March 2004 Coin Newsletter

By Steve Hill

Welcome, Cyberfriends, to my regular monthly update as to what is happening in the Numismatic World and for latest news on Spink.

February, although a short month, has also been a busy one and it seems more than four weeks since I last wrote my report for you. Later this month we will celebrate our fourth anniversary in this building in Southampton Row which also means the website is the same age. The site has come on by leaps and bounds ever since its first inception and we hope to continue to keep on improving. I personally am hoping to list more items for sale online in the next few months and as the market continues to strengthen we will endeavour to keep listing some very interesting items, though of course our newest and most interesting pieces will continue to appear first in our Numismatic Circular for which a subscription is available. It is one of the oldest mail order lists in the world and when combined with the numismatic articles that appear each month it is good value, as an inland subscription works out at £3 an issue delivered to your door and in full colour with very lifelike illustrations. It is certainly a useful tool to keep collectors abreast of what current prices are for coins in this rising market as some of the values in our 2004 catalogue are beginning to be eclipsed by the rising price trends.

The beginning of February was particularly busy as the first London Coin Fair of the year fell upon the first weekend which was good for business in the office as we do not have a table at this show. However we did have a table at the Irish International Coin Fair held at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin and about 400 yards from the Lansdowne Road Rugby ground which coincided of course with the big Ireland versus Wales match. However this did not stop the show being very successful and we had a great day on the Saturday. With the Irish Numismatic Circular list for February selling so well this year, it has been a real bumper month. As we had the most valuable coin in the room - our 1938 Irish Penny available at £40,000 - this was featured in the Irish Independent Newspaper on the Monday and achieved three radio mentions in the Dublin area.

The Irish 1938 Penny, unique in private hands - £40,000

There was a very interesting meeting on the Friday night for the Emil Szauer memorial lecture at the Irish Numismatic Society headquarters in Ely Place, where a talk was given by Dr Kevin Clancy of the Royal Mint about Pistrucci and Wyon and the designs of the 1818 Crown in the time of George III, making the whole weekend a very enjoyable visit for numismatists. We also visited the National Museum of Ireland where there are some very interesting objects on display from primitive money to early Irish coins, and some amazing finds from the Irish peat bogs. There was a meal for all attending dealers on the Saturday night near the Mansion House where an old classic bus took us for the fare of one old Irish Penny! The Irish Numismatists are a very enthusiastic group and it is well worth joining their society if you can attend their meetings, in fact any society in your own locale is well worth considering. The British and Royal Numismatic Societies are our national ones with meetings in London about ten times a year. Please email our info box if you would like any information about societies.

All this dealing activity happened as we continued to catalogue the Marshall Collection and our General Sale of coins in April both of which have now been completed. I discussed the virtues of the Marshall collection in this column last month and a preview of it all is available elsewhere on this site. Now that we have also completed the April 15th cataloguing I can reveal a little more in detail what you can expect to see in this sale which has turned in to quite a high value and large auction. There is a large foreign section with various coins from around the world on offer from the USA with a Continental Dollar to the Far East with a few Hong Kong Patterns. There is also a good representation of ancient coinage with some Roman gold and silver and a few choice Greek and Byzantine pieces.

The British coins consist of a good type run of gold coins in the hammered and milled and though by no means comprehensive there are some very impressive coins that were acquired back in the Seventies. There is also a Una and the Lion Five Pounds, albeit a little surface marked, and an 1831 Proof Set. There is a very nice proof 1823 Two Pound piece and various other nice guineas and halves. If you like Scottish coins there is a very nice gold pistole and it's half on offer, both in good VF condition for issue and extremely rare!
The catalogue for all this will be out shortly after the Marshall Collection catalogue which will appear in early March.

We are just putting the finishing touches to our April edition of the Numismatic Circular where we are listing the usual eclectic mix of Roman and Greek coinage as well as an interesting list of ancient British coins and hammered. An ancient Greek silver coin of Rhodes will grace the front cover this time. There is a superb Oxford Pound of Charles I on offer as well as a few nice hammered gold pieces. We have some interesting milled gold including an undiscovered variety of the 1729 EIC Five Guineas with the two N’s in ANNO inverted, whereas all the other N’s are the right way up. Such errors exist for the 1726 Crown and Five Guinea but on these all the N’s are upset, you never know what will turn up next. It is always worth examining every coin carefully for any evidence of overstrikes or errors in the legends as you do come across such anomalies occasionally. There will also be a list of Seventeenth Century tokens from a collection which concentrated on putting together depictions of animals on tokens and some heartshape pieces. It has been some time since we listed the 17th Century pieces so they make a welcome return.

During this month we have three fairs we are attending, the Paris and Munich Fairs will find Spink with a table under the supervision of Jeremy Cheek, and I myself will be flying to the Spring ANA show in Portland Oregon to see if I can find some more interesting coins for our upcoming lists and catalogues, though I will not have a table there. Please email either of us (jcheek@spink.com or shill@spink.com) if you would like to meet at one of these venues.

We have many nice quality things to look forward to in March with these specialist catalogues being released imminently. From a recent table of figures that was produced, I worked out that Spink’s average coin lot value in auction last year was in excess of £800 per lot and with our full colour catalogues and publications we strive to do the best job we can for you, whether you are a collector or dealer.

The April edition of this column will reveal the upcoming results of the Marshall collection which takes place on the last day of the month. This will prove to be a quality sale with good results I hope.

Until next month readers, enjoy your coins.

Stephen Hill
Associate Director
Coins