Coin

Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Achaemenid empire delivered into his hands a vast wealth.

The Premier Sale held by St James’s Auctions on September 22 includes this gold half guinea token with a ‘phoenix from the flames’ motif made for Wilson and Younge of Sheffield in 1812.

Bonhams has closed its coin and medals department in London and specialist John Millensted will now work as a consultant to the firm.

The most cherished coin from the reign of Victoria proved popular at a German saleroom

A newly discovered Henry III ‘gold penny’, one of the most fabled coins in all of British numismatics, has sold for £540,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium).

Rare Japanese Meiji gold coin emerges at auction in West Sussex

The finest-known example of a New England shilling sold for £220,000 at Morton & Eden in London on November 26 (plus 20% buyer’s premium).

A single-owner collection of 33 sovereigns from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I generated a white-glove result at London auction house Dix Noonan Webb (24% buyer’s premium).

A group of 52 Tudor, Stuart and Commonwealth England hammered gold coins rediscovered after 60 years shine at auction.

Although an auction house since 1918, stamps specialist Harmers is a relative newcomer to the London numismatic sales.

Cyrene, founded by Greeks c.631BC in the uplands near present-day Shahhat in Libya, reached the height of its prosperity in the 5th century BC.

The sale at Sovereign Rarities on September 21 includes this Charles I (1625-49), silver pattern unite (20 shillings) dated 1630.

A tin of coins and medals consigned to Morton & Eden’s autumn sale included a number of early pieces from the American colonial period.

Mithradates VI was ruler of the Hellenistic kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120-63BC and one of the Roman republic’s most formidable and determined opponents.

Siege money or ‘money of necessity’ was minted in Newark in 1646 during the town’s third siege and the last year of the First English Civil War.

Starting his collection with a 1568 sixpence purchased in Swanage in 1957, marine insurance broker Christopher Comber (1944-2019) formed a remarkable collection of Elizabeth I coins.

Away from London, some exceptional coin sales coming up in Europe include a number of outstanding British issues.