RARE ADELAIDE POUND – THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN GOLD COIN- FETCHES A HAMMER PRICE OF £19,000 AT NOONANS

A rare Adelaide Pound – the first Australian gold coin - sold for a hammer price of £19,000 against an estimate of £10,000-12,000 at Noonans Mayfair in a sale of Coins and Historical Medals on Tuesday & Wednesday, November 14 & 15, 2023. Dating from 1852, it was being sold by a UK Collector and was bought by a UK Collector [lot 1037].

Tim Wilkes, Head of the Coin Department at Noonans explained: “This coin proved very popular as it is the first Australian gold coin. This one sold well because it was a particularly nice example.”

The sale which saw 91% of the 1370 lots sold achieved a final hammer total of £567,770.

Elsewhere in the sale was a double proof set of 12 Iraqi coins from the reign of Faisal I, that had been struck at the Royal Mint that sold for a hammer price of £30,000. They were being sold by a descendent of Abraham Elkabir OBE who had been presented with them and were bought by a collector in the Middle East [lot 1108].

The sale included several South African Coins. A very rare proof set of 8 coins dating from 1930 and the reign of George V sold for £24,000 against an estimate of £15,000-£20,000. Only 14 sets of this date were issued and seldom come on the market. They were being sold by a private collector and were bought by a European collector [lot 1144].

From Czechoslovakia, a 10 Ducat coin from 1932 sold for a hammer price of £14,000 – double its pre-sale high estimate of £7,000. It was being sold by a UK collector and was bought by a US dealer [lot 1063].

As Mr Wilkes noted: “The market for coins of Eastern European countries such as Czechoslovakia is very strong at the moment, and this was a particularly nice example.”

Among the earlier coins was a penny from the reign of Harold II dating from 1066 that had been struck in by an unknown moneyer in Dover and believed to be the first to have been offered at auction.  Selling for £3,200 against an estimate of £1,200-1,500, it had been discovered near Peasenhall (Suffolk) in 2021. It was sold by a UK collector and bought by another UK collector [lot 149].