Article
9 April 2020
A gold Royal Geographical Society Patron’s medal awarded to Scottish geographer and cartographer Alexander Keith Johnston (1804-71) fetched £37,200 when it was sold in an auction of Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals by International coins, medals, banknotes and jewellery specialist Dix Noonan Webb on Wednesday, April 8, 2020. It had been expected to fetch £10,000-12,000.
Designed by W. Wyon, the substantial medal which weighed 2oz and measured 54mm in diameter, depicted a coroneted head of Queen Victoria, and on the other side Minerva standing left, holding wreath and map. It was awarded to Johnston in 1871 ‘For distinguished services in the promotion of Physical Geography’ [Lot 399].
Following the sale, Christopher Webb, Head of Coin Department, Dix Noonan Webb and auctioneer of the first Online/ live sale: “We were delighted with the first sale in the new format, which saw more bidders and bids than ever before. The sale was 97% sold and it was very encouraging.”
He continued: “The wonderful gold Patron’s medal was bought by a Japanese Collector after much interest. It was a beautiful example and we rarely see items like this come to the market. Anything with travel links, such as the Royal Geographical Society, always attracts a lot of attention.”
Elsewhere in the sale and also from the same collection as the Gold Patron’s medal, a very rare gold medal commemorating the Coronation of Charles II, dating from 1661, and made by T. Simon, depicting a crowned bust, and on the reverse, the King enthroned, being crowned by Peace sold for £6,820 against an estimate of £4,000-£5,000 [Lot 370].
Dix Noonan Webb confirmed that they will be donating 5% of their Buyer’s Premium to NHS Charities Together, and a total of £2,681 is being donated to the charity from this first auction. The ongoing total can be seen on the homepage of DNW’s website. NHS Charities Together works with over 250 charities across the UK helping the NHS do more to look after people. For more information about NHS Charities Together and the outstanding work they do, click here to visit their website.
***Please note that these prices include Buyers Premium (24%)***
FORTHCOMING SALES AT DNW
THURSDAY, APRIL 16 - ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 – COINS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6 - COINS
WEDNESdAY, MAY 20 - TOKENS & HISTORICAL MEDALS
thursday, may 21 - ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3 - ANCIENT & ISLAMIC COINS
TUESDAY, JUNE 9 - JEWELLERY, WATCHES AND OBJECTS OF VERTU
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24 - BRITISH, IRISH AND WORLD BANKNOTES
Free online bidding is available is www.dnw.co.uk
For more information, please call 020 7016 1700
DNW are on Social Media
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
Dix Noonan Webb – a brief history
In 1991, its first year of trading, the company held three medal auctions and sold 1,200 lots for a total hammer price of £553,000. Two years later it opened a coin department which also auctions commemorative medals and tokens and in 2015 DNW added jewellery to its sales calendar. In 2018, it set up a standalone banknotes department and expanded into premises next door. In the same year, DNW achieved a total hammer price of £11,676,580 and the total number of lots across all departments was 20,273. To date the company has sold in excess of 300,000 lots totalling £155 million.
For further press information and images please contact:
Rachel Aked
Tel: 07790732448
Email: Rachel@rachelaked.co.uk
April 2020
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