Sale 123 Preface

Welcome to our first auction for 2020 and what a significant auction it is. An outstanding highlight is the Elizabeth I Portcullis coin set, in four separate lots. The dollar or eight testerns carries an estimate of $100,000 and is considered to be the finest known, with a long provenance listing starting with the J.D. Cuff Sale in 1854. From the same collector comes a few attractive hammered silver crowns and a good range of early tetradrachms from Sicily. Ancient gold coins head up the twelfth session and come mainly from two collectors. The Greek includes a gold stater of Lydia and a pentadrachm of Ptolemy II of Egypt. The Roman are led by a portrait aureus of Mark Antony (est. $40,000) and a Septimius Severus family aureus, featuring Caracalla and Geta  (est. $35,000).

The collector of the modern coins of the world by Yeoman types has consigned his British series which commences with coins from the Union with Scotland under Queen Anne. The quality of many of the coins is outstanding, e.g. the 1743 roses crown of George II is the finest we have seen. 

The sale will always be remembered by Australian collectors for the PCGS graded Australian Commonwealth proofs, florins and pennies consigned by a Melbourne collector. Highlights here include the Benchmark Collection 1914H florin and the Fenton Collection 1932 florin.

From the Mark E. Freehill Collection there is his series of British West Indies cut and countermarked coins and tokens plus the almost complete collection of British West Africa. From the George Mihailuk Collection there is a large run of Greek silver, French silver c800-1590, and Russian banknotes offering many previously unseen examples to the market in the average collector’s price range.  There are further offerings of Roman coins from the late Dr. Flynn estate and a good collection of Greek and Roman formed by a Sydney collector who is now concentrating on Byzantine coins. 

The military medals commence with part 3 of the late W. (Bill) Woolmore’s Collection of Boer War medals, mostly to South African colonial units. 

Of Australian historical interest is a Military General Service Medal to a foot soldier in the Royal Scots Regiment who served at the Siege of San Sebastian and later in life migrated to Queensland and another, born in America just after the American Revolutionary War, who enlisted as a Drummer Boy at about 9 years of age and served with his unit at the Battle of Vinegar Hill in Ireland and later in the Peninsula War. He then came to NSW with the Veterans’ Company, was posted to the Illawarra region as a Constable and was involved in the chasing down and capture of bushrangers. He discharged in Australia and spent nearly a third of his life in the Illawarra. 

Several other groups have decorations including a rare Distinguished Conduct Medal/Military Medal group for conspicuous gallantry in WWI and a Military Medal group for Korea. There are many other medal groups including several for the Gallipoli Campaign and a pair to a British officer killed while in pilot training and another group of eight to an RAF pilot shot down in World War I and taken prisoner.

On behalf of the company, I would like to thank all of our vendors for their contributions in making this another historic sale. Good hunting at the auction and viewing, please don’t hesitate to ask myself or anyone on our team for any assistance you may need in participating.

Jim Noble