The hammer fell at £120,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £40,000-50,000 at Spink on Thursday last week, more than doubling the previous record of £57,500, also held by Spink.
The coin was part of the Slaney collection which highlighted the earliest dated English crown, the 1551 of Edward VI. It also trumped its estimate, bringing £36,000 against hopes of £8000-10,000.
Spink said the Pattern Crown went to a UK private buyer against a flurry of bidding in a packed room, while the Edward VI crown went to a private buyer from the US.
Richard Bishop, associate director of numismatic auctions at Spink, said: “This magnificent result is indicative of the strength of the market for English coins at present and of collectors’ voracious appetite for fine material such as this. Of the bidders who took part in this sale, a very high proportion were collectors, rather than trade.”
The sale as a whole realised over £1m.
* So called after the legend engraved on its edge, beseeching the King to choose this coin as the pattern for production of further crowns. The engraver, Thomas Simon, was competing with his great rivals, Roettier of Antwerp, for Royal approval of his design.
Charles II silver Crown sets new auction record at £120,000
A CHARLES II pattern crown from 1663, the Petition Crown(*), has set a new world record for English silver coins at auction.
