COINS FROM ST KITTS-NEVIS & GRENADA SELL WELL IN THE TANKERSLEY COLLECTION OF WEST INDIAN COINS AND TOKENS AT NOONANS

Two extremely early 19th century coins known as Black Doggs from St Kitts-Nevis – the smallest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere - with a value of threepence and had both been created from counterfeit coins, each fetched more than four times their pre-sale estimate at Noonans Mayfair on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. They were part of a large collection of almost 360 West Indian coins and tokens that was amassed by Bill Tankersley (1948-2021) who was born in Columbia, Tennessee, USA.

From St Kitts, the Black Dogg which was valued at threehalfpence, dated from circa 1802 and the reign of George III in Great Britain. It sold for a hammer price of £1,600 against an estimate of £300-400 and was bought by an overseas private collector [lot 1208], while St Kitts-Nevis, another Black Dogg, also valued at threehalfpence, and of a similar date fetched a hammer price of £1,300 against an estimate of £200-300. It too was bought by an overseas collector [lot 1210].

The highest price of the collection which fetched a total of £52,745 was paid for an important coin from the Ionian Islands. An extremely rare Fifty Para Charles II Tari that has been countermarked with a crude bust of George III sold for a hammer price of £2,600 and was bought by an overseas collector [lot 1336].

Also of note was a very rare Quarter-Dollar (valued at 13 pence) from Sierra Leone that dated from 1832 and sold for a hammer price of £2,600 to an overseas collector against an estimate of £1,500-2,000 [lot 1341], while from Grenada a one bitt coin, dating from 1780 that had been cut from a Spanish-colonial 8 Reales coin realised a hammer price of £1,600 against an estimate of £240-300 [lot 1104].