Good portraits are always popular: staying with the boy-king, admire a very much better than usual profile portrait on a 1549 shilling struck at Canterbury. Would anyone like to pay £400-500? Oh! Yes ple-e-e-ase. Its new owner parted with £850.
A James VI of Scotland sword and sceptre piece (1602) offered here was similar to the 1601 example sold by Thompson Roddick & Medcalf (£800). This time the estimate was £600-650. It made £750. Expert advice tells me that there is nothing to choose between the dates.
The triumph of the day was the £42,000 (estimate: £15,000-20,000) paid by Knightsbridge Coins for a cast silver kroon (Cf. crown) struck in the Dutch East Indies as an emergency coinage in 1645.
This sale demonstrated what we already know – that surprising prices are achieved by the very best material and it is this which is worth investing in. The end of two long (and hot) days saw a take of £424,980 for the property of 122 vendors.
In tune with a Kroon in June
The two days of June 24 and 25 were occupied by a general sale (1895 lots) hosted by Dix Noonan Webb. The vast collection of British coins has been dispersed by Spink and latterly DNW at intervals over about the last decade. I was particularly struck by the English royal arms on the reverse of a very nice example of the gold Edward VI sovereign. A sensible estimate of £4000-5000 was suggested. It made £5800.
