please click on your department of interest:  coins    banknotes    medals    stamps   books