April 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.

March has been a very busy month as the market continues to perform very well. This has been proved once again by the impressive performance of the Marshall collection which was dispersed at Spink on the last day of March. There is a distinct lack of good material on the market and it seems now more than ever that the time is ripe to sell a good collection whether to a dealer direct or by auction.

The month of March has been more or less dominated by Marshall with anxious viewers visiting us throughout the month, building into a crescendo of viewing just before the sale and then a day of frenzied bidding on March 31st.

I made a quick visit just before the Marshall sale to Portland, Oregon in the USA to attend the Spring American Numismatic Association Show to see firstly if I could find any new material for our stock and secondly to discuss with collectors and dealers the state of the current market and to promote the Marshall sale. I certainly noticed a distinct lack of good British coins available, all that I saw were generally more worn examples of the early milled coins and only common types and dates of the later milled varieties. Many people were eager to talk about the British market, as many were struggling to cope with the concept of the higher price levels coupled with the fact that the dollar exchange rate is now harder to swallow for potential American purchasers. This final push for the Marshall sale stood us in good stead for the approaching sale day. As I arrived back the day before the sale, the rooms at Spink for viewing were busy all day with many clients stopping by wanting to chat about what might happen come auction day - which is of course difficult to predict, as auctions are always a gamble.

There was nothing to fear on auction day as March the 31st dawned a very pleasant and sunny day in London. The room filled quickly with more or less every seat filled in anticipation of the sale of the first lot the “Bodvoc” gold stater. A hush fell over the room as our auctioneer (Richard Bishop) began the sale. Lot 1 was punctuated with bids around the room and closed quickly at a ceiling of £1,850, about 50% over high estimate and 74 times more than it was sold for in 1942 on the Numismatic Circular. Lot 2 performed even better under this comparison selling for £1,800 hammer which was 200 times more than its 1942 price.
There is of course no set pattern to this economic comparison for the hammered gold but knockdown prices ranged this day from 74 times for lot 1, which had a 1942 price of £25; to 631 times the price of £4/15/- for lot 9, the Henry VII Angel. These multiple comparisons of a retail price from 60 years ago and a knockdown price today are very interesting and set patterns can be seen. It would seem that nobles were the hammered gold coin of choice in the forties as quite high retail prices were achieved for them back then. Angels were more overlooked and sold for about half the retail price of a noble. At the Marshall sale though some of these Angels were knocked down in price for more than double the nobles, a reversal of this forties trend of price level (compare lot 5 with lot 9).

The hammered silver continued these amazing trends with some exceptional knockdown prices, with multiple comparisons between 45 times more than the forties retail price for an Offa Penny, to a massive 1,300 times more for a Philip and Mary shilling, bought for a mere pound in 1942 and sold in Marshall for a knockdown price of £1,300. It would seem the Anglo-Saxon coinage was just as well appreciated in the forties as it is today with the more rare and elusive pieces being greatly prized both then and today. Highest prices were achieved for the Edward the Elder Flower Type Penny at £9,600 hammer with the Tower type achieving £6,400 hammer. The wonderful Stephen Penny of the Derby mint fetched £6,800 hammer over 50% more than top estimate.

Nowadays the Tudor monarchs are much more appreciated than in the forties it would seem, probably due to the impact of education more in this period not only in schools but also by the media attention of television programmes about these Kings and Queens. Fuelled also by a more international interest today, especially with the Queens it was understandable perhaps that some of the highest multiple comparisons were achieved by Mary and Elizabeth. Apart from the Shilling of Philip and Mary already mentioned, a beautiful milled shilling of Elizabeth I lot 105 achieved a hammer price of £6,000 which was 916 times more than it retailed for in 1942. Top price in the Elizabeth I silver was for lot 106, the wonderful pattern shilling with a very impressive provenance dating back to 1791. This piece was knocked down after some frantic bidding for an impressive £13,500 which was 900 times higher than what it retailed for in 1942.

Elizabeth I Pattern Shilling – Tudor monarchs were very popular, including this Elizabeth I Pattern Shilling which fetched £13,500 hammer

However the most hotly contested coin in the whole sale was one of the finest known Testoons (an early shilling) of King Henry VIII featuring the classic full face portrait that school children are so familiar with and minted at the Tower of London. The history of this coin’s ownership could be traced back to 1802. The bids received before the sale dictated an opening price of £10,000 for this coin and a number of bidders took the price straight up to £20,000, where from then onwards two very strong bidders took over and pushed the final knockdown price to a dizzy £30,000 hammer. This is roughly 667 times more than it sold for retail in the July 1942 Circular some 62 years ago. What is also interesting is that this coin was auctioned for £32/10/- in 1885, 57 years earlier which is only an increase of some 40% over that time period. This really puts into perspective how much the world has changed economically in the last 60 years in comparison to the previous 60 years before that.

It’s a record breaker – this Henry VIII Tower Mint Testoon (an early shilling) was sold for £30,000 hammer a new record for a silver shilling

The sale continued with strong prices throughout the Stuart period coinage with some great interest in the civil war siege pieces of Charles I. The milled gold section was selling for more around the estimates, with some a little higher. The lowest price occurred in the comparisons with the forties prices in this section with lot 169 the guinea of George III knocked down for only 29 times more than its 1944 retail price. On the flip side of this was the highest comparison for a gold coin in the sale with lot 177 the George IV 1825 Proof Sovereign which was heavily fought over. The coin was knocked down to a successful telephone bidder for £13,000 hammer which was about 1,238 times its 1943 retail value.

The milled silver opened with a barrage of bids as the Cromwell coins proved to be of great interest. The Crown and better halfcrown of 1658 each sold for £3,200 hammer price, but the highlight for condition was probably the shilling which was very appealing and achieved a massive £2,900 hammer price, some 1,160 times higher than its 1943 retail value. The Dutch copy pattern shilling achieved an impressive £3,600 which was double the mid-estimate. The highlight of the milled silver though was the extremely rare Halfcrown of Charles II, the 1681 with elephant and castle below the bust. This coin is only ever seen generally in poor to fair condition and this piece lot 191 was the finest known specimen in almost EF condition. Again the bidding was strong and it opened from low estimate with at least five bidders involved and gradually rose. All but two had dropped out at £13,000, and it climbed ever higher to a ceiling hammer price of £19,000 some 1,055 times more than what it sold for retail in 1942. A very impressive rarity which will give it’s new custodian much pleasure. Other highlights in the silver were lot 194 the James II Halfcrown which sold for £3,000 hammer, the George III Three Graces Crown, lot 222 which reached an amazing £8,000 hammer and the currency 1818 Crown which sold for five times its estimate at £1,050 hammer which was that many times more its 1944 retail price of a mere pound! The other currency coins in superb state all sold very well and mention should be made of lot 248 the 1835 Sixpence which sold for £220 hammer, which is roughly 1,466 times more than its 1944 three shilling retail price, the highest comparison price difference in the whole sale! The George V Pattern Crown of 1910 fetched a hammer price of £7,500.

A new world record for a silver milled halfcrown was set by this Charles II 1681 elephant and castle Halfcrown, the finest specimen known, it sold for £19,000 hammer

The sale continued into the tokens, Scottish and Irish with an impressive price for lot 311, the James VI Sixteen Shillings of 1581 at a hammer price of £8,000. The colonial coins were also strongly supported which ended the morning session.

The afternoon continued in the same vein with the foreign coin issues and the impressive group of countermark coins and emergency money which all sold well. Some of the highest prices were in the USA coinage, a tin plantation token in EF condition sold for £2,000 hammer, whereas the pewter Continental dollar sold for £5,000 even though it had a scratch right across it.

Overall, knockdown of the entire sale was £626,750 for the 778 lots, which was more than 40% higher than the high estimate with an average lot knockdown value of roughly £805 per lot, an impressive result directly reflecting the strength in the London numismatic scene.

Please click here to see additional images of lots from this sale

Straight after this sale Paul Hill, Emily Reid and I made a quick sojourn to Harrogate in North Yorkshire to attend the annual coin fair at the Old Swan Hotel. Never have I seen so many Henry VIII Testoons in one dealing room ,there were at least five, most in poor condition hoping to sell on the back of the Marshall collection result, and the fair was therefore very strong overall too with good sales and purchases. It clashed with the BANS congress in Chester but this did not seem to affect the dealing figures even if the attendance was down on last year.
As this report is written admittedly a little later than anticipated, the Circular for April has been released and again because of the current healthy state of the coin market and with the successful sale just last week, the orders have come in thick and fast. The hammered coins have sold very fast and the milled silver has seen multiple orders. The ancient coins, medallions and tokens have also gone very well and the orders continue to roll in.

It is now less than two weeks until our next auction on April 15th, and early viewers are looking at the coins already. This is really a sale with something for everyone and was previewed in detail last month. If interest continues in the same vein as it already has for Marshall then this again will be a very high value sale which will generate many bids from all over the world. The catalogue is available now of course.

Looking toward the end of April, Jeremy Cheek and I will be on our travels to the far east to attend the Tokyo International Coin Convention (T.I.C.C.) from the 30th April until the 2nd May. You may remember we had a successful show there last year and we look forward to meeting and greeting clients there again this year at the Royal Park Hotel in Tokyo’s business district. The next column will be written after I return from this show.

Until next month readers, enjoy your coins.

Stephen Hill
Associate Director
Coins