09-09-2015 – 11-09-2015
23th Auction
Exquisite Indian and Chinese Coins at Stephen Album’s Auction 23
September 10-12, 2015 are the dates for the next auction by Stephen Album Rare Coins, to be held at their offices in Santa Rosa, CA USA. The auction will be made up of 2,747 lots and covers the areas of Ancient, Islamic, Chinese, Indian, and World Coins, in addition to Numismatic Literature. The auction also features Part I of the Dr. Paul Stevens Collection of Indian Coins, as well as four important collections of Chinese coins.
Some highlights from Auction 23 are as follows:
Islamic
LOT 68: ARAB-BYZANTINE: gold solidus (4.27g), NM, ND, A-3548.2, Miles (1967), Plate XLV:4, Bernardi-2, large & small facing busts, short beards / horizontal bar on steps, degenerate Greek text, officina letters AQ after AUGG on reverse, with Greek letter I left of the steps on reverse (for the number 10, perhaps an indiction year or the caliphal year of Mu’awiya), choice EF, RRRR, Derived from the second series of Heraclius (610-641) & his son Constantine, struck 613-629. The crosses atop the crowns replaced by globes, the cross in the field removed, the cross on the steps replaced by a horizontal bar.
Current evidence seems to verify the theory that these imitations of Byzantine coins were official issues under the authority of the Umayyad caliph Mu’awiyah I (661-680). They are of excellent style, despite the somewhat barbarous Greek legends, too well engraved to be the casual production of unofficial mints. There is also a remarkable reference in a contemporary Syrian document, “The Maronite Chronicle”, which states that the caliph Mu’awaiya “minted gold and silver, but it was not accepted, because it had no cross on it”.
Estimated at $40,000 – 50,000
Chinese
LOT 672: LIAO: Da Kang, 1075-1084, silver 5 cash (29.71g), 35.5mm, cast in silver color, VF, RRRR, An extremely rare silver color multiple cash of the Liao Dynasty, of which only about six pieces are known. See the reference paper, “Dakang tongbao da yin qian (large silver cash coin of dakang tongbao)” in the book by Guan Hanting, “Zhonghua Zhen Quan Zhui Zong Lu,” Shanghai, 2001, ex Shèngbidébao Collection.
Estimated at $35,000 – 40,000
LOT 691: WESTERN LIAO: Xu Xing, 1151-1164, AE 2 cash (8.18g), H-, 28mm, barbarous local calligraphy, lovely patination, unique, VF, RRRR, The Western Liao (1124-1218) dynasty, also known as Qara Khitay state, was founded by Yelü Dashi, a member of the Liao royal family, who led the remnants of the Liao Dynasty to Central Asia after fleeing from the Jurchen conquest of their homeland in the North and Northeast of modern day China. The empire was usurped by the Naimans under Küchlük in 1211. The empire was finally destroyed by the Mongol Empire in 1218, ex Shèngbidébao Collection.
Estimated at $9,000 – 11,000
LOT 996: QING: Xuan Tong, 1909-1911, AE cash, Board of Revenue mint, Peking, H-22.1516, North branch mint, cast in 1909, one coin missing, thus nearly complete casting ‘money tree’ of 59 coins, EF, RRRR, ex Wéiduolìya Collection.
Estimated at $10,000 – 14,000
LOT 1258: HONG KONG: Victoria, 1841-1901, silver dollar, 1867, KM-10, fully brilliant luster, lovely for type! PCGS graded MS62.
Estimated at $7,500 – 9,500
Indian
LOT 1469: MUGHAL: Jahangir, 1605-1628, gold zodiac mohur, Agra, AH1028 year 14, KM-180.19, BMC-350 (same obverse die), Capricorn (December/January), mythical creature, forepart of goat with scaled fish-like tail, crouching left, solar rays behind, NGC graded EF45, RRRR, Capricorn is one of the rarest of Jahangir’s zodiac mohurs. No specimen has been posted on CoinArchives. There is one specimen on Zeno.ru, from the Ashmolean Museum and dated AH1033 year 18, from the same dies as the piece illustrated in KM. Examples of the early years of the Capricorn mohurs bear a complete border of solar rays, as on this piece, but later issues have three gaps in the border of rays, for the head, forelegs and tail of Capricorn. This example appears to be a die match for the obverse photographed example in Stanley Lane Poole’s Catalogue of the Coins of the Mughal Emperors in the British Museum, 1892.
Estimated at $50,000 – 70,000
LOT 1494: MUGHAL: Shah Shuja, 1657-1660, silver rupee (11.55g), Akbarnagar,AH1068 year one (ahad), KM-275.1, lovely strike, 4-panel legend on obverse, tiny flan defect at the middle of the obverse, with two interesting small banker’s marks on the edge, one of the nicest rupees we have ever seen for this reign, choice VF to EF, RRR, Shah Shuja was one of four sons of Shah Jahan I to claim the empire after their father’s death. Shah Shuja was based in Rajmahal in Jharkhand state, then called Akbarnagar, but was soon defeated by Aurangzeb, fled toward Arakan, eventually dying in Manipur in AH1071 (February 1661). His known coins are all dated AH1068, nearly all from the mint of Akbarnagar, all extremely rare, ex Paul Stevens Collection.
Estimated at $6,000 – 8,000
World
LOT 2221: THAILAND: Rama V, 1868-1910, AE baht, ND (1868), KM-Pn28, pattern in copper, reeded edge, medal alignment, bright and intense reddish toning, with considerable mint luster and very attractive, NGC graded MS63 RB.
Estimated at $2,000-3,000
LOT 2486: SPAIN: Carlos II, 1665-1700, AV 8 escudos, Sevilla, 1700, KM-233.3, Cayon-7952, crowned coat of arms surrounded by the collar of the Golden Fleece / cross potent in a quatrefoil, very rare one-year type, lovely example! NGC graded AU55.
Estimated at $7,000-9,000
LOT 2533: ECUADOR: Republic, AR 5 francos, 1858, KM-39, assayer GJ, mintage unrecorded, but surviving documents suggest a possible total mintage of just over 14,000 pieces, of which few have survived, NGC graded AU58, R, Designed by the Ecuadorian artist Emilia Rivadaneira, indicated by “E.R.” below bust.
Estimated at $2,750-3,250
Please visit the firm’s website for more information regarding this auction and future consignments.