A rare Five Guinea coin from the reign of Queen Anne realized a hammer price of £80,000 (about CA$138,000) during the Sept. 9 sale of British, World and Ancient Coins & Historical Medals at Noonans Mayfair in London.
“The price reflects the growing demand for coins of strong academic interest,” said Bradley Hopper, Noonans’ head of coins. “This very rare coin had good pedigree and was published in several important books.”
Dated 1711, the Five Guinea appeared on the front cover of the sale catalogue and carried an estimate of £50,000–60,000 (CA$86,000–103,000). It drew strong competition from two phone bidders and several collectors in Japan, Europe and the United Kingdom before being sold to a Swiss buyer [lot 1199]. The 450-lot auction achieved a hammer total of £814,175 (CA$1.4 million).
Other notable highlights included a Half-unite from the reign of Charles I (1625–1649), struck at the Oxford Mint in 1643. Estimated at £7,000–9,000 (CA$12,000–15,500), it sold for £17,000 (CA$29,000), more than doubling its lower estimate. Featuring a detailed portrait of the king as a draped and crowned bust, the coin had once formed part of the H. Selig Collection until 1989 and remained in private hands for 35 years before its sale to a U.K.-based dealer [lot 1174].
Also exceeding expectations was a penny from the reign of John (1199–1216), minted in Lincoln. Estimated at just £100–150 (CA$170–260), it soared to a hammer price of £1,800 (CA$3,100), achieving 12 times its top estimate [lot 1142].