May 2003 Coin Newsletter

By Steve Hill

Welcome, Cyberfriends, to the May 2003 numismatic report, a month in which I feel we will see take place one of the most significant coin auctions in living memory. The quality of the coins contained in the Slaney collection offered for auction on the 15th May are superb. It is a very interesting type collection indeed and contains some fantastic rarities. Slaney will become a name that shows a provenance of quality, as is the case with other names from the past like Carter, Norweb, Brand, Murdoch and Montague.

The demand for the catalogues have been unprecedented with this sale, and the number of hits for the website articles associated with this sale has been phenomenal. Word of this sale has certainly spread worldwide and catalogues have now reached all corners of the globe.

The response has been phenomenal as the hype - and ideas of what the realised prices might achieve - keeps on growing. The month of April has been a hectic one as many collectors and dealers have come into our offices by appointment to view the Slaney coins early. A new benchmark level of price will, I am sure, be achieved. We look forward to this sale now with great anticipation.

The five-figure potential coins from the Slaney Collection

Lot 5: Elizabeth 1 Fine Sovereign	Lot 16: Charles 1 Triple Unite, Oxford, 1643
£8,000 - £10,000	£12,500-£15,000

Lot 20: Edward VI Crown, 1551	Lot 60: Charles I Halfcrown, Exeter Mint 1642
£8,000 - £10,000	£12,500- 15,000

Lot 70: James II Five Guineas 1687, Elephant & Castle, £12,000 - £15,000

Lot 86: George I Five Guineas 1717, £8,000 - £10,000

Lot 89: George 1 Pattern Guinea 1727	Lot 100: George III Pattern Two Guineas 1768
£8,000 - £10,000	£12,000 - £15,000

Lot 134: Charles II Pattern Crown 1662, £10,000 - £15,000

Lot 136:Charles II Petition Crown 1663, £40,000 - £50,000

Lot 235: Victoria Pattern Crown, 1888, £8,000 - £10,000

On April 5th Jeremy Cheek, Paul Hill, Emily Reid and I attended the International Kensington Fair, where we found ourselves discussing the virtues of the Slaney collection more or less the whole time we were there, another sign of the popularity of this sale. In fact collectors have perhaps stopped spending money on other coins on offer from dealers now in anticipation of what they might try to buy in the Slaney auction on the 15th. Whether they are successful or not I am sure the month of May will be a busy one for sales in the coin trade. I look forward to bringing you the results of this momentous sale next month.

The April Circular sold very well and the collection of Victorian silver coins proved very popular. The ancient coin lists were quite extensive and generated much interest. The Earlier British and European medieval sold very well, so did the milled gold. The key date Victorian coins were the first to go, and quality really does count. The Surrey Norweb tokens proved very popular too.

We are now preparing our lists for the June Circular, which will include lists of: ancient Greek, Roman and Sassanian; English hammered, milled gold, crowns and halfcrowns; as well as a list of crowns for the younger collector. In addition to this, there will be a list of maundy oddments and Sussex tokens from the Norweb collection as well as some banknotes. A review of the Circular in full will follow next month.

Jeremy Cheek and Stephen Hill of Spink with their translator Asuza at the Tokyo Coin Convention.

After Easter, the last major event of the month for us was our attendance at the Tokyo Coin Convention at the Royal Park Hotel in Tokyo’s business district. It was the 14th Annual convention and is obviously well established, however it was Spink’s first time to attend this fair, having had no numismatic presence in Tokyo since the old Spink-Taisei sales of 1988-89. Our attendance therefore was long overdue and Jeremy Cheek and I were pleased to organise our table from the 2nd-4th May. We had a wonderful translator who really helped us to buy and sell coins. Some pictures from the show are shown above and below, courtesy of Fujio Matsuura of the Orient Coin Company. We look forward to attending the 15th show this time next year.

Jeremy Cheek and Stephen Hill of Spink with Fujio Matsuura of the Orient Coin Centre

Sad news has been received in the first few days of May as we learn of the peaceful death of Mr Douglas G Liddell at home in his sleep aged 84.

Mr Liddell was a former Managing Director of Spink and one of the biggest influences in British Numismatics, from his induction into Spink in 1946 right through to retirement in December 1987. He was made a Director of the company on the 1st June 1965 and Managing Director from 1977. A full obituary will appear in the Numismatic Circular in due course.

I look forward to bringing you the June report on time next month, until then enjoy your coins...

Steve Hill
Associate Director
Coin Department