Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 24 i Coin Collector

With spring approaching, there are more opportunities for enjoying the natural world and all that it has to offer. This includes the numismatic world, where nature-inspired designs have been struck for the reign of HM King Charles III. These new definitives, which were featured in the last edition of Coin Collector, have raised comparisons with the set issued by Ireland in 1927 – the country’s first independent coinage. At the time, with the country politically divided, the decision was made to have a theme of traditional Irish animals for the coins, rather than any religious or patriotic symbols. A limited competition between seven artists was held to decide on the designs, and Percy Metcalfe, an Englishman, was declared the winner. His obverse designs featured a horse, salmon, bull, wolfhound, hare,…

A large collection of almost 360 West Indian coins and tokens amassed by Bill Tankersley (1948–2021), who was born in Columbia, TN, USA, was sold by Noonans Mayfair on Wednesday, 24 January and fetched a total of £52,745. Two extremely early-19th century coins known as Black Doggs from St Kitts-Nevis – the smallest sovereign state in the western hemisphere – created from counterfeit coins, each fetched more than four times their pre-sale estimate in the sale. Valued at three half pence, a Black Dogg that dated from c.1802 during the reign of George III in Great Britain sold to an overseas private collector for a hammer price of £1,600 against an estimate of £300–£400 (lot 1208). Another Black Dogg from St Kitts-Nevis, also valued at three half pence and of…

The 2024 edition of the New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC) was held from Thursday, 11 January to Sunday, 14 January. The team from Baldwins arrived in New York on Tuesday, buzzing with excitement for the New York show, but greeted by torrential rain that thankfully cleared the next day, making way for sunshine that welcomed dealers and visitors to the show. Situated at the InterContinental New York Barclay, in the heart of Midtown East, the show is a short walk away from Fifth Avenue and Grand Central Station. More than 100 exhibitors were present at the show, including dealers, auction houses, numismatic societies and grading companies. There were also auctions and viewings held at the hotel, which start earlier in the week to accommodate the busy auction schedule and…

Archbishop Jænberht (c.765–92) – previously a monk at the Abbey of St Augustine in Canterbury, Jænberht seems to have had a favourable relationship with the Kentish administration of Ecgberht frequent conflict with Offa. This stemmed from attempts to remove power from the Diocese of Canterbury to the newly created Mercian See of Lichfield (which ultimately failed), arguments over who owned certain tracts of land and a staunch refusal by Jænberht to crown Offa’s son Ecgfrith. A certain degree of this flagrant animosity is thought to have been resentment for Offa’s attempts to depose the ‘rightful’ Kentish dynasty. After his death, Jænberht was canonised – his feast day being on the 12 August. Archbishop Æthelheard (793–805) – little is known of Æthelheard’s early life, but he appears to have been Bishop of Winchester…

To discover more about the history of CIT and how it produces its innovative coins, Coin Collector talks to Falk Liebnitzky, the company’s head of marketing. Can you tell us a little bit about the history of the company? For more than 50 years, the CIT team based in the Principality of Liechtenstein has been developing innovative and highquality coins that delight collectors all over the world. In the 1970s, when silver was booming, the founder of CIT started coin trading. The company’s activities were confined to selling modern coins of foreign mints on the European market. To do so, CIT collaborated with some of the most renowned mints like the British Royal Mint, the US Mint and the Italian Zecca dello Stato. They became one of the major importers…

Two new coins have been struck by the Royal Canadian Mint to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Airforce (RCAF). Available in two designs in either gold or silver, the coins pay tribute to the RCAF for 100 years of service at home and abroad. With the creation of the RCAF on 1 April 1924, Canada gained its first permanent full-time air force, and its early fleet helped develop aviation in the country. Over time, the RCAF has evolved into a national institution that has played a pivotal role in the Canada’s history and in the skies above. Building on the foundations laid by Canadian pilots in World War I, the RCAF then distinguished itself through its civil air operations, pioneering the use of aircraft for fighting forest…

A new 1oz silver coin from Tuvalu celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Pink Panther – one of the world’s most iconic cartoon characters. Struck by the Perth Mint, the coin has a mintage of 1,000. The Pink Panther was first seen as an introductory animation in the classic 1964 comedy mystery film of the same name. In the film, Peter Sellers played the hapless Inspector Clousaeau and David Niven was the rich playboy Sir Charles Litton, who had a secret life as a jewel thief, ‘The Phantom’, and was intent on stealing the diamond known as ‘The Pink Panther’. The success of the suave and mischievous panther in the opening credits led to standalone cartoons and further appearances in subsequent Pink Panther films. The coin’s reverse portrays the Pink…

When the British Museum recently released the 2022 ‘Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) Annual Report’, it revealed that 53,490 archaeological finds were recorded, including 1,378 Treasure cases, which was the highest ever reported from England, Wales and Northern Ireland in a single year. The record-breaking figures highlight the contribution made by members of the public to increasing archaeological knowledge in the UK today. Most objects were found by people metal detecting, and most of the finds were made on cultivated land where they otherwise could be lost to ploughing. A small proportion were found through mud-larking (scouring muddy riverbanks for finds). The counties recording the most PAS finds in 2022 were Lincolnshire (5,101), Norfolk (4,265) and Suffolk (2,727) – all agricultural counties where detecting is popular. In the same period, Norfolk…

Stack’s Bowers Galleries is partnering with The Royal Mint for a special auction of the coins that were tested and evaluated as part of the annual Trial of the Pyx, an ancient evaluation ceremony with origins that stretch back over seven centuries. This is the first time the Trial of the Pyx test coins have been presented in a public auction. The Trial of the Pyx is conducted annually by The Royal Mint to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the nation’s coinage. Dating to 1282, it is one of the oldest judicial ceremonies in England. During the trial, a selected panel of expert assayers from the Goldsmiths’ Company, an independent organisation, examines a sample of coins produced by The Royal Mint the previous year. The coins are tested for…

One of the most pleasurable responsibilities of the British Numismatic Society (BNS) is to make awards recognising different types of achievement in numismatics, including contributions to scholarship and outstanding service to British numismatics. On 27 November last year, the BNS made its 2023 awards at its AGM, which was held at the Society of Antiquaries in London. The Jeffrey North Medal for Service to Numismatics recognises outstanding services to British numismatics, and the Society was delighted to award medals to Rosie Clarke, Denis Martin and Dr John Rainey, who have all made a huge contribution to the field, and generously given their time and talents to support British numismatics, especially through their work for their local numismatic societies. The BNS’s treasurer, David Young, received his 50th anniversary of membership medal.…

At the Savoca sale on 28 January, one of the highlights was a silver stater from Aegina, an island off Attica in the Aegean Sea (lot 43). Aegina began minting its own coins around 700 BC, becoming one of the earliest cities to engage in such a practice. Dating from c.525–480 BC, the reverse of the coin in the auction bore the image of a sea turtle with a thick linear ‘T’ pattern collar and a row of pellets down its back. The sea turtle motif was at the heart of this early coinage, and it was more than just a decorative choice because it embodied the essence of the island and resonated with the maritime identity of Aegina, which was a dominant naval power at the time. On the…

Whereas Mercia and Wessex were just getting into their stride during the Middle Saxon period, Kent is notable in that its predominance (and indeed, independence) was coming to an end. Although a major force to be reckoned with during the 6th to earlier 7th centuries (and indeed, the kingdom through which Christianity had come to Britain by Augustine’s mission of 597), by c.785 the kingdom had come under total, direct control of the Mercian kings. However, initial power plays had been made by King Offa some 20 years earlier in c.764, when he attempted to increase influence through kings such as Heabert and Echberht, engaging in administrative procedures such as the confirming and issuing of charter documents. Kent was a welcome addition to the Mercian fold; not only was it…

War, politics, climate change…whatever the reason, civilisations rise and fall. Some nation states vanish from maps, only to be reborn with new names and new borders, as happened when the Soviet Union dissolved into 15 independent nations in 1991 or when Yugoslavia broke up in the early 1990s (Figure 1). Some countries are lost when they are conquered or ceded to other regions, such as when Corsica was annexed by France in 1769 (Figure 2). Some, like the Khmer Empire, vanish suddenly, leaving behind tantalising structures for archaeologists to ponder on. Not every lost civilisation produced its own coins. Çatalhöyük in Turkey, for instance, vanished from history five millennia before coins were even minted. Where coins do exist, though, they offer a tangible link to the people and places of…

The history of Qatar and the Gulf States goes back many thousands of years. There were several more or less independent sheikdoms in the Gulf until they were absorbed into the Ottoman Empire in the late-19th century. After World War I, they became British protectorates and most, although excluding Qatar, were grouped into an entity named the Trucial States. However, in 1968, the British announced they would be withdrawing their forces from regions ‘east of Suez’ by 1971. There followed moves to establish a confederation of Gulf states comprising all the sheikdoms that had previously enjoyed British protection. This did not in the end come to pass, instead Qatar emerged as an independent state alongside Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Qatar was relatively small, with a population…

In 2024, the Austrian town of Bad Ischl, located near Salzburg, is European Capital of Culture, together with 22 other towns in the country’s Salzkammergut region. To mark the occasion, the Austrian Mint is launching a three-part White Gold of Hallstatt silver €20 series in February, focussing on the history of the town, which is located in the south of the region. The series begins with Salt Mining, to be followed by Salt Trading in November, with the third and final coin in the series, Beliefs and Rituals, being issued in 2025. Some 3,500 years ago, the richest and most technically advanced Europeans lived around Hallstatt, which lies on the southern shore of Lake Hallstatt, where they mined salt, the source of their great wealth. The Salt Mining coins transports…

Rome was a republic in 44 BC, and Gaius Julius Caesar – fresh from his martial triumphs – had just been declared ‘Dictator for life’ of the world’s most powerful state. As Rome had overthrown its own kings in 509 BC and was fiercely opposed to the idea of a monarchy, the move was unprecedented and also, perhaps, a little suspicious. It may have been that they were simply afraid of Caesar’s armies. Or, maybe, they were setting him up for a fall because within three months, the man who wielded both supreme power over the state and was chief priest of its religion, was dead – killed by a cabal of his closest companions (Figure 1). And the impetus for the assassination was a coin or rather a series…

As reported in Issue 23 of Coin Collector, Spink held the BNTA 50th Anniversary Charity Auction on 14 December. The proceeds from the sale of 50 lots were donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Himal Foundation and Medical Life Lines Ukraine. The top-selling item was a Charles III commemorative ‘Coronation’ gold proof five-coin set, donated by The Royal Mint and one of only 1,050 presentation sets issued in this format, which went under the hammer for £6,500 (lot 43). Another highlight was a rare silver medal of 1612 depicting the Prince of Wales, heir to the English throne, in the year of his death at the age of 18 (lot 46). Kindly donated by David Guest, it achieved £4,500.…

The Royal Mint is partnering with the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA) to provide an innovative and sustainable solution for the disposal of tonnes of redundant electronic defence equipment. It is estimated that around 7% of the world’s gold is contained within electronic waste, and it remains one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. The Royal Mint is using patented technology – created by Canadian based company Excir – to recover precious metals contained within circuit boards at ambient temperatures. The approach reduces the environmental impact of electronic waste and embraces the principles of a circular economy. With shared commitments around sustainability and security, the partnership with DESA, the sole authority within the MOD for the sale of surplus military equipment from the…

A ceremony was held at the US Mint in Philadelphia on 13 December to ceremoniously strike coins for the 2024 Greatest Generation commemorative coin programme. Guests included Gold Star families, a World War II veteran, one of the original Rosie the Riveters and representatives from the Friends of the WWII Memorial. The US Mint are issuing $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half dollar clad coins representing the National World War II Memorial. The $5 gold coin obverse depicts the Wall of Stars at the World War II Memorial with an olive branch, while the reverse depicts a folded flag. The $1 silver coin obverse features an allegorical tableau of figures from the US Armed Forces and Merchant Marine supporting a globe. The reverse depicts a view from beneath…

Some months ago, I watched an interesting coin auction in Sweden via their online catalogue. Among other numismatic specialties Myntkompaniet and AB Philea presented an impressive run of minting errors. Obviously, a specialised collection of post-1945 Swedish currency was involved. King Gustav V (1858–1950) had been on the throne from 1907 until his death on 29 October 1950. His marriage to Victoria of Baden united the House of Bernadotte with the former royal line. For his 85th birthday in 1943, the Riksbank introduced a new design and material for Sweden’s 25 öre coins. The old version, which was minted in 2.4g nickel brass, showed the crowned monogram of the king dividing the date on the sides of the obverse (mintmark at lower right), and a large denomination within a stylised…

Coins have been used as a medium of exchange and a symbol of wealth and power for thousands of years, but they also have a rich and fascinating history as vehicles for expressing spiritual and philosophical ideas. In the ancient world, symbols and images on coins often had both monetary and religious or magical significance. One such examples is found in the Greek coin known as a cista mystica cistophorus (Figure 1). The numismatist Stanley Robinson stated in 1954 that ‘The cistophorus, with its writhing serpents and over-elaborate ornamentation, is perhaps the ugliest coin in the Greek series. Collectors have tended to pass it by, and, maybe in consequence, it has not yet yielded to the historian all the nourishment which he might extract from it.’ However, ‘Beauty is in…

Heaberht and Ecgberht II (c.765–80/85) – two early kings who ruled jointly, Heaberht and Ecgberht appear to have co-ruled at a time when Mercia was making early attempts to inveigle control of the kingdom. Little is known of them except that they both issued coins and administrative charters (more coins of Ecgberht survive) and were almost certainly both dead by the mid-780s. Their coins represent some of the earliest English broad-flan pence to have been struck. Eadberht III Praen (796–98) – an obscure individual apparently residing at the court of Frankish King Charlemagne (who may well have sponsored his insurrection), Eadberht took power in late 796 following the death of Offa of Mercia. However, his attempt stalled when Pope Leo III refused to ratify his rule – ruling instead that Offa’s…

One of Gallienus’ most famous issues of radiate antoniniani was struck at Rome towards the very end of his reign, around AD 267, and is generally known as the Zoo series. In this article, we will take a special look at this unusual issue, which is without parallel in the whole Roman imperial series. Each coin invokes the protection of a deity, naming the god or goddess and ending in ‘CONS[ervatori] AVG[usti]’, the Protector of the Emperor; they feature an animal relevant to the deity in question. Thus, the goat was held to be sacred to Jupiter, king of the gods, because a goat, Amalthaea, was said to have nursed the infant deity on the slopes of Mount Ida in Crete. The boar was sacred to Hercules because the demigod…

In the 2024 Liberty and Britannia programme, the United States Mint and The Royal Mint have come together in a creative partnership that features the talent and skills of each mint’s chief engraver. The venture follows a previous joint project in 2021 when coins and medals for the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Voyage were produced. While Liberty and Britannia have appeared for years on coins of their respective nations, this is the first time they will appear together, recognising the long relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. American Liberty, historically represented by a woman, has appeared on US coinage since the early years of the nation. Britannia, a staple on British coinage since the late 1600s, has long been the national personification of Britain. Often a…

The Croatian Mint has released a new coin called the ‘Trsat Dragon’. This coin is inspired by the Trsat Dragons, or basilisks, which are a pair of bronze sculptures created in the first half of the 19th century for the Austrian field marshal, Count Laval Nugent, who was born in County Wicklow but served in the Austrian army. Mythical creatures with the head of a rooster, the body of a dragon and the tail of a snake, the Trsat Dragons guard the entrance to Trsat Castle above Rijeka; a Croatian port city on Kvarner Bay in the northern Adriatic Sea. Contrary to many legends, in Rijeka’s folk tradition, the Trsat dragons are not evil creatures that sow terror among the people. According to a local legend, a dragon saved a…