| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 558 | Auction date: 20 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 888 Price realized: 300 USD (Approx. 276 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: American Society of Medalists. Hail to Dionysus. Æ Medal (71.5mm, 185.80 g, 12h). By Paul Manship. Struck 1930. HAIL • TO • DIONYSUS • WHO • FIRST • DISCOVERED • / • THE • MAGIC • OF • THE • GRAPE •HAIL • TO • DIONYSUS • WHO • FIRST • DISCOVERED • / • THE • MAGIC • OF • THE • GRAPE •, head of Dionynus facing slightly left, wearing wreath of grape leaves and grape bunches / Youthful satyrs trampling grapes; large grape bunch to left and right. Edge; THE SOCIETY OF MEDALISTS SECOND ISSUE MEDALLIC ART CO NY BRONZE. SOM (Alexander) 2.2. Brown surfaces, traces of deposits, a couple of light marks. EF. A popular issue in the series. Estimate: 200 USD |  |
Match 1:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 553 | Auction date: 3 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 913 Price realized: 130 USD (Approx. 118 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: American Society of Medalists. Hail to Dionysus. Æ Medal (71.5mm, 185.8 g, 12h). By Paul Manship. Struck 1930. HAIL • TO • DIONYSUS • WHO • FIRST • DISCOVERED • / • THE • MAGIC • OF • THE • GRAPE •, head of Dionynus facing slightly left, wearing wreath of grape leaves and grape bunches / Youthful satyrs trampling grapes; large grape bunch to left and right. Edge; THE SOCIETY OF MEDALISTS SECOND ISSUE MEDALLIC ART CO NY BRONZE. Alexander 2.2. Deep hematite red patina. EF. From the Libertas Collection. Estimate: 100 USD |  |
Match 2:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 558 | Auction date: 20 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 888 Price realized: 300 USD (Approx. 276 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: American Society of Medalists. Hail to Dionysus. Æ Medal (71.5mm, 185.80 g, 12h). By Paul Manship. Struck 1930. HAIL • TO • DIONYSUS • WHO • FIRST • DISCOVERED • / • THE • MAGIC • OF • THE • GRAPE •HAIL • TO • DIONYSUS • WHO • FIRST • DISCOVERED • / • THE • MAGIC • OF • THE • GRAPE •, head of Dionynus facing slightly left, wearing wreath of grape leaves and grape bunches / Youthful satyrs trampling grapes; large grape bunch to left and right. Edge; THE SOCIETY OF MEDALISTS SECOND ISSUE MEDALLIC ART CO NY BRONZE. SOM (Alexander) 2.2. Brown surfaces, traces of deposits, a couple of light marks. EF. A popular issue in the series. Estimate: 200 USD | |
Match 3:
| Spink > Auction 23129 | Auction date: 26 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 10060 Price realized: 1,800 GBP (Approx. 2,286 USD / 2,110 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Captain Cook's Second Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, 'Resolution and Adventure' or 'Otaheite' AE Medal, 1772, [by J. Westwood Sr.], GEORGE . III . KING . OF . GR . BRITAIN . FRANCE . AND . IRELAND ETC, laureate head right of George III, rev. RESOLVTION ADVENTVRE., the two frigates, Resolution and Adventure viewed from astern, SAILED FROM ENGLAND MARCH MDCCLXXII in exergue in two lines, 44mm, 31.74g, 12h (Betts 552; BHM 165; Eimer 744b), contact marked and with a tooled mark to the reverse at 12 o'clock, smoothed and rubbed to the devices, thus fine, nonetheless an ever popular and scarcely encountered striking. It is understood some 2,000 of these Medals were struck and delivered aboard the Resolution for her leaving Plymouth on 13th July 1772., , They were distributed across the South Pacific islands, including New Zealand and Tahiti. Writing in his journal in January 1773, Cook records delivery Medals on the island of Tasmania:, , 'Some of our present group wore, loose, round their necks, three or four folds of a small cord, made of the fur of some animal; and others of them had a narrow slip of the kangaroo skin tied round their ankles. I gave to each of them a string of beads and a medal, which I thought they received with some satisfaction.', , Those that remained undistributed during the Second journey of exploration were taken back aboard the Resolution for Cook's third and final voyage. Cook departed on 1 July 1776 on his way back to New Zealand and Tasmania before discovery of Hawaii and his exploration of the Pacific coast of North America from Oregon to Alaska. Adams records only one delivery of medals to residents of North America, at Nootka Sound, where Cook arrived on 30 March 1778. Cook was greeted by Chief Maquinna and, according to an entry in his journal:, , '...a great many canoes filled with the Natives were about the ships all day, and a trade commenced betwixt us and them, which was carried on with the Strictest honisty on boath sides [sic]. Their articles were the Skins of various animals, such as Bears, Wolfs, Foxes, Dear, Rackoons, Polecats, Martins and in particular the Sea Beaver, the same as is found on the coast of Kamchatka.', , Adams notes that:, , '...the Medals were not conveyed with any ceremony but, rather, were parcelled out along with beads, flints, nails, and other trade goods of nominal value, the same items that most likely purchased the bounty in skins that day that later were resold in Macao for $10,000 in 1779.', , The Medal is a landmark item as it ranks among the first trade items in the English-Pacific trade and as a token of friendship, similar to the various Peace Medals struck for the North American Indian Chiefs in the years that followed., , There are exacting records for the striking of these medals and it would seem that two specimens were struck in gold, 106 in silver and 2,000 in bronze. Most of the bronze medals are unmounted, such as this example. Two reverse dies were produced for the striking of the bronze medals, the second die having been used to produce this example. The reverse of this second issue was struck on a heavier flan and shows the anchor in a vertical rather than horizontal position. , The obverse die is common to both strikings and carries the initials 'B:F' on the truncation of George III, indicating that a partnership between Mathew Boulton and John Fotherfill was responsible for the manufacture of the medals. It is in fact generally believed that the dies were engraved by John Westwod, whose signature does not appear. Estimate: £1500 - £2000 |  |
Match 4:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 145 with CNG & NGSA | Auction date: 8 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 1185 Price realized: 26,000 CHF (Approx. 28,739 USD / 26,695 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: The Geoffrey Cope Collection of British Coins. Richard III. 1483-1485. AV Angel (27mm, 5.16 g, 12h). Type 2b. London mint; im: boar's head 1/boar's head 2. Struck 20 July 1483–June 1484. Archangel Michael slaying dragon / Ship bearing coat-of-arms and cross, R and rose flanking cross. Coin Register 2013, 126 = PAS LEIC-E209C1 (this coin); Winstanley 6; Schneider 488 (same dies); North 1676; SCBC 2151 (this coin illustrated on front cover, 49th ed.). With light marks and surfaces consistent with a field find. Traces of underlying lustre. Well struck and unusually clear. EF. A very rare coin with a remarkable find spot. Ex Spink 215 (4 December 2012), lot 37. Found at Claybrooke Magna, Leicestershire, August 2012. In the 'Foreword and Market Trends' section of the 2014 (49th) edition of the Standard Catalogue of British Coins, the editor Philip Skingley wrote: 'the cover coin for this edition... is a gold Angel of Richard III bearing the boar's head mint mark, dating it's minting to somewhere between July 1483 and June 1484. The coin was discovered by a metal detectorist in August 2012 at Claybrooke Magna, it was subsequently sold at a Spink auction in December 2012 for the price of £36,000 plus premium. The find spot of the coin was probably significant in the price, being a mere 12 miles from the site of the Battle of Bosworth, fought on the morning of 22 August 1485, and the last battle to have witnessed the death of an English king. We can only guess who lost this coin but it represented a large sum of money at the time, and is in superb condition with little evidence of circulation. Perhaps the owner had been paid directly from King's treasury to support his troops at the battle or it may have been lost by someone fleeing in haste from the battle with their loot. We will never know but the coincidence of timing of the find, which was closely followed by the discovery and exhumation of the body of Richard III himself at the site of the former Grey Friars Friary in the City of Leicester, lead us to imagine all sorts of possibilities.' In 2021 three gold coins of Edward IV were found in the same field in Claybrooke Magna (PAS NARC-0F0A9A) suggesting a purse loss or small dispersed hoard. To date the Angel of Richard III, offered here, remains the terminus post quem for the find bringing us face to face with such an historical event. Estimate: 20000 CHF |  |
Match 5:
| Spink > Auction 23051 | Auction date: 27 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 1148 Price realized: 1,500 GBP (Approx. 1,905 USD / 1,759 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Charles II (1660-1685), Shilling, 1669 over 6, first laureate and draped bust variety right, rev. four crowned shields cruciform, eight strings to Irish harp, edge obliquely milled. 5.91g, 6h (Marshall 82(b) = Murchison 397 = Rishton 138(b) = Brice = Montagu 810 = Murdoch 602 ["Unique"]; Woodhouse 326; Dalzell 82 = Pywell-Phillips 58 same dies; Shimmin (1983), pp. 232; Bull 515 [R6]; ESC 1031; Spink 3372), evenly circulated and lightly gilt, otherwise strictly fine, the reverse similarly so albeit for softness at Scottish shield, the edge milling residually sharp, an EXCESSIVELY RARE date, and the technical finest of the three we have been privileged to offer in these rooms since 2018. Provenance, "Reader's Rarities", Coin Monthly, February 1971, Reported to the Editor at Coin Monthly, 21 October 1970, ~ From the W J James Esq. Collection ~ , , Corpus:, i) Pywell-Phillips: Spink 257, 30-31 October 2018, lot 58 - "the reverse very softly struck, with general light pitting to surfaces, the portrait and overdate otherwise clear, about fine/poor, but excessively rare"; Lord Hamilton of Dalzell MC, Spink 3, 21 February 1979, lot 82 - "fair, but of the highest rarity" - £260; Spink, by private treaty, 1969; Herbert Alexander Parsons, Second Collection, Glendining, 11-13 May 1954, lot* 549 [part] - "well preserved and excessively rare" - £22.0.0, ii) H Manville, Spink 9, 4 June 1980, lot 54 - "small die rust marks in obverse field, obverse good very fine, reverse nearly extremely fine, attractively toned, and of highest rarity, one of the finest known" - £900; K Woodhouse, Glendining, 11 December 1968, lot 3268 "about extremely fine, only a few specimens known" - £300.0.0, , , , The excessive rarity of this date has been noted by auctioneers since at least the Rishton sale of 1875, but was further noted by George Marshall, pioneer of the study of English Milled coinage in a letter to W G Stearns of Boston Massachusetts, published in the Americana Numismatic Journals:, , "Ward End, near Birmingham, England, July 28, 1842, Dear Sir-: I received in due course, your obliging letter of 16th ultimo, and also the copy of your Half Crown of Charles 2d, date 1668, for which I beg you will accept my best thanks. My friend, Mr. J D Cuff of London, who has one of the best, if not the very best collections of English and Saxon Coins, was so fortunate as to meet with one of this date in August 1838; this with your own are the only ones I have yet heard of, but the fact is that before any publication of my work, no attention has been paid to dates by any previous author except Snelling, whose works though very valuable in many respects, and now very scarce, are not much to be relied upon as to dates. Since the publication of my book, much attention has been given to this subject, and some few dates before unknown, have made their appearance. , , I saw your letter to Dr. Bowditch of 18th March 1840, in answer to some enquiries he had made respecting the early history of the coins of your country, and which letter was read before the Numismatic Society of London on 2d May, 1840 and was published in the Numismatic Chronicle, in October of the same year. I was there first acquainted with the fact of your possessing the Half-Crown of 1668. The only dates which have occurred since my book was published , and which have come to my knowledge, are as follows: - viz: Charles 2d, Crown, 1665; Half Crown 1668; Shilling, 1669; do. 1681 without the Elephant and Castle under the head. William 3d Sixpence without Roses or Feathers on the reverse. William 4th Half Crown and Shilling both dated 1837. These are I believe all in the English series which are known except what are mentioned in my View of the Silver Coin, &c. I remain, dear Sir, Your much obliged servant, GEORGE MARSHALL." , , The number of 1668-dated Halfcrowns now known renders its classification as a more lowly "R2" according to Maurice Bull, although three have passed through our rooms since 2018 in various specialised cabinets. Marshall could sadly only muster 'an electro type of 1668', possibly that which Stearns had sent him from Boston in his sale in 1852 (cf. lot 71 part). He did however manage to purloin an example of the 1669 Shilling (cf. lot 82), which was acquired by William Webster, latterly of Messrs Spink, for Captain Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1864, lot 397 part]; at whose sale he repeated the feat as a commission agent for John Edward Makon Rishton (SO, 13 July 1875, lot 138 - £3.12.6); wherein for a third time Webster bought it for William Brice. Unbelievably when Brice sold his collection en bloc to Hyman Montagu in 1887, Webster would follow the coin to his new career at Spink where he would handle it for a fourth time in cataloguing it for the Sotheby's dispersals (1896/97); and a fifth time for the John Gloag Murdoch sale (1903/04) where it would be bought for £4.13.0 by Spink commission bidder, the Marquess of Bute. Estimate: £1400 - £2000 |  |
Match 6:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 990 Price realized: 4,000 USD (Approx. 3,664 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: ITALY, Ferrara (Duchy). Alfonso I d'Este. 1505-1534. AR Quarto – Testone (29mm, 9.35 g, 12h). First emission, struck 1505. Armored bust left, without beard / Romanesque Samson seated left on curule chair, holding lion head from which a swarm of bees flies forth; stump entwined by serpent to left. Belessia 4/C; MIR 270. Richly toned. Good VF. Rare. From the J. Eric Engstrom Collection. Ex Nomisma S.p.a. 54 (30 August 2016), lot 985. The reverse of this intriguing type alludes to the Riddle of Samson found in the Book of Judges: 'Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.' On the road to Timnah Samson was attacked by a young lion which he tore apart with his bare hands. Later, on returning to Timnah to take a Philistine bride, Samson discovered a swarm of bees had made a honeycomb in the carcass of the lion. Samson poses the riddle at his wedding feast confounding his Philistine hosts. A satisfactory reading of why this Biblical enigma should have been chosen for the reverse of this type has yet to be made. Estimate: 4000 USD |  |
