Coins

Two of the greatest offerings of Islamic coins ever have recently been sold in London. The two catalogues – Morton & Eden’s and Baldwin’s – will be useful historical documents for a long time to come.

BALDWIN’S are to sell the most complete collection of British gold sovereigns, formed over 34 years, with the first tranche being offered on May 8 in London.

WHILE London auctions saw a 25% rise in value for 2011, sales outside the capital have also been growing.

NEW York has just seen the greatest dispersal ever of Jewish coins and coins relating to the history of the Jewish people.

AFTER 2010 saw the London market grow by a third it would have been a bold commentator to predict a further substantial rise in 2011. Nonetheless, coins and medals auctions in the capital saw totals rise by almost a quarter on the previous year.

FRESH from their multi-million dollar Prospero triumph in New York, Baldwin’s are preparing to offer an outstanding selection of Islamic rarities as part of London Islamic Week in April.

FIGURES just released show substantial growth in London’s coins market for 2011.

AN eyewitness account of a raid on the Nomos/CNG coin sale in New York on January 4 reveals how police locked the doors of the saleroom and took down the details of all those inside.

THE Royal Mint stands accused of ripping off the public through sales of coins as collectables. Even the latest Olympic issue is affected, it is claimed. The problem has become so outrageous, says the UK's leading dealer in the secondary market in non-gold coins from the Royal Mint, that he has announced a boycott.

MORTON & Eden are to auction a hoard of American gold coins discovered in the garden of an East London home where they were buried in fear of a Nazi invasion.

THE London Islamic sales week got of to a ‘magic carpet’ start when Morton and Eden held an 81-lot sale devoted to the rarest Islamic coins.

WITH the coin world descending on the Big Apple for the New York International Numismatic Convention, once again the new year started with a bang in this sector.

ANTIQUITIES and other cultural property claimed by Italy as part of its heritage may soon be barred from entering the United States unless accompanied by Italian export permits. This could have a significant effect on the trade and transport of classical coins, for which the US is one of the largest markets.

INTERNATIONAL Coin Exchange, a new firm of Dublin-based auctioneers, will hold their first sale on February 19.

THE two museums hoping to provide a home for the Staffordshire hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold will be asking arts charities and other funding bodies to pay for it.

A metal detector enthusiast who pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud has been jailed for six months for selling modern fakes.

A HOARD of James I gold unites, found in the wall of an Oxfordshire cellar 30 years ago, is expected to sell for £50,000 at London specialist auctioneers Morton & Eden on June 9-10.

The unique Russian Catherine the Great 1755 gold 20 rouble coin sold for a record price of £1.55m hammer at St James's Auctions on November 6.

A gold pattern Chinese coin picturing Chang Tso Lin (1875-1928) was dubbed 'one of the rarest coins in the world' by A.H. Baldwin & Sons and Ma Tak Wo Numismatic Co Ltd who offered it for sale in Hong Kong on August 28.

POLICE are on the lookout for a gang of thieves who stole a chest of antique coins worth over £150,000 from London auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb. They are believed to be the same people who targeted dealers in Hatton Garden late last year.