09-11-2016 – 01-01-1970
Electronic Auction 1
London Coin Galleries Ltd. starts off with their first electronic auction
After a record breaking auction held last year in conjunction with Künker, London Coin Galleries Ltd. will hold their first electronic auction on vauctions.com from Monday 17 October to Thursday 10 November 2016. Spanning across 801 lots and with over £300,000 estimate, the sale includes several interesting collections.
Lot 72: Caracalla (198-217), Syria, Seleucis and Pieria, Emesa.
The first 177 lots are part of an old collection of Roman Provincial Coins with architectural reverses. Many rarities and unique pieces are offered, with pedigrees going back to the late 19th century but mostly traceable to the 1960s and 1970s.
The sale continues with nearly 300 lots of ancient coins from various properties. Worthy of mention is a nice run of ancient Arabian imitations of Greek coins.
Lot 467: England, HARTHACNUT Joint king (1035-7). Sole reign (1040-2). Silver penny, Moneyer: Aelfsige.
A small but very interesting section of medieval European features, among the others, an extremely rare penny of Harthacnut with moneyer Aelfsige (lot 467); the sale includes also the first coin of Holland (lot 480) and the very rare Norwegian Harald Hardrada penny (lot 484).
Lot 684: Russia, Nicholas II (1894-1917), silver Gangut Rouble, 1914, St. Petersburg mint, on the bicentenary of the naval victory against Sweden at Gangut.
The sale proceeds with a large offering of mainly German and Russian coins from the collection of Lieutenant MW, a distinguished member of the German army and self employed engineer born on the 25th October 1889.
His story is worth mentioning: He was leader of the First Company of the Royal Saxony Reserve Infantry regiment and at the centre of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 stationed in Monaco Ferme, West Peronne. The division under his command lay in the swamp lowlands and was constantly under artillery and Minengeschoss (‘mine-shell’) fire. They held their positions against strong counterattacks for four days without trenches or shelters. The French launched a successful full-scale offensive on the 30th July. Temporarily losing their position, he launched a heroic counter-attack which brought the area back to German hands. Lieutenant MW was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class, possibly also the Iron Cross First, Knights Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry, Knights Cross 2nd Class of the Saxon Order of Merit and Swords of the Albrecht Order, and Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918. His fascination for German coins probably came from his patriotic feelings for his country. His collection of Russian coins was formed while he was director of a mine nearby Moscow from 1920 to 1930 with some important pieces such as a Nicholas I, 1841 Marriage Rouble and Nicholas II Gangut Rouble.
The next section features the highlights of the Dimitris Loulakakis collection. A former director of Baldwins, he was a very well known and liked dealer. The offering focuses on the Venetian Crete and Cretan medals from the Turkish occupation and the German invasion. Some of these pieces appear very seldomly on the market.
Lot 769: Greece, George I (1863-1913), 100 drachmai, 1876 A, Paris.
The sale concludes with a variety of world coinage with a particular attention to Modern Greece. Some of the lots are extremely sought after and we would like to mention lot 763, Otho, drachmai, 1847, Athens, an extremely rare piece and the highest graded example; lot 769, A George I (1863-1913), 100 drachmai, 1876 A, Paris, with only 76 minted; and lot 779, Constantine I (1913-1922), silver essai 2 drachmai, 1915, of the Paris mint.
The sale can be visited on www.vauctions.com. The sale closes on the 10th of November 2016.
Ant this is the website of London Coin Galleries.