Collectables

A Swiss gold coin that only appears at auction once every few years is the 1740 Basel triple ducat. To one face is a grand winged basilisk and to the other a view of the city from the east above eight coats of arms.

A 19th century scrimshaw carved on board a whaling ship with an all African-American crew sold for $7250 (£5700) at Bruneau & Co (20% buyer’s premium).

This Iraq specimen banknote printed in India during the Second World War sold for £100,000 plus 24% buyer’s premium at Noonans on November 29-30. It was purchased by a lifetime collector or Iraqi banknotes at double the low estimate.

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.

A remarkable Canadian single-owner collection of coins of the East India Company was offered by Noonans on February 8-9, 2023.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

One of the great masterpieces of ancient Greek numismatic art, this silver tetradrachm was struck in c.460BC in commemoration of the refounding of the city of Naxos. Its citizens had been exiled to Leontinoi by the tyrant Hieron of Syracuse.

Picture-postcard collecting became a craze in Edwardian times and in the 21st century many of us are delighted collectors of these ‘windows on the world’.

Mithradates IV was ruler of the Hellenistic kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 169-150BC. He ushered in a period of relative friendship with the Roman republic that would continue until his grandson Mithradates VI (the Great) became its most formidable and determined opponent. Mithradates IV’s coinage draws attention to his Persian and Greek origins.

New York auctioneer remembers Ann and Gordon Getty as the latest lots come to market

The organiser of The London Antique Arms Fair had been searching for a new venue in which to hold the event throughout 2023.

Prior to its unification, what is now Argentina was comprised of over a dozen autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.

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.

Total sales across London coin and medals auctions were £61.6m in 2023, just a fraction down on 2022’s record aggregate

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.

Estimated at £14,000-18,000, this Pavillon d'Or issued by Edward, Prince of Aquitaine (1362-72), took £36,000 plus 18% buyer’s premium at Harmers on November 1.

John Newton (1725-1807) is today perhaps best remembered as the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace. However, before his religious conversion he spent his early life as a slave trader.