Great Tibet Selections in This Weeks Hirsch Auction 264

Hidden away in the Gerhard Hirsch Auction 264 scheduled to close November 24 & 25 this week are a small grouping of very interesting coins of Tibet. There is a rare Y#9 silver Srang dated CD 1 (1909) in fine condition, with nice eye appeal, plus a few select group lots well worth a look.

Of most interest to specialists in this area of numismatics however, may be lot 2263, which offers a copper strike of a right facing bust version of the Rupee trade coin. This may be a pattern, a fantasy piece or a counterfeit, but whatever it is I find it most curious and captivating. Readers, if you can clarify the origins and qualities of this piece, please click on the comment box and speak up.

Check out the Tibet lots, as well as all the other wonderful offerings for the Hirsch Auction 264 at their website, www.coinhirsch.de

Monday, November 23, 2009 5:49:53 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [1]

Ship Coins and Medals to Sarawak at Spink - William Brooke Christensen at Auction

Author and long time contributor to the Standard Catalog of World Coins, Yossi Dotan, has long held an interest in the subject of Ships on coins. Over the years Dotan has compiled data and complete extensive research on the subject of coins depicting watercraft.

Recently Dotan began the process of publishing a series of three volumes covering this thematic collecting area with the release of Watercraft on World Coins Volume I: Europe, 1800-2005. The next two books scheduled for Dotan's trilogy will be Volume II: America and Asia, 1800-2008 followed later by Volume III: Africa and Oceania, 1800-2011.

For those interested in ships on coins, Dotan's books should prove both enjoyable and essential for reading and reference.

Another worthwhile addition to a thematic Watercraft or Ship coin token and medal collection library will be the recent Spink auction catalog containing the Nautical Theme coin and token collection of William Brooke Christensen. The Spink London 199 auction closed yesterday selling about 40 lots of Bill's ship coins and tokens, some of them pretty hard to find types. Bill was a very interesting guy. I had the pleasure of meeting him years ago when he was still running the auction firm founded by his father, Henry Christensen, which specialized in Latin American coins.

Bill's collecting interests differed from his fathers, as he fancied himself tied to the Brooke family of White Rajahs ruling in Sarawak from the 1840's to the 1940's. Next week Spink will offer Christensen's banknote and coin collections of Sarawak which are the most complete I have ever seen at auction. These collections will be sold on July 4th in Singapore. It's a fine tribute to a classic numismatist!

Friday, June 26, 2009 4:47:03 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]

Freeman & Sear Mail Bid 16 Closes June 5th

Over 500 lots of ancient coins will be offered through the Freeman & Sear Mail Bid Sale 16 closing this Friday. Freeman & Sear are known for their accurate attribution and excellent experience in the field of ancient coinage and Sale 16 offers a wide array of coins from Greek to Roman, Byzantine to Oriental Greek, plus a selection of Islamic and world coins as well.

For more inforamtion and a complete lot listing with images and estimates visit www.freemanandsear.com but act quickly as this sale closes on Friday, June 5th and coins like the gold one-mina of Ptolemy IV Philopator, shown above, do not come along very often.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 6:16:48 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [2]

Heritage Sells Aluminum 1942 Lincoln Cent Pattern

A nice run of 45 choice United States patterns goes on sale through Heritage Auction at the Long Beach Expo on Firday night. This group includes some very rare patterns, 3 and 4 four know examples of some types, and many are the finest know pieces.

Included in this group is the Judd-2079 plain edge 1942 Lincoln cent struck on a nearly double thick aluminum planchet. According to the new 10th edition United States Pattern Coins book, commonly known as the Judd book, this pattern was said to have been struck in several different metals, only three of which are know to exist today; aluminum, zinc-coated steel and white metal. This particular piece has been graded PR66 by PCGS and is listed in the 10th edition Judd as R-8, indicating 2 to 3 known examples.

This is a rare opportunity for collectors of U.S. patterns and one that should not be missed. The Hertiage website shows 12 internet bidders already participation in this lot's sale, plus an additional 55 watchers. Current bid is at $85,000 as of this posting, but once it gets to live auction tomorrow night in Long Beach, I would expect some serious competition to ensue.

Thursday, May 28, 2009 6:32:46 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]

Heritage Sale - Russia Highlights

The third session of the Long Beach Expo Heritage World Coin Auction setto close Friday night will feature a long run of Russian coins and medals. There are nearly 250 lots of Russian material set to be sold with several rarities and sacrce dates and types. Some of the Elizabeth coins are pretty high grades for these types.

Though many have been predicting a drop in values for Russian coins this year, that has yet to happen. I would say that prices have solidified some, with demand a bit slacker than it was over the last few years, but no drops yet and certainly no bottoms dropping out of this active segment of the world coin market.

Some of the best items up for sale include: a pair of Alexander I Roubles 1804 an 1809 is MS61 and choice AU respectively, a Peter I Sun Rouble, a scarce overdated 1840 Rouble of Nicholas I with 4/3 and a really lovely cameo gem Pr-65 Novodel 1 1/2 Family Rouble of 1836. There's plenty of gold, silver, some copper and platinum coins, with lots of proof strikes and high enough grades to create interest.

From my perspective the most interesting Russian lot in the sale, however, is a Soviet Chervonetz dated 1923 and struck to proof standards. This R.S.F.S.R. gold Chervonetz grades Proof 63. Proof issues of this first date of the type are very rare and much sought after, so this coin should be surrounded by a good bit of bidding activity.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 8:30:38 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]

Meiji Gold at Long Beach Hertiage Auction

Simply said, the Friday session of this weeks Heritage World Coin Auction at the Long Beach Expo will offer nearly 300 pieces of Meiji era Japanese gold coins. These are quality Japanese trade coins spanning a good amount of time from about 1871 to 1912 or so. Most all dates of the Yen, 5 Yen and 10 Yen types are represented, with multiple examples of most.

While these coins are considered to be fairly common gold type issues, with interest in holding physical gold so high at the moment, this is a fine opportunity to grab some nice historical gold coins, with a collectible buffer for any possible downside risk. Check them out at the Heritage website under lot 21623 through lot 21911. Note that while the Heritage auction catalogs do not show images of all lots, their excellent website ususally does!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:51:43 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]

Patterns, Essais and Scarce Honduras Types

There are just 19 lots of Honduars material in the Heritage Wold Coin Auction set for tomorrow at the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo, but most of them are precious patterns, essais and very scarce type coins. To my thinking this makes them well worth noting here for collectors of Central American coinage.

For those interested only in circulating types, this group presents three examples of the scarce one year type KM#44 50 Centavos of 1879. Each of these grades VF and each offers different areas of wear and eye appeal. Estimates are quite reasonable at just $500-$600 and lower starting bids may afford some good opportunites for a coupe lucky bidders.

Several of the patterns and essais will provide new value levels for the upcoming 19th Century edition of the Standard Catalog of World Coins, updates since the last edition of which can be found on NumisMaster, our live website.

Of special interest in this Heritage offer are two patterns which were in need of confirmation. Lots 21362 and 21363 are both coins that had come into question back in 2001 when we produced the 3rd edition of the 19th Century SCWC. At the time a contributor expressed concern over the true nature of these coins. It was thought that perhaps the 1871 5 and 10 Pesos patterns were simply off metal strikes of the 5 and 10 Centavos 1871 circulation issues. A note was added to these listings in that book and they were changed to R, NC or reported, not confirmed in hopes of gaining a confirmation from a catalog user, researcher, contributor or any numismatist. By the time the fifth edition of the 19th Century book was completed, one of the catalog editors decided it was time to remove all R, NC listings. The reasoning being that if no one had come forward by then, the coins may not exist. Of course, time is a nebulous thing to numismatics and not everyone participates so well in their hobbies accumulation of knowledge.

So here we are, looking at two auction lots which confirm these patterns. As illustrated in the Heritage catalog and now here, they are clearly denominated as 5 Ps and 10 Ps. Both will find new collections to call home and I will reinstate their pattern status and listings in NumisMaster and for the 6th edition of the 19th Century SCWC, along wiht assigning new values based on this sale.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 4:10:30 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]

Heritage Long Beach - German Colonial Coins

Tomorrow the Long Beach Heritage World Coin Auction will begin crossing the block. This sale offeres the anticipated wide array of world coins, with several runs and individual coins of special note. This posting will cover soem of the significant runs of specific countries.

First up are 32 lots of high quality German East Africa pieces. I think just about all denominations are represented, with a large selection of the silver coins, a few coppers and a good number of the gold 15 Rupien Elephant coins, which always remain so very popular. Some stellar proof issues will be found by the careful bidder, including a few which were formerly unlisted in the Standard Catalog of World Coins. Many exhibit mottled toning, as illustrated above and several are white, so everyone should be able to find an appealing piece to add to thier collection. 

Directly following these will be a nice selection of 23 German New Guinea coins featuring highly sought after Bird of Paradise design. Again most all denominations from this tight numismatic area are represented, making this a good opportunity for near instant completion of a small country collection. Some folks like to attack these limited countries with real zeal. With a small number of types and dates, an aggressive specialist can really build a collection quickly and then sit back and enjoy, or work on upgrading. Looking closely at this group you will find that upgrading may never be necessary, as most all are attractive high grade examples, like the Pr-63 5 Mark illustrated here.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 3:44:27 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]

More Iranian Gold Medals at Heritage

In looking through my pile of upcoming auction catalogs, I noticed that the Heritage World Coin Auction scheduled for May 28-29 at Long Beach is also offering a wide selection of Iranian gold coins, plus several gold medals.

Included is a nice 1960 issue which features conjoined busts of Mohamed Reza and Farah. This piece is struck to the weight of a 5 Pahlavi and is considered rare struck in gold. The pre-auction estimate range for this piece is $1,250 to $1,750.

Also present in this sale are several gold medals from 1976 including issues from Bank Melli and the 50th Anniversary of Pahlavi rule in Iran. The one illustrated below displays conjoined busts of Mohamed Reza and his father Reza Shah, along with the Bank Melli building on the reverse. Pre-auction estimate on this piece falls in a range from $1,000 to $1,500.

Thursday, May 21, 2009 11:31:35 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]

Gold Medals of Iran at St. James Auction 11

St. James Auction 11, which closed earlier this month, offered a group of about 30 lots of Iranian gold medals. Most oft hese are pretty tough to find and some are quite scarce if not rare. The Mother Day gold medal shown above here was one of the top lots, realizing 5,000 British Pounds. This piece features a left facing bust of Empress Farah Diba on the obverse and a seated Empress, with mother and children on the reverse. This medal was issued by the University's Credit Foundation in 1975.

Another highlight of this grouping of Iranian gold featured this stellar 1971 issue commemorating the 2500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persia Empire. This piece realized 3,700 British Pounds. The obverse hosts conjoined busts of King Cyrus and the Shah of Iran. The reverse displays an ancient cylinder tablet with Imperial Arms above. This tablet is known as the first written description of human rights. The original can be found in the British Museum.

While Iranian gold medals can be difficult to locate, gold coins of Iran are often available. Check out the recently issued Spring/Summer 2009 price list from Steinberg's, Inc. or visit their website at www.steinbergs.com for a good offering of reasonably prices Iranian gold coins. Steinberg's specialize in modern gold coins and always have a nice selection of gold coins of the entire world. Steinberg's website is a great place to explore and expand the collection for both the beginning and experienced gold coin specialist.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 9:12:28 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]