Gold coin collection and letter from Charles Darwin among lots sold in £120,000 auction
A £50,000 gold coin collection and a signed letter from Charles Darwin were among the lots at a successful Shrewsbury auction this week.
The £50,000 collection of Russian and Polish gold coins sold to international buyers.
Consigned by the estate of a late Shropshire collector, the collection starred in Halls Fine Art’s successful £120,000 books, coins and stamps auction in Shrewsbury on Wednesday.
Top seller of the 15 lots was an Alexander III, gold 10 Roubles, dated 1893, which doubled its pre-sale estimate to sell for £16,000. A Catherine II gold 10 Roubles, dated 1781, also sold for £6,000 and an Alexander III, gold 10 Roubles, dated 1894, made £3,400.
The collection included roubles from the reigns of Elizabeth (1741-’62), Catherine II (1762-’96), Nicholas I (1825-’55), Alexander III (1881-’94) and Nicholas II (1894-1917).
Derek Ainsworth, Halls Fine Art’s coins specialist, explained that the roubles came from the estate of a late Shropshire woman.
“The coins were beautiful and in wonderful condition,” said Derek. “They dated from the reigns of Empress Elizabeth to Emperor Nicholas II and the prices achieved exceeded my expectations.”
Elsewhere in the coins section, a collection of three 22ct gold Winston Churchill commemorative medallions from a Liverpool collector sold for £15,000. The coins made £6,700, £6,550 and £2,350.
Two Elizabeth II, £100 Britannia 1oz gold coins, dated 2016 and 2012 sold above estimate for £2,000 and £1,950 respectively.
A collection of English banknotes from the time of Kenneth Oswald Peppiatt, chief cashier at the Bank of England from 1934-49, sold for £900.
In the books section, part of an autograph letter by famous Shrewsbury naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-‘82) sold for £2,100. The letter was included in an album bought at the sale of the contents of Boynton Hall, near Bridlington in the 1950s.
A framed, rare ticket for the coronation of George III in Westminster Abbey, London on September 22, 1761 sold for £2,200. George III inherited the throne, when his grandfather, George II, died in October, 1760, and reigned for 59 years.
A 1926 first edition of ‘Winnie-The-Pooh’ by A. A. Milne, a 1928 first edition of ‘The House at Pooh Corner’, a 1924 sixth edition of ‘We Were Very Young’ and a 1927 third edition of ‘Now We Are Six’ found a buyer at £480.
A 1963 first edition of ‘The Collector’ by John Fowles’ with a long inscription on the front endpaper from the author, sold for £1,450 while a collection of eight books signed by Fowles achieved £550.
Top price in the stamps section was £2,000 for a large accumulation of Great Britain QE2 stamps and some from Guernsey.
A Great Britain collection of mint and used stamps and postal history in three albums, spanning 1813 to 1970, sold for £1,500, while a world accumulation of mint and used stamps in seven albums made £1,450 and a Great Britain selection of high catalogue value items found a buyer at £1,300.
A large collection and stock of Eire mint and used stamps, sheets, presentation packs, booklets, first day covers and postal history, spanning the period 1922 to 2023, sold for £850.
