Coins

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including The London Coin Fair moving to a new venue in Hammersmith for 2024.

Daniel Fearon has raised an interesting issue, concerning the British Museum’s name change to their Department of Coins and Medals, on which Brian Clivaz and Michael Graham-Stewart have since commented, not entirely uncritically (Letters, ATG Nos 2632 and 2633).

I recently received an online numismatic journal that informed me that The Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum has undergone a reorganisation.

Soon after the Italian coin engraver Benedetto Pistrucci moved to England in 1815, he received a prestigious task from William Wellesley-Pole, the Master of the Mint. He was commissioned with the creation of a series of new gold coins for George III.

Noonans was the dominant player in the London coins and medals auction market in 2023 with a market share of almost 32%, ATG’s exclusive annual special report reveals.

The 1705 silver crown is one of the key rarities in the Queen Anne (1702-14) series.

A Swiss gold coin that only appears at auction once every few years is the 1740 Basel triple ducat. To one face is a grand winged basilisk and to the other a view of the city from the east above eight coats of arms.

A remarkable Canadian single-owner collection of coins of the East India Company was offered by Noonans on February 8-9, 2023.

One of the great masterpieces of ancient Greek numismatic art, this silver tetradrachm was struck in c.460BC in commemoration of the refounding of the city of Naxos. Its citizens had been exiled to Leontinoi by the tyrant Hieron of Syracuse.

Mithradates IV was ruler of the Hellenistic kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 169-150BC. He ushered in a period of relative friendship with the Roman republic that would continue until his grandson Mithradates VI (the Great) became its most formidable and determined opponent. Mithradates IV’s coinage draws attention to his Persian and Greek origins.

Prior to its unification, what is now Argentina was comprised of over a dozen autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.

Estimated at £14,000-18,000, this Pavillon d'Or issued by Edward, Prince of Aquitaine (1362-72), took £36,000 plus 18% buyer’s premium at Harmers on November 1.

Spink posted a house record for a classical coin when it sold this Julius Caesar and Octavian gold aureus on April 3 for £220,000 plus 20% buyer’s premium against an estimate of £60,000-100,000.

Total sales across London coin and medals auctions were £61.6m in 2023, just a fraction down on 2022’s record aggregate

A new auction record for an English silver coin was set during the New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC).

Estimated at $5000-10,000, a 14th century candlestick made during the classical period of Mamluk artistic production hammered for $100,000 (£79,500) at Leland Little (20% buyer’s premium) in Hillsborough, North Carolina, on December 1.