Rare George VI coronation gold coins sell for £10,000 at Shropshire auction while stamps fetch £1,700
A rare coronation proof set of four gold coins, two 17th-century translated bibles by Robert Barker and a stamp collection from the Far East all grabbed the headlines at a county auction.
The undoubted star of Halls Fine Art's final books, coins and stamps auction of 2025 in Shrewsbury was the cased 1937 George VI coronation proof set of gold coins, comprising £5, £2, sovereign and half-sovereign, which sold for £10,000.
“Only 5,000 of these sets were issued by the Royal Mint, making them extremely rare commemorative pieces,” said Derek Ainsworth, Halls Fine Art’s coins specialist, who revealed that the set had been consigned by a Shropshire seller.
The coins section produced a series of impressive results, including £4,600 for a 1992 UK Royal Mint Elizabeth II Britannia gold proof collection and £3,400 for a collection of foreign silver, cupro-nickel and bronze coinage from a range of countries - China, Canada, Germany, Russia and Spain amongst others.
Other leading prices were £3,200 for a quantity of gold and silver coins, including a Republic of San Marino cased set of three gold coins, £2,000 for a 1990 UK Royal Mint Elizabeth II brilliant uncirculated gold £5 and £2,400 for a Victoria proof crown with an 1847 "Gothic" bust on one side.
A large collection of UK silver and cupro-nickel coinage found buyers at £1,650 and £1,050, Polish 10 Zlotych and 20 Zlotych sold for £1,400, 32 pure silver 'History of Britain' medallions and a £5 proof silver coin, 'Una and the Lion' dated 2019 made £1,000.
Prices in the books section were headed by two bibles by Robert Barker.
The Geneva versions of the 1611 bible translated sold for £2,000 and £1,150.
One of the bibles had been owned by the Rylands family in Warrington for more than 300 years, from at least 1706.
Other notable prices in this section were £950 for a photograph album of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's operations at Abadan Oil Refinery, Iran, from 1925-1926 and £600 for a 1912-1913 hand-written periodical entitled Inter-Amigos which belonged to Cecil George Dixon, an accountant for the Liverpool Corporation who moved to Wales when the Lake Vyrnwy reservoir was created.
The enduring popularity of The Beatles was reflected by the £500 paid for a Paul McCartney autograph which was obtained in Bournemouth in 1964/65 by the sister of the seller.
Top prices in the stamps section were £1,700 for a collection from North Borneo, Labuan, Brunei and Sarawak viz: North Borneo from 1883 to 1964, £1,400 for eight albums and stock books of mint and used Canadian stamps and £950 for a collection of Great Britain stamps, including First Day Covers.
A large collection of period picture postcards, including seven albums devoted to Shropshire with many town and village scenes, found a new home for £850.
Hals Fine Art’s senior auctioneer Alexander Clement said: “It’s wonderful to know that there is still a thriving community of collectors out there and they are actively buying. For anybody with collections of books, coins and stamps, the message is clear: it’s a good time to sell.
“For coins, the market is dominated by gold and it’s such a good collecting area. People are not only interested in collecting in gold coins but also investing because it’s an easy commodity to quantify. You could have 20 gold sovereigns in your pocket and be carrying £10,000!”
Halls Fine Art’s books, coins and stamps auctions in 2026 are on April 15 (the closing date for entries is March 13), August 12 and December 9.
