Spink

Choice specimens of the rarest English coins are reaching new financial territory.

Is this the silver cup given by Bonnie Prince Charlie to a trusted aide for his role in returning Jacobite gold to France? Auction house Spink and dealer Martyn Downer believe it is and are looking for a buyer at around £150,000.

A UK auction record for a copper coin was set on September 24 when a rare Edward VIII 1937 pattern penny sold at Spink for £111,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium). The coin was made as a trial, ahead of the king’s abdication in December 1936, and was never released for circulation.

Spink (20% buyer’s premium) offered the only Victoria Cross group to appear at auction in 2019.

A record take of £48m and a one-third increase in the number of lots available to bidders – ATG reviews a healthy 2019 for London numismatic saleroom

Affirming the strength of the market for the best British milled coins, two exceptional English gold issues were among the top prices of this year’s New York International Numismatic Convention auctions.

A Great War bronze memorial plaque – the ‘Death Penny’ – awarded to Violet Porter, Women’s Royal Air Force, is estimated at £4000- 5000 in the Spink Orders, Medals and Decorations auction in London on November 27-28.

Coinex, the British Numismatic Trade Association’s annual showpiece fair, returns on September 27-28.

Estimated at just £50-80, an Alice Davis Hitchcock medallion sold for £3000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at a Spink auction in London on April 10.

To this day every Indian officer swears the ‘Chetwode motto’ as they commission into the army: The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time. The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next. Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time.

It is a quarter of a century since ATG’s first overview of London’s numismatic auction market. Here we review the heads and the tails of 2018.

ATG’s selection of 11 coins and medals lots that were among the highlights sold at UK auctions in 2018.