August 2003 Coin Newsletter

By Steve Hill

This latest report reaches you about a week into August as we have just returned from a very successful American Numismatic Association show in Baltimore, Maryland. July has been a very busy month at Spink for the coin department. Early July found us putting the finishing touches to the then upcoming August Circular of which the printed product has just reached subscribers in the last week.

As July progressed the anticipation for the Colin Adams collection and other properties for auction steadily built up until 23rd July 2003. As mentioned in the previous report there has not been such a near complete gathering of pennies been offered at a British auction since the Eighties and this was borne out by the resulting prices achieved at this sale.

This silver 1797 pattern Penny fetched £1,850 hammer

The main philosophy of the Colin Adams collecting criteria was to track down those elusive rare varieties to fill a gap in the collection that mattered, with quality being the second aim. The result of these aims was probably one of the most complete penny collections seen in recent times. The very complete run of "Peck" and "Freeman" numbers, proved to be an opportunity not to be missed for the Penny connoisseur, and many took the chance to really build their collections on the 23rd July. Mr Adams was not there in person, but the room was well attended by both collector and dealer alike, many of whom were executing commissions.

The sale opened with the pennies of George III proving that it was quality that counts as the best pieces fetched the highest prices. There were only 32 unsold lots in the whole collection most of which were the lowest quality coins proving how condition conscious the market really is, and how much of a void there is between prices for uncirculated and extremely fine specimens. Anything below very fine did not understandably garner much interest.

Opening with lot 1 sold for £620 hammer against a high estimate of £500. The first major rarity offered was the silver penny, lot 4, peck number 1086 which sold also for more than estimate at £1,850 hammer.Some bargains were to be had though, the lovely gilt piece lot 5 sold for just under low estimate at £580 hammer and so the trend continued. Any good quality piece offered generally went for near high estimate or more whereas the lower quality pieces were around the low estimate. The collection as a whole was estimated very accurately on this occasion which was very pleasing for your author and also for Mr Adams.

Other highlights included lots 13 and 22 the gilt pennies Peck 1101 and 1117 which both fetched £700 hammer each against high estimates of £600. The wonderful currency cartwheel penny lot 33 with incredible lustre sold for £1,350 hammer its mid-estimate and a new record at auction for a currency George III Penny

A new record for a currency George III Penny, this piece fetched £1,350 hammer

Interesting that a silver proof of this piece, lot 19 fetched £2,100 hammer, and another unrecorded by Peck lot 43 fetched a mere £1,250 hammer amazingly good value. The very unusual porcelain penny, lot 44 which could possibly have been made by Wedgewood as he was a friend of Matthew Boulton and a fellow member of the Lunar Society, fetched a very impressive £280 hammer.

This very unusual porcelain piece fetched £280 hammer - could it be by Wedgewood who was a close friend of Matthew Boulton?

The strongest section of George III was the latter part with the 1805-7 issues which went very well. All three 1805 pennies sold over high estimate with the restrike pieces out-stripping the original Soho piece by some £200 each which is amazing. Lot 49 the tin 1805 piece sold for a very respectable £1,100 hammer which far outweighed the £360 hammer achieved for the 1797 tin piece lot 30.

This unusual tin penny of 1805 with the Irish obverse achieved £900 hammer

The gilt 1806 pennies lots 50, 51 and 54 sold well over their estimates as did the double obverse mule lot 64 which achieved £900. Again the old void which used to exist between originals and restrikes seems to have disappeared as they were selling for the same sort of amounts or restrikes were going for more. It just goes to show that the relative rarity of the pieces is being more appreciated now even though there is up to 50 years in difference between the original striking and the restrike! We ended the George III section with a good price for lot 72 the 1807 Penny proof which achieved £420 hammer.

The George III section closed with this 1807 penny reaching £420 hammer

George IV also performed well with almost all lots sold and most over high estimate, good copper is proving very elusive recently hence the good prices achieved here. Top price in George IV was the very rare 1827 penny, lot 85 which was accurately estimated and fetched £1,550 hammer just over high estimate.

The rarest George IV Penny of 1827 sold for £1,550 hammer

William IV has seen a real shortage of material of any notable quality recently so it was not surprising that all this section was well fought for, most going for the concise estimates. Top price was the 1837 penny, lot 95 fetching a commendable £980 hammer for one very happy buyer who later told me there has never been such a fine piece offered at auction in twenty years of this date.

A new record for a Wiliam IV Penny - the rare 1837 achieved £1,900 and £1,650 hammer respectively

A new high was achieved for an 1839 proof penny of £700 hammer at the Adams Sale

Victoria started with a great achievement on the 1839 proof a rare coin at the best of times, Adams piece fetched £700 hammer. The copper then progressed very well with hardly any bargains to be had. Top price was expected to be the 1860 copper piece lot 154 but this went for just over low estimate at £1,550 hammer. The top currency piece turned out to be the 1843 pennies, lot 102 sold for £1,900 hammer and lot 103 for £1,650 hammer.

These 1843 pennies - arguably the rarest in the copper series in such good condition - achieved £1,900 and £1,650 respectively (Lots 102 and 103)

Top proof penny was the 1859 lot 150 which achieved an amazing £1,850 after a tough battle.

Top price for a proof copper penny in the Adams sale was £1,850 for this 1859

The following unusual pattern 1859 which I had never seen before fetched £1,650 hammer.

The section of patterns by Joseph Moore then started, with top price being for the silver piece lot 174, peck number 2117 at £1,400 hammer against an £800 high estimate.

Top price for a Moore pattern was this 1876 Heaton Mint piece that fetched £1,400 hammer

All the Moore patterns sold and the Weyl patterns immediately following. The pattern Royal Mint pennies lots 197 and 198 sold for £1,800 and £2,200 respectively, very commendable indeed as it was only ten years ago these pieces were fetching a mere £400-500 each. In fact most of the early Victoria proofs performed well. Lot 201 the bronzed proof 1860 fetched £1,200 hammer and the 1861 proof lot 222 fetched £1,350. The 1862 cupro-nickel pattern lot 226 fetched £2,400 hammer and the bronze version lot 227 fetched £1,550 hammer, the regular proof 1862 lot 230 fetched £1,250. The 1867 bronzed proof lot 240 fetched £1,250 hammer and the 1872 lot 247 the same. The Heaton Mint 1876 proof lot 264 fetched an amazing £1,750 hammer and the 1878 lot 272 £1,200. The 1887 Weyl patterns also sold well and the currency all the way through the rest of the sale was strong. Especially the brockages and the Victoria old head and Edward VII.

One of the best quality bronze proofs was this 1876 Heaton Mint piece that fietched £1,750 hammer

The best brockage lot 309 fetched £620 hammer against a high estimate of a mere £200. The 1895 proof penny,lot 312 fetched a commendable £1,600 hammer one of only two known specimens. The 1902 low tide penny, lot 323 fetched an amazing £130 hammer, and the 1904, lot 326 achieved £90, prices unheard of until now.

This extremely rare 1895 proof penny sold for £1,600 hammer

The George V and modern section performed very well, as the “VIP” proofs skyrocketed away. The 1926 proof started the trend, lot 348 fetching £850 hammer, the 1929 proof lot 351 fetched £550. The 1930 proof was the first to break four figures at £1,000 hammer, with the 1931 proof in the next lot reaching £1,150 hammer. The 1932 proof lot 354 climbed ever higher fetching £1,350 hammer. Then it was the star lot the 1933 pattern from the front cover, lot 355, one happy collector secured a fantastic coin for what many considered afterwards to be a very reasonable price, £8,500 hammer, just over the low estimate. The 1934 proof lot 356 fetched £850 hammer and the 1936 proof lot 357, £720, all very strong indeed.

Top price for a George V proof penny in the sale was this 1932 at £1,350 hammer

The extremely rare Edward the VII reverse trail piece achieved £2,300 hammer

The Edward VIII trial piece, lot 358 achieved a very commendable £2,300 hammer, and the following George VI and Elizabeth II coins also sold very well finishing the collection off on a high. One of the best achievements was for the proof 1961 Penny, lot 365 which went for £950 hammer. The overall result was very pleasing; when Colin Adams heard of the result he remarked “What an amazing result! I am absolutely delighted and cannot thank you enough for the effort you have put into this sale”.

The rest of the auction continued to perform very well, the British hammered and milled gold was nearly all sold for very good prices indeed. The grand total sold for this auction was £342,385 against a high estimate of £322,140. For the record the Colin Adams pennies achieved a hammer total of £144,480. Talking with collectors and dealers since the sale there has been a general feeling of disbelief as to how well the British coin market continues to perform and go from strength to strength. Long may it continue, as it does genuinely have a strong collector base.

Straight after the auction we attended the York Coin Fair at York Racecourse. Paul Hill, Emily Reid and I travelled up on Friday 25th July and had a very successful fair. This show is always a busy event and the racecourse is a wonderful setting. This time there was nearly double the amount of coin dealing tables as an extra floor was taken for accommodating extra dealers. This will make the show even more successful I feel, it certainly was a good show for Spink and we look forward to the Winter show.

Following on from the York show May Sinclair and I travelled to Baltimore USA for the annual American Numismatic Association Convention, which lasted a full five days from the 30th July until the 3rd August. This is a very big and very long show, in my opinion it should be shortened to maybe two or three days, as at times these shows can be very slow.

However Baltimore was a very good show for us, we met so many interesting people during the five days and the Inner Harbour area of Baltimore is very nicely developed with many attractions. The show seemed better than previous ANA’s like last year’s New York show as it was all in one giant room. Other conventions we have been to are sometimes in hotels and are split into two floors which makes it seem a little more intense and congested. The one large room for everybody seems so much more pleasant to work in and we saw many interesting coins. For me it is such a pleasure to meet collectors many of which we never meet face to face until we do at such an event. I came home this week with many pleasant memories of a good show and some new purchases to continue to supply the Circular with.

The August Circular came out while we were still in Baltimore and has sold very well, especially the hammered and milled. The Greek and Roman lists are selling steadily with the larger Roman list taking the lead. The hammered is nearly sold out after only a week in circulation. The milled gold has sold very well with the five guineas and two guineas selling well, as well as the later proof sets. The copper and bronze has sold like the proverbial hot cakes, with the front cover rarity the 1860 LCW below foot penny selling straight away. The Victoria bun head bronze is the most popular it seems. The tokens and medallions are also selling steadily which is good considering it is traditionally the quiet time of the year when people take their holidays!

August will be a little quieter now as we are cataloguing for our October Coinex and November auction sales, previews of which will follow in next month’s report. We are also cataloguing some other interesting stock items for the next Circular and for the website, so there is much to look forward to. September will continue the momentum and our next show attendance will be our table at the Kensington International Coin Fair at the Commonwealth Institute on September 20th.

Until the next edition, enjoy your coins...

Stephen Hill
Associate Director
Coins