The venerable coin and medal dealership, founded in 1872, will continue to trade as Baldwin’s while St James’s retail arm remains under the Knightsbridge Coins brand.
Financial details of the arrangement were not disclosed but it is described as a ‘joint venture company’.
Baldwin’s, owned by collectables group Stanley Gibbons, suffered from the high-profile departure of a number of senior figures in the past year.
Five senior specialists who formed the core of Baldwin’s coin department left to join former managing director Ian Goldbart at his new Mayfair coin dealership, Sovereign Rarities, last year.
The most recent departure from the firm is director Seth Freeman.
“Cement the future”
In a statement the new company said: “It has been no secret that Baldwin’s, as part of the Stanley Gibbons Group, has come under increased scrutiny, with a number of key staff moving on. This new joint venture, however, is poised to cement the future of both auction companies.”
Baldwin’s now has 14 employees and St James’s eight. Both will operate from current bases: Baldwin’s at 399 Strand and Knightsbridge Coins at 43 Duke Street.
The first Baldwin’s of St James’s auction will be held on February 4, as part of the London Coin Fair. Future auctions are likely to be held at the Strand premises, pictured above, or at the Cavendish Hotel which St James’s has used in the past.
Neil Paisley, who joined as Baldwin’s managing director from Colin Cooke Coins in September, described the move as “a huge forward step [that] will definitely shake up the numismatic world”.
Knightsbridge Coins previously had a tie-up with Baldwin’s in 2004 that ended in 2012.
The Baldwin’s joint venture was among the key developments recently published in the half-year results of parent company Stanley Gibbons.
The collectables dealership, parent company of Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions, Mallett and Baldwin’s, posted pre-tax loss of £6.2m for the six months to the end of September 2016, down from a £1.1m profit in the same period a year ago.
