Coins

Richard Beale, the owner and managing director of London coin auction house Roma Numismatics, has been arrested in New York in connection with the sale of a record-breaking classical coin.

One would hardly call a 13in x 2ft 1in (34 x 63cm) copper block, weighing more than 32 pounds (14.6kg), a convenient method of payment, but in the mid-17th century such plates were indeed issued in Sweden under King Charles X Gustav.

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

An unusual visitor to UK shores last year was this gold ‘Liberty head’ quarter eagle (two and a half dollars) from 1830.

Struck c.1500 in Lisbon from Guinean gold provided by the explorations of Vasco da Gama, the 10 cruzados piece or Portugués do ouro of Manuel I (1495-1521) is a coin synonymous with the Age of Discovery.

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

Harmers’ (20% buyer’s premium) third numismatic auction held on September 26 was topped by this Indian rarity, a Gold Mohur issued under the Mughal emperor Nur al-Din Muhammad Jahangir (1605-27).

To one side of this gold aureus struck in Rome in 180-83 is a sensually draped portrait of the goddess Venus.

The corpus of Anglo-Saxon coins lists only 20 coins for the Kentish king Eadberht.

Produced six years after the much more common 1847 dated Gothic Crown of which 8000 were made, the 1853 Gothic Crown was struck only in a very limited number.

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

A spectacular Roman gold medallion took a record price at the latest New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC).

The final proof coin set bearing Queen Victoria’s portrait was issued by the Royal Mint in 1893.

Coinex, the most important event on the British calender for many serious coin collectors, opens at the Biltmore Hotel in Mayfair on September 23-24.

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.

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

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.