Spink

Among six-figure successes in the medals market, last year Spink sold the ‘Operation Chastise’ Distinguished Flying Cross group of five given to Dambuster Flt Lt Edward ‘Johnnie’ Johnson for £105,000.

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.

Spink’s April 13 banknotes sale included a near-complete run of Malaya & British Borneo Elizabeth II specimen notes issued in the coronation year on March 21, 1953.

The Distinguished Flying Cross group of five given to Flt Lt Edward ‘Johnnie’ Johnson, who flew during Operation Chastise – the Dambusters – was sold for £105,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at Spink on November 29.

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

The name of a new Iron Age ruler or king has been discovered on a coin dug up in a field in the Test Valley, Hampshire.

Spink will conduct the Official Coinex Auction on September 28.

I am very sorry to report the death of Chinese and Japanese ceramics dealer and expert Richard Barker at the age of 72.

The record business enjoyed by London’s coin auction houses during Covid lockdowns largely continued last year.

Henry III (1216-72) issued his ‘gold penny’ for probably less than a year from August 16, 1357.

Of only 26 flying Victoria Crosses issued to date, four were awarded for the Malayan campaign in December 1941-February 1942.

The unexpected but very welcome increase in demand that the market experienced amid Covid lockdowns continued in 2022 as restrictions eased – and auction houses are optimistic about another strong performance this year

With 39,000 of these campaign honours given out, which ones can generate extra demand and achieve higher prices?

The 264 English gold coins in the so-called Ellerby Hoard, uncovered by a Yorkshire family while re-laying a floor in an 18th century home, range from the reign of James I to George I.

To get an idea of the healthy nature of the medals market at the moment, consider the Victoria Cross sold at Spink (20% buyer’s premium) this summer.

In May 2019 Spink (20% buyer’s premium) medal specialist Marcus Budgen was entrusted to catalogue the medals of Gunner A Howard, ‘N’ Battery, 5th Brigade, Royal Artillery, one of just four members of the RA present at the defence of Rorke’s Drift in the Zulu War.