It has been a couple of months since the last newsletter – the last couple of months have been a hectic but fruitful period for us at Baldwin’s.
August saw us travelling to the USA in order to attend the Chicago ANA coin show, a four-day event which was well attended by collectors and dealers from around world. Sales were strong but buying was rather difficult due to the weak pound against the dollar.
No sooner had we returned, our latest Fixed Price list was released, which similar to our previous list was thoroughly well received and kept us extremely busy on the telephones. The majority of the highest quality items sold within the first seven days – giving confidence that the coin market is still rather buoyant, particularly for the rarer and higher grade examples.
Lending credence to this has been the London auctions held in the last seven days in conjunction with the International CoinEx show being held here in London this Friday and Saturday, the 27th and 28th. Most notable of these sales was the Waterbird Collection held here in London, offering only 65 lots but each coin being of the highest rarity or finest quality. The highlight of this sale was without a doubt the 1937 Edward VIII Proof penny, which sold for £137,640 inclusive of premium.
In recent weeks we have continued to add a good variety of high quality ancient, British and world coins onto the website.
The highlight of these is high-grade Henry VII Sovereign. Always very popular (it was the first sovereign ever issued) and extremely rare, only a handful of specimens remain and it stands as an absolute classic of British numismatics. The example we are offering is one of the strongest available to commerce. It has a natural striking flaw which is reflected in the price but is still a very aesthetically pleasing coin.
A similar grade example without a striking flaw, sold in a London sale in 2010 for £198,400 inclusive of premium. Therefore I feel that this example at £75,000 is exceptionally good value and provides an opportunity to acquire a high-grade Henry VII Sovereign for a price considerably below £100,000.
