Rare Gold at Stack’s Kroisos Sale

Great Gold Rarities in Kroisos Collection

What better timing could Stack's ask for in the launching of their January 14th Kroisos Collection auction? Spot gold hit an all time high just a few hours before this massive collection of premium gold coins began crossing the block.

But aside from creating additional media interest, spot may have little influence on many of the Kroisos coins, as they are way above much of any relation to bullion.

Key groups in this sale include; a fantastic run of Russian historical medals mostly struck in gold, a great run of imperial Russian silver coins, plus two sacrce copper plate money pieces of Catherine I, some great seige pieces and patterns are scattered throughout this sale, including a unique gold siege Ducat from the 1572 siege of Haarlem and the unique Leipzig siege 2 Ducats of 1547 and the unique Magdeburg siege 2 Ducats of 1551, an outstanding selection of Italian gold coinage, a great run of British gold and silver coins, classic German States gold coins galore, some very scarce French gold coins such as the 1555 Henri II piefort struck to the weight of an 8 Henri d'Or, scarce Austrain and Austrain States gold coins, a rare Albanian presentation set from 1927, a good selection of Swiss cabnton gold pieces, another grouping of steel engraved plates and cylinders from the American Bank Note Company archives, several groups of orders and decorations, many rare Latin American gold coins and a treasure trove of individual pieces from various countries around the world.

Coins of special interest to me included lot 2967, the wonderful Ormonde Pistole from the Great Rebellion. One of only two in private hands, the other example sold at Whyte's Millennial Collection sale in April 2000 for about $135,650 and resold through Spinks in 2006 for about $118,600. Stack's conservatively estimates this example slightly below those figures and I will be anxious to see it's closing figure.

Also of great interest to me is lot 3524 the 1870 gold pattern 1 Doblon of Uruguay. It's unique struck in gold and I do not have a modern price reference for our catalog, as this piece has not surfaced since the 1940's. On a personal note I will also be looking to see what lot 3511, the cut and countermarked 4 Pesos Fuertes of Paraguay sells for, as I was lucky enough to examine this coin some number of years ago through the kindness of a good friend in numismatics.