| Tauler & Fau > Auction 139 | Auction date: 27 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 809 Price realized: 1,800 EUR (Approx. 1,952 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Charles IV (1788-1808). 8 escudos. 1802. Lima. JP. (Cal-1604 similar). 26,68 g. The only known specimen of this date from the mint of Lima. A fascinating piece of period history, stemming from a time when platinum was less precious than gold, which encouraged the production of gilt-platinum forgeries of Spanish gold pieces. Impossible assayers "JP" instead of "IJ". Tested at a Specific Gravity of 13.9, 0.249 fine Platinum and 0.607 fine gold. Very rare. This coin is exempt from any export license fee. Ex Biur Collection. Almost XF. Est...1700,00. Spanish Description: Carlos IV (1788-1808). 8 escudos. 1802. Lima. JP. (Cal-1604 similar). 26,68 g. Único ejemplar que se conoce para esta fecha en la ceca de Lima. Interesante falsificación de época, procedente de un tiempo en que el platino era menos precioso que el oro, lo que fomentó la producción de falsificaciones de piezas de oro españolas en oro-platino. Ensayadores imposibles "JP" en lugar de "IJ". 0,249 de platino fino y 0,607 de oro fino. Muy rara. Lote exento de tasas de exportación. Ex Biur Collection. EBC-. Est...1700,00. |  |
Match 1:
| Attica Auctions > Auction 5 | Auction date: 10 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 502 Price realized: 27,000 EUR (Approx. 29,073 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Greece, King Constantine I, 1913-1917 and 1920-1922. AR Pattern Essai Drachma, 1913, Paris mint, reeded edge, by G. Iakovidis. Obv. ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ, laureate head left, below truncation engraver's name Γ. ΙΑΚΩΒΙΔΗΣ, date 1913 and without ESSAI. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ, ΔΡΑΧΜΗ, Greek arms on crowned mantle, with ESSAI (incuse) on the right of denomination (KM-E31; Divo P99, RRR). An example combining exceptional strike, eye-appeal and rarity. Possibly unique in private hands and of great historical significance. At the time of Divo's publication in 1969, the author mentioned of one known example, in the Musée Monétaire Paris. We are privileged to offer the second known example of this remarkable numismatic treasure in its first public auction appearance in more than four decades. Moreover our numismatists have never seen any example for sale, either in auction or private sale. This presents a unique opportunity to acquire such an extreme rarity. Possibly unique in private hands. On an academic and historical level, this coin provides a fascinating story. In October of 1913 the Hellenic Government commissioned the engraving of a new monetary series based from a portrait of G. Iakovidis created in the Royal Palace in August 1913. The plan was to strike silver drachmas, 2 drachmai and gold 20 drachmai. However the project was abandoned due to funding difficulties. This pattern is the only known example of this adventurous but ill fated endevour and the final numismatic engraving of G. Iakovidis. It is interesting to mention that this portrait type was re-attempted by his friend and colleague, C. Dimitrias for the 1915 ESSAI issues which also did not lead to fruition. The 1913 ESSAI is incomparably rarer than the 1915 issue. Graded MS64 NGC. From the Collection of a Gentleman. Ex Spink No. 5 Auction, 17-18 May 1979, lot 255. The collector purchased the coin 31 January 1980 from D. Loulakakis (private sale). Starting price: 16000 EUR |  |
Match 2:
| Stack's Bowers Galleries (& Ponterio) > January 2024 NYINC Auction | Auction date: 12 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 53291 Price realized: 7,000 USD (Approx. 6,383 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: PHILIPPINES. Philippines - Mexico. 8 Reales, ND (1834-37). Manila Mint. Isabel II. PCGS VF-35; Countermark: EF Details. KM-Not listed; Basso-56; PNM#6-Not listed; PNM#16-Not listed; PNM#21-Not listed; Cacho-Not listed; Gil-4-5-1-II. Issued by decree of 20 December 1834 and suppressed 31 March 1837 (by decree of 1 February 1836). Countermark: Type VI; crowned Y.II. within circular incuse. Applied to the obverse of a 1830-Ga LP/FS Mexico Republic 8 Reales (KM-377.6). This date from this mint is a seemingly common issue, but is surprisingly EXTREMELY RARE with few known examples bearing a "Y.II." countermark. In fact, nearly all examples of this date, we have more than 30 documented examples, regardless of the assayers letters bear an "F.7.0". While we have only one other example recorded bearing a "Y.II." but of the "FS" Assayer variety which compounds the rarity of the present piece. The countermark is boldly applied on a decently preserved host displaying light attractive gray patina. An example that is certain to excite many advanced collectors for a chance to acquire an unusual host coin that seldom appears on the market. It is interesting to note that since nearly the entire mintage was shipped to the Philippines it is an amazing happenstance that the present example escaped the previous countermark. Estimate: $2000 - $3000 |  |
Match 3:
| Spink > Auction 24004 | Auction date: 4 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 346 Price realized: 13,000 GBP (Approx. 16,338 USD / 15,176 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Australia, (Southern Australia), Government Assay Office (1837-1901), Adelaide Pound, 1852, "Type I", by James Payne, GOVERNMENT ASSAY OFFICE | 1852 | ADELAIDE, crown above date inside beaded circle, rev. WEIGHT, 5 DWT: 15 GRS: | VALUE | ONE | POUND | 22 CARATS., written value within beaded circle, weight and fineness around, edge milled, 9.96g, 12h (Capt. J J Cullimore Allen, Sovereigns of the British Empire', p. 57 = Spink Auction 90, March 1992, lot 383 same dies; KM 1; Friedberg 1; McDonnell 1), with integral late-Victorian rose-gold loop soldered at 12 o'clock, otherwise lightly sweated in largely original and residually lustrous fields, an icon of Australian numismatics with a putative 50 coins struck before the die broke, struck details better than very fine, extremely rare in any condition. The Type 1 variety of this famous coin, of which it is believed that no more than 50 were struck before thefamous die-crack on the reverse developed in size until the die was unusable, is both a great rarity and the very first gold coin type struck in Australia. Most known specimens are not without marks because, at the time of their minting, coins were not being saved by collectors; all of the locally made gold coins were much needed for commerce, and both varieties of 1852 Adelaide pounds were soon mixed together and distributed to banks for use. Almost all of them ultimately perished. The continent of Australia remained the domain of scattered indigenous people for centuries until 'transported' British convicts, followed by other settlers, began to make a new civilization in the early nineteenth century. The towns, mostly distant from each other, existed because of farming and cattle ranching. Hard monies seen in early Australia were cast-offs, like most of the inhabitants. All this changed in the early 1850s with the discovery of gold near the town of Adelaide; other gold fields were soon discovered, and these over the course of only a few decades would change Australia from being a sleepy outback into a new country of great prosperity. Soon, too, worn-out old foreign coins ceased to be the main currency. Prospectors quickly brought specie to towns near the gold fields but, as was equally true in early California during its gold rush of 1849, nuggets and gold dust were not easily used for money. Commerce was consequently stymied despite the influx of this new source of real wealth. There were two problems to be sorted out. Turning raw gold into usable coinage was no simple affair, nor was it legal for an British colony to produce its own money without first obtaining approval from the British Crown. In 1852 all distant communication was by mail, via sea passage, and it simply was not practical to await legal sanction to coin money in the name of Queen Victoria. The need for gold coins for local use was pressing. Ideally such coins would have the same value as the familiar English sovereigns. So, in November of 1852, the South Australia Legislative Council passed an emergency measure, entitled the Bullion Act. At first the assay office thereby created smelted ore into ingots, but these were no more easily used in commerce than gold dust or nuggets. What to do until approval from London arrived? The Council decided to hire a local die-sinker by the name of Joshua Payne. He produced a pair of dies that created the now-famous Adelaide pound featuring the distinctive legends as well as a declared fineness and weight in gold. The resulting 'emergency tokens' looked exactly like coins; they were not elegant but they were of good weight. The issuing authority never intended its golden money to be more than token issues of solid value and must have assumed that their local coins would be recalled and turned into new sovereigns, once approval of the Crown was obtained. But history intervened, and a legendary coin for collectors was born. The local die-sinker had done his job but evidently failed to make the dies of sufficient hardness: after producing just a tiny number of coins, the reverse die failed, cracking at the 12-o'clock position from the rim inward (to the left of 'DWT' in the legend). The first die split apart and another die was quickly made, varying slightly from the first - the simple beaded circle with two linear outlines changed to resemble the form used for the obverse - and this time it was correctly hardened and ultimately produced an estimated 25,000 gold pounds. These were all rapidly thrown into commerce, as were the handful minted showing the die-break, of which only 25 to 50 are thought to have been made. Almost all of these coins experienced plenty of use because they were needed for commerce. Nobody at the time noticed that some of the coins were different from the others. No collectors saved coins in 1850s South Australia! The Crown in Britain meanwhile passed warrants to establish an officially sanctioned mint for the colony. In August of 1853, Parliament authorized an official branch of the Royal Mint, and on 14 May 1855 the Sydney Mint opened in a portion of the old Rum Hospital. The first gold sovereigns were struck in Australia on 23 June of the same year, bearing a variant of the Young Head portrait seen on London Mint coins but with a distinctive reverse. Over time the new sovereigns replaced the Adelaide pounds as the money of choice. One of the ironies of the situation then caused the Adelaide pounds to disappear: the mint's assayers as well as others discovered that the Adelaide 'tokens' were actually finer than advertised, more valuable intrinsically than the sovereigns that replaced them. Anyone in possession of an Adelaide pound did not in fact have 20 shillings (one sovereign) of value but rather 21 shillings and 11 pence, the actual value at the time of the gold content of the coins. The result? Almost all Adelaide pounds ended up being melted for the profit in gold this produced. They quickly disappeared. They perished. Every survivor is a miracle of chance. The coin offered here is far from perfect, but clearly it was never abused, and somehow it escaped the fate of almost all of the rest of the mintage. What was born of necessity as an experiment, was then rejected as inferior, then gathered up as being more valuable than it was thought to be, and was ultimately greedily destroyed, ended up becoming more desirable than anyone contemporary with its creation could ever have imagined. As the image at the centre of its obverse suggests, it has become a crown jewel of the coinage of early Australia. Estimate: £6000 - £10000 |  |
Match 4:
| Stack's Bowers Galleries (& Ponterio) > April 2024 Hong Kong Auction | Auction date: 15 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 42211 Price realized: 44,000 USD (Approx. 41,404 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: CHINA. Silver Dollar Pattern Mint Sport or Unofficial Restrike, Year 3 (1914). Tientsin Mint Dies. UNCIRCULATED Details. Cleaned. L&M-72; K-643; KM-Pn32; WS-0166; Wenchao-pg. 534#858 (rarity: ★★★); Mr. Shi Jiagan's collection-pg. 137#633; Sun-III-2-15. Weight: 24.83 gms. One of the most enigmatic issues of this Pattern we have every offered, with this piece likely representing a later made mint sport or unofficial striking of the three-quarters facing bust Pattern (L&M-72), made with official dies. Interestingly, this coin is not alone in this class of striking, and after study of other examples, this piece can be definitively linked to other certified examples of L&M-72 as well as the L. Giorgi signed patterns (L&M-73). Common characteristics include double striking, which is particularly bold on this example, and surfaces that display an as-made micro pockmarked texture. Most definitively, items in this class (both L&M-72 and L&M-73) were struck with the same reverse dies, each showing matching instances of die rust, which is heaviest near the top left tip of the 'yi' character. While it's almost certainly not a complete census, other examples in this class include lot 30193 in Heritage's December 2020 auction (L&M-72 - NGC MS-63), lot #51170 in our October 2022 Hong Kong sale (L&M-73 - NGC PR-61), and lot #51145 from our May 2022 auction (L&M-73 - NGC MS-61), which was once part of the collection of Richard Wright who authored The Modern Coinage of China, 1866-1949. Characteristics explored, it seems certain their manufacture from rusted dies ensures they were originals from the mint, however the quality of production suggests an unofficial or unsponsored piece. In fact, weighing this example yields a disparity of nearly 2 grams lighter than official issues (24.83 gms versus a standard of nearly 27 gms), which further supports the hypothesis of an unofficial strike or mint sport. Kann relays that mint sports were often the product of government minting facilities using official dies such as the present example. Because mint sport items were often a muling of different types, they are easy to distinguish, however examples are known to be struck over earlier dollars or display similar pockmarking of the surfaces, which helps draw a parallel between this piece and those classically identified as mint sport. Given these considerations, it is a fair summation to view this piece as a quasi-legitimate Pattern, produced with old original dies, on incorrect silver planchet stock. As far as the technical preservation of the piece, it remains nice, without wear but displays moderate handling in the form of hairlines. The surfaces give a soft glittering glow and a few instances of light tone. While it isn't a great surprise considering the enigmatic nature of this piece, we note that both PCGS and NGC have declined to encapsulate it, PCGS for "Authenticity Unverifiable" and NGC for "No Decision". As such, this issue must be treated as a SOLD AS IS/NO RETURNS lot. Despite the grading company decisions, we do believe that this example represents an intriguing and interesting Chinese numismatic item that raises questions of "when" and "why", but of which there is little dispute concerning the legitiamacy of the dies from which it was made. To view all items from the Nine Dragons Collection, click here. From the Nine Dragons Collection. Estimate: $5000 - $10000 |  |
Match 5:
| Tauler & Fau > Auction 136 | Auction date: 29 November 2023 |
| Lot number: 75 Price realized: 801 EUR (Approx. 879 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Philip III (1598-1621). 8 reales. ND. Mexico. D. (Cal-Tipo 162). Ag. 18,40 g. Recovered from: "Nuestra Señora de Atocha" (sunk in 1622 off Key West, Florida). Uniform surface corrosion. Retains original tag and Treasure Salvors, Inc. photo certificate #85A-146633. The Nuestra Señora de Atocha was the Admiral Galleon of the Tierra Firme Fleet, a twenty-eight-ship fleet carrying an unprecedented amount of treasure from the Americas. Sailing from Havana bound to Spain on the 4th of September 1622, the armada was hit by a massive hurricane in the Florida Keys, most of the fleet being decimated and the treasure sinking to the Atlantic seabed. The Spanish efforts to retrieve the precious cargo weren't fruitful, which led to the scattering of the vast amount of treasure across the Florida coast with subsequent hurricanes. The original manifesto of the Atocha was impressive: 24 tons of silver in 1038 ingots, 180,000 Pesos in silver coins, 582 copper ingots, 125 gold bars and discs, 1,200 pounds of worked silverware and other goods; and that's only what was officially transported, since smuggling treasure to avoid taxes was very common in the period, with some estimating that a large percentage of the total cargo was in contraband. In 1969, treasure hunter Mel Fisher began a long-lasting, 16-year quest to locate the treasure. Over the years, isolated coins and artifacts were found scattered across Florida's "treasure coast", many given to investors who funded the operation. In 1973 three silver bars were found and matched to the original 17th century manifesto, leading the crew closer to the main wreck site. By 1980 a significant part of the Santa Margarita had been located, counting with gold bars, silver coins and jewelry. On July 20th, 1985, the motherlode was located, when divers found a "reef of bars". The main pile of the Atocha provided countless artifacts which quickly became immersed in Florida's pop culture and would later become perhaps the world's most famous shipwreck treasure in history. Est...1500,00. Spanish Description: Felipe III (1598-1621). 8 reales. ND. México. D. (Cal-Tipo 162). Ag. 18,40 g. Recuperada de: "Nuestra Señora de Atocha" (hundido en 1622 frente a Cayo Hueso, Florida). Corrosión superficial uniforme. Conserva la etiqueta original y certificado fotográfico de Treasure Salvors, Inc. #85A-146633. El Nuestra Señora de Atocha era el galeón mayor de la Flota de Tierra Firme, una flota de veintiocho navíos que transportaba una cantidad sin precedentes de tesoros de las Américas. Zarpando de La Habana rumbo a España el 4 de septiembre de 1622, la armada fue alcanzada por un enorme huracán en los Cayos de Florida, la mayor parte de la flota fue diezmada y el tesoro se hundió en el fondo del Atlántico. Los esfuerzos españoles por recuperar el preciado cargamento no fueron fructíferos, lo que provocó la dispersión de la ingente cantidad de tesoro por la costa de Florida con posteriores huracanes. El manifiesto original del Atocha era impresionante: 24 toneladas de plata en 1.038 lingotes, 180.000 pesos en monedas de plata, 582 lingotes de cobre, 125 lingotes y discos de oro, 1.200 libras de orfebrería labrada y otras mercancías; y eso es sólo lo que se transportó oficialmente, ya que el contrabando de tesoros para evitar impuestos era muy común en la época, y algunos calculan que un gran porcentaje de la carga total era de contrabando. En 1969, el cazatesoros Mel Fisher inició una larga búsqueda de 16 años para localizar el tesoro. A lo largo de los años se encontraron monedas y artefactos aislados esparcidos por la "costa del tesoro" de Florida, muchos de ellos entregados a los inversores que financiaron la operación. En 1973 se encontraron tres lingotes de plata que coincidían con el manifiesto original del siglo XVII, lo que acercó a la tripulación al lugar del naufragio principal. En 1980 se había localizado una parte importante del Santa Margarita, que contaba con lingotes de oro, monedas de plata y joyas. El 20 de julio de 1985 se localizó la "veta madre", cuando los buceadores hallaron un "arrecife de lingotes". La pila principal del Atocha proporcionó innumerables artefactos que rápidamente se sumergieron en la cultura popular de Florida y que más tarde se convertirían en el tesoro de naufragio más famoso de la historia. Est...1500,00. |  |
