The lesson to be learned from this sale is that one should not hold a specialist national sale off its native heath. Common sense, perhaps.
The very valuable coins sold, but the middle-of-the-road coins fared less well.
Why? To the modest Spanish collector Zurich might be somewhere on the backside of the moon. They would not travel there to spend modest amounts of euros translated into Swiss francs. Besides, there is probably a language barrier.
This seems to be the reason for the lesser coins not selling well. Now for the ‘Oo-ah’ factor. In the 17th century medallic 50 reales were struck. They are massive silver coins and they are all very, very rare.
Not so rare, however, as that of the Kingdom of Navarre. There was one in this sale. Size? 72mm.
Weight? 171.43gm (51/2oz troy). You get the picture? It’s big and a very strong demand for the rarest Spanish and closely associated coins has developed over, I suppose, the last decade. It was modestly estimated – SFr80,000. It made SFr375,000 (£150,000). This must surely have made up for the predictably lacklustre rest of the sale.
The reale thing…
March 18 saw a specialist 575-lot Spanish sale at Numismatica Ars Classica. The coins dated from Visigothic times (mid-7th century) to the 19th century. In the absence of more detailed literature, this catalogue will be useful for collectors and dealers alike.
