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World record price for a British coin
Michigan
Posts: 4,942 ✭
A 14TH-CENTURY gold coin found in a field in southern England by a man with a metal detector fetched £460,000 at auction yesterday - a world record price for any British coin.
The Edward III "double leopard" - worth six shillings when struck in 1344 - was bought at Spink's in London for the Isle of Man coin fund Avarae Global Coins.
Ian Goldbart, the managing director of dealers A H Baldwin & Sons, who made the purchase, said: "It seems like a lot of money - but when you consider you can pay £40 million for a painting and eight or nine million for a house, maybe it's good value. After all, it is one of the rarest and most magnificent coins ever minted.
"I only had to bid once - right at the end, when everybody else had stopped."
The price eclipsed the previous world auction record, established in 2004 for Britain's first gold penny, struck for King Coenwulf of Mercia (796-821). That fetched £230, 000.
The location of the discovery of the "double leopard" is being kept secret to prevent the site being invaded by treasure hunters.
The coin, depicting the king and two leopards, was only issued for a few months and is so rare that only two others are known - found together by schoolchildren on the River Tyne in 1857.
The Edward III "double leopard" - worth six shillings when struck in 1344 - was bought at Spink's in London for the Isle of Man coin fund Avarae Global Coins.
Ian Goldbart, the managing director of dealers A H Baldwin & Sons, who made the purchase, said: "It seems like a lot of money - but when you consider you can pay £40 million for a painting and eight or nine million for a house, maybe it's good value. After all, it is one of the rarest and most magnificent coins ever minted.
"I only had to bid once - right at the end, when everybody else had stopped."
The price eclipsed the previous world auction record, established in 2004 for Britain's first gold penny, struck for King Coenwulf of Mercia (796-821). That fetched £230, 000.
The location of the discovery of the "double leopard" is being kept secret to prevent the site being invaded by treasure hunters.
The coin, depicting the king and two leopards, was only issued for a few months and is so rare that only two others are known - found together by schoolchildren on the River Tyne in 1857.
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Comments
Looking for alot of crap.
<< <i>............it begins...........sick money for darkside coins. Deja Vu from my US coin collecting days. First everything seems to rise a little. Then auctions show record bidding. Lastly, sick money in big time auctions and lots of press releases. A few years later, I can't afford to play any more.
To be fair though these gold florins are in the 1932 (yes i mean 32) Saints of the British coin world, they are few and far between, and only museums really have them.
<< <i>
<< <i>............it begins...........sick money for darkside coins. Deja Vu from my US coin collecting days. First everything seems to rise a little. Then auctions show record bidding. Lastly, sick money in big time auctions and lots of press releases. A few years later, I can't afford to play any more.
To be fair though these gold florins are in the 1932 (yes i mean 32) Saints of the British coin world, they are few and far between, and only museums really have them. >>
Erm, uh, you meant to say 1933 Saint, I believe.
I sometimes have my suspicions that there are not that many "players" out there and those that are go after bits such as this one with very high prices reached.
Well, just Love coins, period.
Well, just Love coins, period.
<< <i>I wonder who the buyer was? Also, I wonder what this means to the market as a whole where a clear division seems to be setting up with English coins - those of high quality especially as well as rarity vs. the rest. >>
If the US market is any indication, than if the ultra-high grade rarities begin to skyrocket EVERYTHING else will follow.
Looking for alot of crap.
The other risk, and why it may not be such a good thing is that it may be arteficially driving up prices when in fact there are not enough buyers for the long run and and tendency therefore to try to flip pieces - sort of like a treadmill going a bit wild. This could result in a "settling" of the market for the scarce to semi-rare as has been seen in the US market in many segments that seem to be omitted by the press, attention being showered on the stars of the moment.
Well, just Love coins, period.
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>............it begins...........sick money for darkside coins. Deja Vu from my US coin collecting days. First everything seems to rise a little. Then auctions show record bidding. Lastly, sick money in big time auctions and lots of press releases. A few years later, I can't afford to play any more.
To be fair though these gold florins are in the 1932 (yes i mean 32) Saints of the British coin world, they are few and far between, and only museums really have them. >>
Erm, uh, you meant to say 1933 Saint, I believe.
No i meant '32, '33s are illegal to own except for one. '32s are just god damn rare!
The other risk, and why it may not be such a good thing is that it may be arteficially driving up prices when in fact there are not enough buyers for the long run and and tendency therefore to try to flip pieces - sort of like a treadmill going a bit wild. This could result in a "settling" of the market for the scarce to semi-rare as has been seen in the US market in many segments that seem to be omitted by the press, attention being showered on the stars of the moment.
Like yourself, I am a 19h-20th century collector. I tend to agree with your comments. I saw some pretty high end pieces go for soft prices in the last Goldberg and Heritage sales, compared to what happened just 18 months earlier. I think the Cooke auction was more of an anomaly than a mean of what is really going on and I believe Spink prices to be extremely optimistic for most of the pieces listed.