Hong Kong Proof Discovery

Unique 1868 Proof Set Sells through Spink's

In their September 27th auction Spink's offered a unique Hong Kong proof set from 1868. A discovery in set form, the lovely shaped case included the silver 5, 10, 20 cents, a Half Dollar, plus the Dollar all proof, all dated 1868.

Prior to this set surfacing, there had been no record of 5 or 10 cent silver proofs for this date. These two pieces are the greatest excitement of this set! The 20 cent had been reported by Pridmore years ago, but I had never seen one for sale in the market, so this too is a real treat. The May 1995 Irving Goodman sale, which I recommend obtaining as a reference for Chinese and Hong Kong coinage, contained a choice proof 1868 Half Dollar, which sold for $109,250. The Dollar had been listed in the Standard Catalog of World Coins for many years, though I had never observed one for sale in the market.

After some hearty bidding, which drove these coins up well over thier pre-sale estimate range, the set (lot 236) finally closed for $183,897.