February 2005 Coin Newsletter

by Steve Hill

Welcome, cyberfriends, to my first newsletter of 2005. Since writing the last double edition for December and January, sales from our Circular and website have continued positively; and we have had some very busy weekends at various coin fairs.

The New Year dawned with just a short time to prepare what turned out to be one of our busiest periods ever - with three major world-wide coin shows in the same weekend. Emily Reid and Paul Hill with Paul Mathews from our Stamp department attended a very successful start to the year at York stamp and coin fair in the north of England. This is a well organised show where it is always a pleasure to participate. The setting at the racecourse is very pleasant and makes for one of the best venues for a coin show in England. The next will be on the last weekend of July.

In the week before the Old York fair, Jeremy Cheek, Max Tursi and I flew to New York, USA to view and attend various auctions. These were successful; but locating new material to sell is still a struggle, despite the current favourable situation with the US dollar. Hadrien Rambach arrived later in the week and was followed by Phil Skingley from our Book department, in good time to attend the New York Fair in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel at the weekend. The New York Fair is known as the premier event in the USA for ancient and world coin collectors; and though an expensive show to attend, it really is a pleasure to participate.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Cheek and I flew down to Florida to attend the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) show in Fort Lauderdale, which was on the same weekend. All the conventions we attended were busy, but it seemed to me that foreign and ancient coins were best represented in New York; while concentration on US coins was greatest at the FUN show. The change of location and the clash with the other coin events did not help this show, and I look forward to next year when schedulers avoid this and the fair is back in Orlando (where it has been held for many years now). New purchases were lower than I would have hoped overall, but sales were good considering the exchange rate.

Upon my return to the office, the deadline for the March 31st auction was approaching closure, and we conducted our annual stock-take. We now anticipate the February Circular which, I am sorry to report, is later than expected this time. We hope it will be available after the 10th February. It is of course time for our now annual listing of all our stocks of Scottish, Irish and Channel Islands coinage; as well as a good list of 18th Century tokens and some medallions; good ancient coins, including a group of good bronze folles; a further listing of Pimprez hoard hammered coins; and some European medieval. With the late publication it will mean that the list will in fact be quite fresh by the time of the Dublin Coin fair which Emily Reid and I will attend at the Royal Dublin Society on the 19-20th February. We will take the Circular coins with us where we hope to meet clients old and new and can show our Irish collectors all the coins at first hand.

On the first weekend of February, Spink made a big splash at the London Coin Fair held at the Holiday Inn in Coram Street, only a short distance from Spink. A whole suite was taken by Spink for the occasion and all our wares were on display for all to see, including an impressive display of our books and publications. The regular attendance is very good despite the high admission fee, and there is plenty to see and do.

In conclusion we look forward to the Irish Fair this month and the new Circular (please see a selection of coins illustrated below).

NB All coins illustrated in this month's newsletter feature in the FEBRUARY 2005 Numismatic Circular. To view each coin's full description, hover over the image (for IE browsers) or right click and select "Properties".

RM2122 – a rare Hadrian Aureus HS1943 – a rare Wilton Mint Penny of HenryI from the Pimprez hoard IH0140- an extremely rare phase 1 Hiberno Norse Irish Penny IM0724 - a rare James II Irish Halfpenny MAN069 – Isle of Man James Stanley Halfpenny struck in silver TT3284 – the extremely rare “swan” penny issued by Denton in 1797

Until next month, enjoy your coins.

Stephen Hill
Associate Director