Hammered and early British milled gold continue to run hot in London. An example of each genre shared top billing at Dix Noonan Webb’s Nov. 12 sale.
It was perhaps not unexpected that a most desirable triple unite of Charles I starred in the hammered section. The Oxford-struck coin of 1643 was an example of the taller bust with a scarf behind Charles’s shoulder and a plume mintmark, S-2726. Graded gVF, bidding began at $39,260 [£26,000]. Brisk competition quickly saw it sell to an in-room bidder for $79,728 [£52,800], or more than twice its lower pre-sale estimate. The coin had formerly been, “the property of a lady (acquired prior to 1992).”
A Queen Anne 5 guineas of 1705 was top of the pops among the milled coins. It came from the same source and sold for the same price. This was a choice EF coin, edge-inscribed QVARTO, S-3560. Here bidding began at $57,380 [£38,000] just short of the $60,400 [£40,000] upper estimate. It galloped past the latter price to sell to another in-room bidder.
Two other properties of the same lady did extremely well.
A George II 1745 LIMA guinea in “virtually mint state,” S-3679, went for $47,112 or double its upper estimate. And a Charles II 1665 pattern farthing in gold by John Roettiers in VF unexpectedly realized $30,804 or six times its upper estimate despite having a small rim fault.
Victorian proof sets still fail to satisfy market demand. Throughout 2015 they have been selling well above catalog in the U.K. In the present sale an example from 1887 sold for $54,360 [£36,000] against its estimate of £15,000-£20,000.
Among other lots in the sale the second tranche of the remarkable collection of sixpences of Paul Cattermole was up for grabs. These totaled $128,652 [£85,200] bringing the overall price from the two sales to $217,993 [£144,366].
The grand total realized for the November 12 sale was of $1,056,360 [£699,576]. A premium of 20 percent has been added to all prices shown that have been converted at a rate of one pound sterling equals $1.51.
Full catalog details and prices realized can be sourced from www.dnw.co.uk/.
This article was originally printed in World Coin News.
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