The last six weeks have been rather hectic here at Baldwin’s. First was the release of our latest fixed price list, which was exceptionally well received and kept us extremely busy on the telephones. Many of the highest quality items sold in the first couple of days – all pleasing signs for the state of the current coin market.
A few days later we held an event here on the Strand to celebrate the release of our new website and branding. With over 60 guests and some truly inspiring, iconic coins on display, the evening was a tremendous success.
The 2nd of June saw us attend the second London Coin Fair of the year and to the delight of many dealers, there was a real buzz in the room, with a far higher attendance of collectors than usual. Our auction branch of the business has held four sales so far this June, with two more planned in Hong Kong towards the end of the month, where we will also be exhibiting at the coin show. The four sales held so far have been very encouraging, with most notably a rare 1839 Una and the Lion £5 (which had had its edge filed) selling for a hammer price of £120,000 against an estimate of only £40,000, re-affirming belief that the market place is still very buoyant and strong.
On our website, we have just uploaded a variety of interesting and good quality items. Amongst these is a very rare Henry VIII George Noble with a superb provenance.
Struck only in the reign of Henry of VIII, this coin was intended to take the place of the current Angel in circulation at the time, having the same face value of 6s and 8d. The George Noble was the first British coin to feature St. George slaying the dragon, a design now iconic today. Due to the unusual denomination, it was very short lived – only a few George Nobles were ever struck and even fewer have survived the centuries with only a handful remaining. Like most rare and desirable hammered gold coins, there has been a strong increase in the price of the George Noble in the last 15 years. The record auction price in September 2018 of £136,400 is illustrated in the graph the below and is only slightly better in condition than the one we are currently advertising for sale.
