Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 12 i Coin Collector

The recent auction at MDC Monaco featured an incredibly rare Australian £5 essay, described as a ‘museum piece’ and one of only seven minted, which fetched €800,000 (£685,350). The seventh numismatic sale at MDC Monaco featured an array of coins from across the world, but it was one coin from Australia that stole the headlines, achieving a record-breaking price for an Australian coin at auction. The Victoria £5 essay features a design created by Joshua Payne in 1852, and just seven copies of the coin were minted in 1921 using the original die. South Australia was officially established as a British colony on the 28 December 1836 and it became an autonomous colony in 1856 with the ratification of a new constitution by the British parliament, with secret ballot and…

The allure of coveted treasure from the fabled ‘Ship of Gold’, the SS Central America, resulted in record bids of up to eight times pre-sale estimates for 76 world gold coins in an auction recently conducted by Ira and Larry Goldberg in Los Angeles and online. Larry Goldberg, President of Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, Inc. said: ‘This was the first time these treasure coins recovered from the SS Central America in 2014 were offered in the marketplace. All sold without reserves to different buyers from all over the world. The sale was like the old days: bidding from all over the place and very strong prices, including record prices for date and grade for every coin. The bidding was over the top with collectors and dealers competing to buy these…

It is not often that such an august institution as The Times reports on a coin auction, but the Abramson collection caught the attention not only due to its scope, quality and scarcity, but also the opportunity for the rapidly growing aficionados of this extraordinary coinage, to acquire numerous plate coins. Spink, as publishers of Tony’s catalogues, was the natural home for this event. They promoted the auction enthusiastically beforehand and, on sale day, 18 March, Greg Edmund performed commandingly on the rostrum. This was no mean feat, as the 576 lots, constituting Parts I and II of the cabinet of over 1,200 early Anglo-Saxon gold thrymsas, silver sceats and base stycas, took twelve hours to complete! The results re-wrote the record book for numerous varieties and warrant a fundamental…

As we collectors know, the study of coins, tokens, medals and paper money provides hours of enjoyment and entertainment, offering educational experiences spanning a variety of subjects from history and geography to chemistry and economics. Many collectors also study rare coins in the hope of making a profit on the sale of their specimens after holding them for a period of time. Some items have shown dramatic increases over the years, rewarding those knowledgeable individuals who have wisely purchased. However, should investment be part of your collecting plans, then there are a few things you should understand and keep in mind. Is investment for you? Numismatic material is not a prudent investment for everybody. If you think you’ll have a need for the money you put into coins or currency…

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland. After his father inherited the English throne in 1603 as James I, he moved to England. After the death of his older brother Henry Frederick in 1612, Charles became the heir apparent of the three kingdoms. Charles I ascended to the throne in 1625, the same year he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France, who was a Roman Catholic. Charles firmly believed in the divine right of kings to govern according to their own conscience. He was fiercely opposed by the Parliament that sought to curb his royal…

Throughout the medieval period English kings presided over an unusually pure currency. On paper, England’s money consisted exclusively of English coins, bearing the names, titles, and symbols of English monarchs, and struck at English standards of weight and fineness. In practice, however, English money was often supplemented by foreign coin, which helped ‘plug the gap’ when local coin was in short supply. This phenomenon was particularly common in the Tudor period, and in the years between 1485 and 1603 a wide range of foreign gold and silver coins found their way into English circulation. England, Burgundy, and the double patard By the time that Henry VII claimed victory at Bosworth in 1485, one type of foreign coin had already been circulating in England for over a decade: the double patard.…

For the copper coinage of George IV, Britannia, for some reason was turned around to face right instead of left. The sea, waves and ship also disappeared, although the trident remained. On the ‘First Issue’ copper farthings, from 1821 to 1826, a lion is shown seated at Britannia’s feet. She is also shown wearing a corinthian helmet, which, combined with the notable absence of the olive branch of peace indicates a military aspect, bragging about Britain’s naval power. The helmet was to remain as a permanent feature. The Union Flag was more accurately rendered with three crosses, previously it was only shown with two. This version of Britannia was engraved by William Wyon These farthings were the first British coins issued bearing the words Fidei Defensor, meaning ‘Defender of the…

Back in 2020, collectors were delighted by the announcement of the new Team GB 50p, released as part of the Annual Coin Set, to celebrate Team GB’s participation in the upcoming Olympic Games. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the postponement of the Olympic Games to 2021, this 50p was never individually released in 2020. Collectors have desperately been waiting for the chance to get their hands on this coin and now it has been individually issued, Change Checker is delighted to be sharing the details of this brand new 50p. Team GB 50p The brand new coin, designed by David Knapton, features a charming depiction of various Olympic sports and the official Team GB logo. However, at Change Checker HQ, we think the most exciting feature of this…

A rare Edward III gold coin, which is thought to have been lost in the aftermath of the Black Death, has been found by a metal detectorist in Norfolk. The 23-carat gold leopard was discovered with a 1351-52 Edward III gold noble, near Reepham, Norfolk. Both of the coins were very valuable at the time, meaning whoever buried them was very wealthy. The period in which the coins were minted was one of economic turmoil as the Black Death killed thousands, and the burial of the coins is thought to have taken place around this time. The leopard coin was minted in 1344 at a time when Edward III was introducing gold coins after years of using solely silver pieces, but it was quickly withdrawn and replaced by the noble.…

Richard Weaver is President of Delaware Valley Rare Coin Company in Broomall, Pennsylvania. He grew up in the coin business and began his full-time career in numismatics in 1983. Weaver is well known for his expertise in United States coinage and bullion items from around the world, and is a leader in combating counterfeits in the marketplace. For the past two years he served as PNG Vice President. How did you originally become involved in the coin trade and coin collecting? My father was a local dealer and the co-founder of the Valley Forge Coin Club. I would attend the shows with him and help at his stores. Like most other children I started out by collecting Lincoln pennies in the blue Whitman folders. What do you think has changed…

The past year and a half have been very difficult for most individuals on both side of the Atlantic. The daily routines we all took for granted were turned upside down. Meeting with friends and business associates was suddenly an online only experience. My personal forty-year lifestyle of attending two or three rare coins conventions per month came to a screeching halt. The supply chain for collector coins was also severely disrupted. It was time for my company and nearly everyone one else involved with numismatics to reinvent themselves. During the past year, the majority of the rare coin business in the United States has been conducted online. The trend towards online business becoming more important accelerated by at least ten years in my opinion. This is a global phenomenon…

The USA-based Professional Numismatists Guild (www.PNGdealers.org) is a nonprofit organiSation founded in 1955 that today is composed of nearly 300 rare coin, bank note and bullion coin dealers who must adhere to a strict Code of Ethics in the buying and selling of numismatic merchandise. There are two veteran PNG member-dealers in London, Stephen Fenton (www.BSJauctions.com) and Richard Loebel (www.CoinCraft.com). The other long-time PNG member-dealers in Europe are Dieter Gorney in Munich, Germany (www.GMcoinart.de) and Juan Ramon Cayon Fernandez in Madrid, Spain (www.Cayon.com). The PNG frequently distributes consumer-investor protection and education alerts for the public. One of the most popular advisories, Important Things to Know Before You Buy Rare Coins or Currency, is presented here, courtesy of the Professional Numismatists Guild. For additional information about the Professional Numismatists Guild contact…

The young girl looks expectantly to the left; she wears an inconspicuous pearl necklace; the long hair is curled over her shoulder. At first glance, she looks like a normal child, but the image is to be found on a gold coin from the Netherlands and the child is seventeen-year-old Queen Wilhelmina. The great-grandmother of today’s Dutch King Willem-Alexander has since fallen into obscurity, but her portrait can still be found today at every well-stocked precious metals dealer in Europe. After having already been marked with the image of the infantile Queen in 1892 and 1895, the Dutch government first issued golden currency coins with a nominal value of ten guilders in 1897. With a circulation of just under 453,000 pieces, these former circulation gold coins in common preservation quality…

You might be surprised to know that mints make spelling errors on coins, but it happens, and it used to be surprisingly common, writes Julianna Chard. Since the days when the first inscriptions (often called legends) appeared on coins, errors were bound to creep in, and they did. Tipsy engravers and wrong punches In the early days of coin production, in ancient Greece and Rome, dies were completely hand-engraved from start to finish. One would expect a master craftsman to take care and pride in producing error-free work, but all humans are prone to errors, and engraving coin dies day after day must be quite repetitive and boring work, so it would actually be surprising if some errors did not occur. Also, because of the number of hours needed to…

The 20p piece was introduced into general circulation in 1982. Unlike the more recent £2, 50p and 10p coins, the 20p has not featured any commemorative designs, but there are still varieties to look out for, most notable the ‘dateless 20p’. The redesign of the UK’s 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins in 2008 led to the most well known 20p rarity. In June 2009 a 20p coin was discovered with no date on either side. This was a production error meaning that the wrong combination of obverse and reverse designs had been used. This type of coin error is know as a ‘Mule’. The problem occurred thanks to the redesign of UK coins in 2008. Matthew Dent’s design shows a Royal Coat of Arms across the 1p,…

The Royal Mint has unveiled the official Team GB commemorative 50p, originally intended to be issued in 2020, to honour Britain’s athletes competing at this year’s Olympic Games. Available in Gold, Silver, Brilliant Uncirculated, and colour versions, the coin was designed by David Knapton and first appeared in The Royal Mint’s 2020 Annual Set. As our special article explains on page 58, the coin features two dates after ‘a year like no other’. The design bares the ‘2020’ graphic, while the obverse of the coin reveals the year of production ‘2021’. The Royal Mint’s Divisional Director of Commemorative Coin Clare Maclennan said: ‘We have a rich sporting heritage in Great Britain and, inspired by the stories of the athletes preparing for Tokyo 2020, we want to reignite that spirit of…

Jersey Heritage has purchased a large part of the Le Câtillon I hoard, discovered in the Island in 1957, and says it highlights the need for modern legislation to protect portable antiquities found in the Island. The new acquisition cost £38,000 and comprises around 1,600 coins and 35 pieces of jewellery dating back to the Iron Age. The sale was secured through Martel Maides Auctions on behalf of vendors, who wish to remain anonymous. Jersey Heritage used its Patrons & Benefactors scheme to fund the purchase. At approximately two-thirds of the known hoard total, the items represent a substantial and important addition to the Island’s knowledge of Le Câtillon I, which was discovered on 22 January 1957, in the same Grouville field that produced the record-breaking Le Câtillon II hoard…

The recent sale at London Coins saw a variety of pieces and banknotes go under the hammer, including a Tower Mint under Parliament Crown of Charles I. The coin was described as having a ‘pleasing and even strike, the reverse in particular with much eye appeal.’ SOLD FOR £5,000 A China YR 3 (1911) Silver Dollar Long Whiskered Dragon more than quadrupled its pre-auction estimate recently, selling for $1.34 million at a Champion Auction held in Macau. According to NGC, who certified the rare coin, it is possibly one of the first coins struck off a new die design created by Giorgi, an Italian artist, who was Chief Engraver at the Tientsin Central Mint from 1910 to 1917. SOLD FOR £950,000 A 1928 $10,000 Federal Reserve Note (Kansas City) sold…

The French Revolution, like the American, was built on paper promises. The Estates-General printed interest-bearing paper bonds known as assignat which were backed against the sale of confiscated church and patrician lands. Initially conceived as a temporary measure they became the official currency in 1790. More than a billion assignat notes were printed leading to massive hyperinflation and the ruin of thousands of people. Assignat production exploded as the Estates-General struggled to finance the new revolutionary economy and very quickly the value of the assignats in circulation dwarfed the value of the lands supposed to back them. An easy target for domestic counterfeiters (more than 1,300 individuals were guillotined for forging assignats in France), these notes were also imitated by British forgers as a form of economic warfare. Contemporary sources…

Victorinus was killed at Cologne on the Rhine by a group of disaffected officers whose wives he had allegedly seduced or tried to seduce. Significantly, this does not seem to have been a political plot with the intention of replacing Victorinus with another emperor but rather an act of revenge by one Attitianus and his comrades. Thus, there was no obvious successor waiting in the wings and the result could have been another Civil War. That does not seem to have happened. One man, the general Domitianus, attempted to take control of Cologne but his authority was so fleeting that only three of his coins are known. All are radiates; the first, found at Cleons in France in the late nineteenth century was dismissed by some as a fake until…

In previous articles we have examined medals awarded as prizes for attending school on a regular basis, and for academic and sporting prowess. These have commemorated an achievement by the recipients, acted as an incentive to perform well (particularly if made of precious metal), and been a permanent record of youthful endeavour to be treasured, periodically marvelled over, or, more likely, discovered at the back of a drawer decades later in a house clearance following the awardee’s death. (Until recently my only sporting achievement was to swim the length of the local swimming baths at the age of seven; my ‘Learner’s Certificate’ was amongst my late mother’s treasures). By its very nature, sport is a competitive activity and so medals to athletes are amongst those most frequently encountered. A number…

First issued in 2016, the Beatrix Potter 50p coins became hugely popular thanks to the subject – thousands of us grew up reading about the cheeky bunny and his friends – and the growing appeal of collecting 50p coins, sparked by the ambitious London 2012 Olympics 50p series. How many Beatrix Potter 50p coins are there? The first Beatrix Potter 50p coins were released in 2016 to mark 150 years since the famous writer and illustrator’s birth. This first issue consisted of the following coins: Peter Rabbit 50p coinMrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p coinJemima Puddle-Duck 50p coinSquirrel Nutkin 50p coinBeatrix Potter 150th anniversary 50p coin In 2017 The Royal Mint issued further Beatrix Potter coins, as follows: The Tale of Peter Rabbit 50p coinJeremy Fisher 50p coinBenjamin Bunny 50p coinTom Kitten 50p…

For more than 400 years brave souls from every corner of Britain regularly set forth on journeys that might have taken them hundreds of miles from their homes in an age when travel beyond one’s own parish boundary seemed remarkable. Destinations included Canterbury, St Andrews, Holywell, Glastonbury, Walsingham, or for those with deeper purses and braver hearts, a perilous Channel crossing and a year-long trek to Santiago, or Rome, or even to Jerusalem, regarded in those days as the very centre of the known world. These men and women called themselves pilgrims. Their common objective was to reach one of the numerous shrines where the remains and possessions of a saint or martyr lay exposed to public view. Setting eyes on those relics, perhaps even allowed to touch them, all…