REVIEW: COINS & HISTORICAL MEDALS: 14 & 15 NOVEMBER

Only around 250 remain available to collectors, so when a rare 1852 Adelaide Pound – the first Australian gold coin – appeared in this sale, bidding was always going to be lively.

It eventually sold for £19,000 hammer against an estimate of £10,000-12,000 to a UK Collector, with Tim Wilkes, Head of the Coin Department at Noonans, concluding: “This coin proved very popular as it is the first Australian gold coin. This one sold well because it was a particularly nice example.”

 

The double proof set of 12 Iraqi coins from the reign of Faisal I, struck at the Royal Mint, sold for £30,000 hammer. Consigned by a descendant of Abraham Elkabir OBE, they were accompanied by a stunning result of £100,000 for a rare Faisal II banknote from the same collection (see separate report in this newsletter).

A very rare proof set of 8 South African coins dating from 1930 and the reign of George V sold for £24,000 against an estimate of £15,000-£20,000. Only 14 sets of this date were issued and seldom appear for sale.

From Czechoslovakia, a 10 Ducat coin from 1932 sold for a hammer price of £14,000 – double its pre-sale high estimate of £7,000.

“The market for coins of Eastern European countries such as Czechoslovakia is very strong at the moment, and this was a particularly nice example,” said Tim Wilkes.