RARE 18TH TOKEN FROM ANGLESEY FETCHES HAMMER PRICE OF £2,600 – DOUBLE ITS PRE-SALE ESTIMATE – AT NOONANS

A unique copper 18th century token from the Parys Mine Co in Anglesey fetched a hammer price of £2,600 at Noonans Mayfair on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, in a sale of British Trade Tokens, Tickets and Passes. It was part of a group of 25 lots of 18th Century Anglesey Tokens from an Old Collection that fetched a hammer price of £13,200. The token, which was dated 1792 and decorated with a druid’s head, had been estimated to fetch £1,200-1,500 [lot 439]. Another from the Parys Mine sold for £1,600 – four times its pre-sale high estimate [lot 426]. Both were bought by private collectors in the USA.

Following the sale, Peter Preston-Morley, Special Projects Director (Numismatics) at Noonans added: “There was a steady demand for tokens of all types, and it was gratifying that every lot sold, a repeat of our auction of tokens held in February. This time we had 143 different buyers, which demonstrates the wide appeal this area of numismatics has for those keen on local social history.”

Elsewhere in the sale, two lots from the Collection of Tokens formed by John Pratt sold well and the entire collection of 156 lots fetched a hammer price of £32,700. From Dawley in Shropshire; an extremely rare 19th century shilling dating from 1811 and inscribed Gilbert Gilpin, with the legend around sells chains for pits cranes sold for a hammer price of £2,200 against an estimate of £1,000-£1,500 and was bought by a private collector [lot 244]. While from Dorchester, a very rare 19th century silver shilling token from the Cox, Merle & Pattison Bank fetched a hammer price of £1,500. It had been estimated at £900-1,200 and was purchased by a private collector in the UK [lot 201].

Another interesting token was a threepence from Dungannon in County Tyrone, dating from 1736 that was decorated with a stag. No example of this token had been seen on the market in recent decades, therefore it fetched a hammer price of £1,900 – almost four times its pre-sale high estimate.  Bought by a private collector in Northern Ireland, it was being sold by a UK private individual [lot 600].