Stacks Belzberg sale report

secondrepublic

I attended the Stacks sale of Belzberg Polish coinage last night. Mr. Belzberg, who I believe posts here sometimes, built what is probably one of the finest, if not the finest, extant collections of Polish coinage. One of the first pieces auctioned was this incredibly rare 10 ducat piece. Foreshadowing the rest of the night, it sold for almost ten times what the same piece sold for in the year 2000 Karolkiewicz sale. It immediately became the second most expensive Polish coin ever sold. (That record last for about 5 minutes as other pieces went under bid).

The sale then featured a gigantic 50 ducat piece that also sold for gonzo money. Aesthetically it is just an incredible hunk of gold. For sheer beauty and artistry one of my favorite pieces in the sale was this one. Just incredible detail and level of preservation. I also loved this incredibe pattern piece which had wonderful high relief and deep, sharp detail and color. As an afficionado of Polish Second Republic pieces I was particularly interested in this piece, which sold for about what I had expected. Like a lot of the ex-Farouk pieces its surfaces were not original, but it's the Holy Grail of Polish second republic pieces.

All in all, a wonderful sale. Most of the buyers were from overseas and I expect a lot of these pieces will end up in Poland and, to a lesser extent, Germany and Russia. With the weak dollar and strong prices I was only an observer, though grateful to get the chance to see these pieces in-hand.

percyb

Thanks for the report. Those prices are mind boggling...phew!!

MacCrimmon

Those pieces brought "big" zloty.

Perchance a foreshadowing of Millennia??

worldcoinguy

Amazing coins.

Can somebody help me understand how deep pocketed buyers from Poland come tot he US to buy and then take the coins back home with them? I thought that Poland had some of the toughest coin import laws in the world. Does this just apply to mail? Do people simply not claim them when they enter Poland?

TwoKopeiki

<< <i>Amazing coins.

Can somebody help me understand how deep pocketed buyers from Poland come tot he US to buy and then take the coins back home with them? I thought that Poland had some of the toughest coin import laws in the world. Does this just apply to mail? Do people simply not claim them when they enter Poland? >>



If you can spend quarter of a million dollars on a coin - you'll have no problem going through customs in Poland. It will be much cheaper

1jester

<< <i>Amazing coins.

Can somebody help me understand how deep pocketed buyers from Poland come tot he US to buy and then take the coins back home with them? I thought that Poland had some of the toughest coin import laws in the world. Does this just apply to mail? Do people simply not claim them when they enter Poland? >>



If you think getting coins into Poland is difficult, you should try to get them OUT of Poland. Poland, to my knowledge, doesn't have import restrictions, but export restrictions are famous and untenable (for the owners). Basically, you can't export anything made after 1945, even if you own it, without the express written permission of the government. Such permits are famously hard to come by. However, with coins, it's usually not too difficult to "smuggle" them out of the country. But let's take the example of a person who wishes to legally bring into Poland something that he owns. He would try to declare it at the border, so as to be able to legally take it back out with him at some time in the future. This case seems logical and simple, but it is unworkable and impossible. The customs officers will not let him declare objects without an official appraisal from the government (how this is to be achieved for an item coming into the country is a task that I can't even imagine). Their answer is "how do we know what this object is (without an official government-approved appraisal)?" Now if the owner were to try to bring that object back out of the country with him, he would face the impossible task of proving he brought it into the country (therefore de facto NOT smuggling out some of "Poland's 'treasure' (whatever that means - but still the reason for the no-export laws)). Even if he can prove where he bought the object from, his ownership of it will not be recognized by government officials, hence he will not be allowed to take it out of the country. See, even if you own something, the government really owns it.



PS: It's amazingly simple to pass through customs flying into Warsaw International Airport. Simply pick up your bags and head out the green "nothing to declare" door. You don't ever have to talk to a customs official unless you want to.

coinkat

oh my... nice coins with big prices...

secondrepublic

Jester is absolutely right about the very rigid Polish rules for exporting pre-war "anything." But in the case of rare coins I am skeptical that most people declare anything when they arrive into Poland. Getting past customs there is a breeze, in my experience, and they are not exactly looking for rare coins as contraband.

Also, there is a tariff you'll have to pay to import the coins and those amounts add up fast when you're talking six-figure coins.

Getting the coins out is a little trickier. Mixing the coins with a few modern issues and leaving them in the carry-on bag would probably work just fine unless you're taking out pieces bigger than the contemporary "pocket change." I've also heard that people will have items driven to Germany and sent from there. That actually seems to be the common practice. A lot of Polish collectors have been shipping stuff to NGC and I think that's how they do it, since sending it directly without the government's authorization is illegal (and as Jester very rightly noted, the authorization is very complicated to get).

There is so much cross-border traffic of all kinds now, that literally driving the coins is probably the easiest thing in either direction. Even the 50 ducats piece is small and easily hidden compared with, for example, an old painting or piece of furniture that would draw attention from Polish customs.

This law has been around as long as I can remember, probably even since communist times. The law made some sense back when Poland was poor and its historical objects were flowing out of the country to the West. Today there are a lot of well-off collectors living there - and benefiting from a very strong currency - and the flow is definitely into Poland rather than out of. There's been talk of revising this antiquities export law but so far it hasn't happened.

1jester

Yes, driving the coins in or out is the easiest way. So is taking a train or bus (but how many people do that?). Flying in, you don't have to declare anything or pay taxes or duty on coins because they're so easy to hide (as John mentions, mixed in with modern issues in your carry-on is the best way to do this). You don't have to declare them coming in, but in the example I mentioned before, I did try to declare some valuable coins just so I'd be able to take them out legally. Now I can't take them out legally because they wouldn't let me declare my property coming in. So you're basically screwed. Also, you don't want the hassle of trying to take out a large amount of them through the airport, as customs will really give you a hard time, even if the coins happen to be post-1945 (once again, they will tell you, "how do we know they're post-1945?"). You will have to pay customs duties if you have anything sent into the country, because customs likes to open packages. At least the cases of postal theft are less frequently encountered of late, which is a relief. I had to pay customs on the two coins the forum members donated to my newborn son last year, and 22% VAT on the shipping! So if you can figure a way to have someone carry them in or out by plane, or by vehicle, that would be the easiest.