THE BUMPER CHRISTMAS ISSUE OF COIN NEWS IS OUT NOW! The December issue of Britain's biggest-selling coin magazine, COIN NEWS, is now on sale at newsagents, from our website www.tokenpublishing.com or from our office 01404 44166.
Rich reward
Thomas Dimsdale’s collection dispersed after 200 years
Designing change
A milestone exhibition—and an excellent book
Lucilla and Crispina
Two unfortunate women of Rome
What was a mint?
Unveiling the practices of the regional mints
The 1887 Half Sovereign
Tracking down the different varieties
The year in question: 1948
Not such an uninteresting year
From Britain to Auckland
Background to NZ’s token issuers
Real pride for her country
An interview with Tricia Holbrook
Steve Hill
A life in numismatics
Irish legal tender notes
Series B & C
Somaliland’s banknotes
The issues from an independent African state
Through the glass darkly—Part I
A closer look at lenses and loupes
Regular Features:
Editor’s Comment
Coin news & views
Around the World
New issues coin update
Royal Mint Bulletin
Market Scene
Price Guide—Guinea fractionals
Coin Classroom
The Lexicon
Coin clinic
Banknote News
New issues banknote update
Price Guide—Central Bank of Ireland B & C
Christmas competition
Letters to the Editor
Dealers’ lists
Fair diary
Auction diary
Societies diary
Semi-display adverts
The Web Page
Classified advertising
Advertisers index
Coin News
December 2008
Volume 45 No. 12
Rich Reward: Collection dispersed after 200 years
A slice of life.
In last month’s magazine John Andrew highlighted the St James’s auction of November 6 and in particular the unique Russian Elizabeth I gold 20 roubles that was being offered. In his report John said that it seemed “likely that the unique 1755 gold 20-roubles will exceed the record US$603,750 that an 1825 pattern silver rouble of Grand Duke Constantine realised in New York in January 2004”. That was, it now turns out, something of an understatement! Literally as we go to press (the original Editor’s Comment hastily scrapped on the news) we learn that in fact this stunning coin made an incredible hammer price of £1.55 million! This figure not only exceeds the previous record for a Russian coin but totally eclipses it, eclipsing too the previous record for a coin sold in a British saleroom—the £460,000 for the double leopard sold in 2006. Of course, any collector who has been watching the market in recent months will realise that Russian pieces have been fetching some incredible prices every time they are offered—the same is true in the medal world—but this was beyond all expectations and once again shows that whilst certain sectors of the economy may be experiencing a “credit crunch” the top end of the coin market certainly isn’t.
Of course, many readers will look at this result and wonder what the relevance is to them, after all most of us will never have £1.55 million to spend on anything let alone a coin and, as mentioned, we all know that Russian items are defying “normal” market conditions. So how does this incredible sale make any difference to the hobby in general? Is it really worth getting excited about or simply something to be dismissed as a “blip” and to be ignored in the grand scheme of things? Personally I
