British Hammered and Classic Polish Coinage at CICF

Back in 1988, Stack's held a spectacular auction of gold coins in conjunction with the annual Chicago International Coin Fair. CICF was co-founded and grown into one of the largest foreign coins shows in the U.S. by Chicago coin dealer Ed Milas. By 1989 Stack's was offering another fine sale at CICF, now owned by Krause Publications and three years after that Ed Milas sold his outstanding collection of Multiple Talers through Spink Zurich.

This week will see the 33rd incarnation of the annual CICF, this time at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare and Stack's will be returning with two excellent offerings to be held at the Doubletree Hotel on Thursday the 24th.

As friend and fellow blogger, George Cuhaj, noted in his posting yesterday, the first catalog will offer the Michael S. Tallent collection of British hammered coinage. This is an outstanding offering of classic British hammered and offers something for every collector in this field. I was most impressed by the vast array of rare Sovereign types, which includes two Henry VIII sovereigns, second and third coinage issues, two Mary I fine sovereigns of thirty shillings, and a James I Rose Ryal of thirty shillings from the second coinage issue, amongst others. In silver coinage the collection offers many varieties of the horseman Crown's, including a good selection of those struck at both the Shrewsbury and Oxford mints. Of particular interest to me was the extensive offering of Civil War issues. Tallent built an excellent collection of Ormonde coins from the Great Rebellion, in which is contained one of the true rarities for the Ireland collector, the Ormonde twopence or half groat. This is a very tough coin to acquire and the Tallent piece is very attractive. If however, you already have one in your Ireland collection, perhaps you might consider the less attractive, but also quite rare Cork sixpence also offered in this sale. And if both of these are leaving your bored, maybe you will perk up when you learn that this sale also offers an imitation Blacksmith's Halfcrown of the confederate Catholic's at Kilkenny? Three very rare coins offered in consecutive lots just about midway through the sale, which begins at 4pm on Thursday afternoon.

As George also mentioned in his blog posting, the second sale, which begins directly after the close of the Tallent Collection, presents the Polish collection of Alicia and Sid Belzberg. This sale offers a dazzling compilation of Polish and Russian rarities, a list of which would be way too long for me post here. On the other hand I do feel the need to note one particular gold piece of special interest. The Belzberg collection contains an extremely rare example of the 1772 2 Ducat of Princess Isabella Czartoryska. This is the first time I can recall seeing this type offered for public sale. Neither the Standard Catalog of World Coins nor Friedberg have this type listed.

After the Belzberg collection the remainder of the second auction catalog is devoted to various other coins from around the world. There are many medieval coins, ancients, Latin American, Italian and lots of this and that, such as this platinum 25th Anniversary medal of the Sultan of Brunei from 1992. And of course, to tie things up in a nice little package, you should note that in the Tallent catalog Stack's put together a nice little offering of Multiple Talers. I wonder what Mr. Milas would think of that?

Gold Below $900

After a failed run yesterday, Gold has slipped below $900 this morning for the first time in weeks. Selling pressure is riding high for Gold and precious metals seem to be turning a bit bearish. Crude Oil continues to rise on it's own, seperate from the precious metals.

Major investors seem to have found a new darling of the moment in thier quest to avoid the woes of the dollar. With crude oil above $118 a barrel, the worlds economic problems are just beginning.

Ancient Athletics in Helios - Frank L. Kovacs Collection

In reading through April’s The Celator magazine, I noticed an article about the Inaugural auction for Helios Numismatik. Seems that this coming Thursday and Friday, Helios Numismatik will be offering the Frank L. Kovacs Collection of ancient Roman coins with athletic and gladiator themes and designs, amongst other interesting ancient coins.

 

One Kovacs coin that caught my interest was lot 220, a silver denarius sporting the name L. Livineius Regulus and a grand depiction of animal vs. human combat on the reverse. L. Livineius Regulus, along with his brother were friends of Cicero. The head on the obverse of this coin is most likely a depiction of one of the Reguli ancestors, while the animal battle scene derives from the games of Julius Caesar.

 

Helios is also offering a good selection of medieval and modern coinage in this sale. Some that caught my eye included a good run of inexpensive medieval Armenian billon and silver coins, two excessively rare Georgian coins – a half dram of Queen Rusudan (1223-1247) and a dram from Bagrat IV (1027-1072), a seldom seen Luxembourg gold Florin of Grand Duke Johann of Bavaria (1419-1425), a wide selection of medieval Islamic coins and a number of outstanding early German States bracteates.

 

Even though this is the first auction for Helios, they seem to have all their ducks in a row. Their website is up and running, so you can check out the coins and place bids in time for the auction closing later this week. In addition I must say that I found their website pretty easy to use and friendly to operate. The switch to English translation was a breeze, terms of sale were clearly defined and bidding screens popped in quickly.

 

The staff looked friendly to me as well, so I will pass them my electronic Best Wishes for a successful sale and strong future on the web.

Tom's Recommended Film of the Week

Gone With The Wind

Big productions in film are really a thing of the past these days, so it's a special treat to indulge in the large spectacle of Gone With The Wind.

The story still holds up very well, my teenage son watched it with me and enjoyed it immensely. I guess because the Civil War is so much a part of what we are today, it's so engrained in our nature and heritage, that the drama of Gone With The Wind still taps into deep veins of serious meaning in most Americans.

Of course, bold characters and equally vibrant acting from Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Hattie McDaniel, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Ona Munson, Harry Davenport and Ward Bond, just to name a few, also captivates the viewer. Margaret Mitchells' novel in the hands of David O. Selznick left us with a wonderful film, which still stands the test of time from 1939 to 2008.

Enjoy a classic, watch or rewatch Gone With The Wind this weekend and let me know what you think.