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June/July 2003 Coin NewsletterBy Steve Hill Welcome, Cyberfriends, to the latest edition of the numismatic report,
which this month is very exciting. One of the most significant sales that
has taken place in recent memory occurred during the last month –
the Slaney Collection. It is only once in a decade or even a generation
that a truly special quality collection comes to the auction block, a
truly rare event that attracted bidders from all around the world. My
full account follows, but just to give you a flavour, here are the top
fifteen prices achieved:
Bloomsbury, London, Thursday 15th May 2003, a day that will go down in the annals of Numismatic History. The Slaney Collection - the build up had been phenomenal, the coins were superb, the quality fantastic. The excitement was bubbling as Thursday dawned. The room filled fast and all chairs were taken. Some overseas bidders were represented by telephone, but nothing could prepare any of us for the new price level heights that some of the coins in this sale reached. Richard Bishop our auctioneer was on the rostrum early revelling in the excited buzz of the chattering room bidders. Suddenly it was 10am and Richard started the sale, the room went quiet as over 100 bidders turned their attention to the rostrum, for the usual greetings and sale room announcements. The Henry VIII Angel lot 1 opened and was bid straight up to £900 hammer by a telephone bidder, 50% over the high estimate - was this a sign of how things were going to continue?
Next lot 2 the Henry VIII Half Sovereign went even further and was bought by a room bidder for £2,800 hammer, not far off double the high estimate. A trend for price was set, as lot after lot continued to achieve between 50% and 100% higher than the top estimate with few exceptions. Lot 5, the Elizabeth I fine sovereign, achieved 70% over high estimate at £17,000 hammer to a phone bidder.  This Elizabeth I Sovereign fetched 70% over its high estimate Auction fever really had broken out now, and is something we often see in such busy rooms. The anticipation and excitement of the room bidders seems to work them into such a frenzy that the estimate seems to become irrelevant, and you find that lots start to achieve far more than was thought possible beforehand. The hammered gold is an area which has been starved of good material recently and continued in this same vein all the way through from lot 1 to 18, every lot achieving more than it's high estimate. The hammered silver started at lot 19, and we were straight into some very impressive results indeed. Lot 20, the finest known Edward VI Crown, achieved £36,000 hammer to an American room bidder against a pre-sale high estimate of just £10,000. This is surely a new record for a distinctly English hammered silver coin.
Spink already holds the record for the highest price for a hammered silver coin, this being the Scottish Mary and Henry Darnley silver Ryal we sold last November for £97,500. It's interesting that this coin went to America, when you think about what high prices some of the much more modern, high grade American rarities achieve. Some still less than 100 years old and worth six figure sums, this makes the Edward VI Tudor coinage seem very good value indeed. Lot 21 the accompanying halfcrown of Edward VI was bought by the underbidder of the previous crown for £7,800 hammer against a pre-sale high estimate of £3,000. The Tudor hammered silver continued, through Phillip and Mary and Elizabeth I, every lot achieved more than high estimate, sometimes substantially.
The Stuarts fared just as well, with one of the highlights being the Charles I Crown type 3a, lot 40 in superb condition, it was fully appreciated by the room bidders, and fetched £13,000 hammer against a £4,000 high estimate, amazing. Even the smaller denominations were selling well and a good price was achieved for lot 46, the Charles I Pattern Shilling, which fetched £8,500 against a £4,000 high estimate. Our first coin to actually sell within estimates occurred at lot 47, a Charles I shilling that achieved £2,800 against an estimate of £2,500-3,000. Following this the higher levels once again continued, until our next record auction price, this time for an English Halfcrown. Lot 60, the Charles I Exeter Mint Halfcrown, was our front cover coin and was literally mint state, unprecedented for a hammered coin. It sold for £35,000 hammer against a high estimate of £15,000. The hammered section continued until lot 65, every lot achieving over high estimate bar one.
At lot 66 the milled gold coinage began, and some amazing prices were again achieved. Milled gold has become increasingly popular as the supply of hammered gold has dwindled, and none more so than the spectacular Five-Guinea pieces. The trend of lots fetching over high estimate continued. Lot 69, the Charles II Half Guinea being the first exception achieving just low estimate of just £800, a bargain. Perhaps this was because people were anticipating the sale of lot 70, probably the finest known James II Five-Guineas. This was keenly fought over and sold for more than double its high estimate, at £31,000 hammer. This is a new record for a Five-Guinea piece at auction, an amazing quality coin for which such an achievement is fully justified.
Each lot after this also achieved over high estimate, and the next Five-Guinea also made five figures at £10,000 hammer, the 1692 William and Mary had a pre-sale high estimate of £8,000. The next lot to sell for less than high estimate was lot 80 the William III Two-Guineas of 1701 which achieved £3,200, another bargain perhaps. Queen Anne gold sold very well indeed, albeit just three coins, they were all the very rare Pre-Union issue. The 1705 Half-Guinea, lot 85 fared best compared to its estimate of £2000-2500, fetching a hammer price of £4,200.
The House of Hanover section began with lot 86, the Five-Guineas of 1717 which fetched an amazing £12,000 hammer. It certainly is not very often you come across coins of this calibre, especially as something as rare as lot 89, the high relief pattern Guinea of 1727, and one of my favourite coins in the sale. It fetched £13,000 hammer against a high estimate of £10,000, with a wonderful provenance it was really fully appreciated on the day.
George II was a much more better value for money monarch as the next "bargain" was lot 91, the George II old head Five Guinea which sold for mid-estimate at £5,500 hammer. The George II Two Guinea piece of lot 93 achieved £1,800 hammer just under high estimate, as did lot 96, the guinea of 1739. To complete the "bargain set" of George II the half guinea of 1759 lot 99 sold for just £260, just over low estimate. The gold of George III fared well with all selling for high estimate or more. Particularly pleasing was the 1768 Pattern Two-Guineas that achieved a top winning bid of £19,000 hammer. Lot 108 the pattern half guinea of 1764 sold for just under high estimate at £2,800 and the other minor gold was also selling well for in between estimate hammer prices. The milled gold sold well right through to the last lot, number 129, with everything above low estimate, and a few substantially over high estimate. In fact the last gold coin the Proof gold Groat of Queen Victoria, achieved £2,900 against a high estimate of only £1,500.
The milled silver began with a Cromwell Crown at lot 130, which went over high estimate at £3,800 hammer, as did all the Cromwell silver. Charles II started with the rare pattern crown by Roettier lot 134, one of only two specimens it would seem available to buy, it was conservatively estimated at £10,000-15,000, and was keenly bid for in the room and on the telephone. It closed at £24,000 hammer, an amazing price.
However the greatest anticipation awaited the sale of lot 136, estimated at £40,000-50,000, the most famous milled coin and one of the most spectacular designs, the Charles II "Petition" Crown of 1663. The room was really buzzing now as the coin opened at £40,000, a bid already received from a commission bidder. First a Japanese room bidder was in competition with one of the telephone bidders and they took the coin as far as £65,000 when the phone bidder dropped out, then a new room bidder participated and the Japanese gentleman dropped out at £85,000. Then suddenly from the back of the room another bidder began to nod to the auctioneer. We found ourselves listening and watching in disbelief as the coin broke the £100,000 barrier and continued. Eventually at £120,000 the new bidder at the back was victorious and the gavel fell. At the hammer blow the room erupted into spontaneous applause as a new world record was set for an English silver coin at auction and a record price for a silver crown at £138,000 including premium. This beats the previous £57,500 including premium achieved for the Edward VIII 1937 Crown at a Spink Auction in 2001. Incidentally the world record price for an English coin also held by Spink is for a gold pattern Crown of George III dated 1817, that we sold in March 1999 at the Selig Part II sale for £170,500 including premium. The room settled down after five minutes rest and the auction continued.
Every lot achieved estimate or more from now onwards, some highlights of which were in the Queen Anne section. Lot 175 the 1703 halfcrown, plain below bust and perhaps the finest specimen available achieved a hammer price of £8,200 against an estimate of £2000-2500. However the next lot achieved even more in proportion to it's estimate, lot 176, the 1704 plumes halfcrown achieved a hammer price of £7,000, keenly fought over by the same two bidders again, the same one being victorious both times. The estimate for this lot was only £800-1000, so it achieved 7 times its top estimate, the biggest difference in the whole sale between estimate and achievement.
The good achievements then continued through George I, II and III. The very rare Dorrien and Magens Shilling of 1798, lot 218, achieved a new high at £5,500 hammer bought by a room bidder who had been trying to buy one of these rare coins for many years. The beautifully toned George IV currency Crown of 1821, lot 222 also achieved a new high at £2,100 hammer. The William IV Crown of 1831 also went higher than I remember one achieving before at £8,000 hammer. The Victoria crowns also performed very well, the Bonomi lot 233 fetched £3,000 hammer and the Gothic plain edge of 1847, lot 234, £2,500. The high point was the 1888 Pattern by Wyon, lot 235, which was sold to a telephone bidder for £24,000 hammer. An extremely rare coin, the last one we sold on our Circular in November 1997 for £12,500, so this shows how appreciated this coin was. The silver section ended with a coin each of Edward VII and George V both pattern crowns that also sold over high estimate.
The copper, tin and bronze coins began with a new high at auction for a Cromwell Farthing at £4,600 hammer, lot 246. The Charles II patterns also sold well, lot 247 for £1,600 hammer and lot 248 for £1,900 hammer. The rest of the copper all sold very well indeed and the two tin coins went well over estimate. Lot 250 the James II Farthing sold to a room bidder for £1,800 hammer and lot 251, the William and Mary Farthing sold for £1,900 hammer to the same gentleman.
The rest of the copper and bronze all sold very well which bodes well for our July 23rd Auction which contains the Colin Adams collection of pennies from 1797-1970. The sale finished with four Scottish pieces which all sold for estimate or more. In total the Slaney auction’s 285 lots sold for £1,067,608 including premium - 100% sold and with 80% of lots sold above their high estimate, an outstanding result. I hope the excitement of this day has been conveyed to you in these basic words, as you really had to be there to experience just how wonderful a sale this really was. After that, what do we have to look forward to next? Well, first there is the June 2003 edition of the Numismatic Circular, which contains a nice group of milled Crowns and Halfcrowns, lists of ancient Greek, Sasanian and Roman coins. Anglo-Saxon, Norman and later hammered English coins, as well as a small list of milled gold and a group of Sussex 17th Century tokens from the Norweb collection. There is also a list of our entire stock of small silver milled coins and a list of banknotes and books. Together with the many useful articles appearing this time, the June Circular has a lot to offer. More exciting news already briefly mentioned is the consignment of the Colin Adams Collection of Pennies from 1797 – 1970. Mr Adams has collected as many rare and unusual varieties as possible between these dates, excepting only the gold strikings and extreme rarity dates. One of the key coins in the collection is the George V 1933 Pattern Penny by the French designer Andre Lavrillier, one of only four known specimens. There is a fantastic run of the unofficial patterns by Joseph Moore, circa 1860, as well as some by Adolph Weyl. The run of currency is very pleasing with many the best found in ten years of series hunting. There is a fantastic 1797 Cartwheel Penny of George III with as much lustre as I have seen for one of these. It is really a very pleasing group with a great representation of Soho coinage Pennies and most of the Peck numbers present.
Stop press for July 23rd - the star lot in the Colin Adams Collection of British Pennies 1797-1970 will be this extremely rare 1933 Pattern Penny by Andre Lavrillier The catalogue should be ready as we reach the end of June and I will fully review this wonderful collection in the next edition of this report. Until then, enjoy your coins... Stephen Hill Associate Director Coins
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