Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2026 i Coin Collector

This edition of the magazine includes details of the final striking of the circulating 1c coin (penny) in the USA. After a production period of 232 years, the final coins were produced in November, with a ceremonial striking taking place at the Philadelphia mint. This decision is in line with other countries who have also taken the decision to cease production or limit the use of low-denomination coins. In Canada, the last penny was stuck on 4 May 2012 in Winnipeg, but the country’s first penny had been struck in London at the Royal Mint in 1858. Pennies were first struck on Canadian soil when the Ottawa mint opened in 1908, and 35 billion had been produced by the time the final one was minted. A system of rounding was…

A first call for delegates to the British Association of Numismatic Societies (BANS) Congress for 2026 has been made. The event is being held from Friday, 10 April to Sunday, 12 April at the Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin A96 K063, Ireland, and it is being hosted by the Numismatic Society of Ireland. Early booking is recommended as there is only capacity for 70 delegates (to include speakers and guests) at the event. Due to the likely increased attendance costs, the reluctant decision has been made to defer the 2026 autumn conference – meaning this will be the only BANS event planned for 2026. The Royal Mint’s precious metals recovery partnership with Excir (Canada) has been recognised by the Government of Canada at the recent G7 Summit…

A nyone tracking preciousmetal prices this year might be forgiven for thinking that silver has quietly resolved to reclaim its old nickname as the ‘common man’s gold’. After years of stagnation, the silver price has surged in 2025. At the start of the year, 1oz traded between $24 and $30; by late summer it had pushed past $42, reaching new highs in autumn. Within just a few months, silver has become more than 60% more expensive – a trajectory few would have predicted. Analysts point to tight industrial supply, particularly in the photovoltaic sector, to geopolitical tensions and to the growing appeal of tangible assets at a time of weakening bond markets. This rise has had unexpected consequences for a niche collecting field that rarely makes headlines: Germany’s commemorative coins.…

Between the 12th and 15th centuries, silver, gold and billon (debased silver) coins were struck in the names of English monarchs in France. The series, known as the Anglo-Gallic coinage, began as early as the reign of Henry II (1154–89) as English kings minted coins in the continental part of their cross-channel domains. Probably the most abundant and stylistically creative span in this period took place during the Hundred Years War, a series of conflicts fought between England and France for the French throne between 1337 and 1453. In areas of France controlled by Edward III and his son, Edward the Black Prince, an interesting and wide-ranging series of coins were produced. In this month’s article, we examine these coins and look at how design and concept differed from what…

The latest release in the Royal Mint’s Music Legends series celebrates the legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, who was one of the greatest musicians of all time. While he rose to fame as the frontman of Queen, he also enjoyed a successful solo career. This is the first UK coin solely dedicated to Freddie Mercury. Its reverse features a design of the icon centre stage mid-performance, accompanied by this singer-songwriter’s signature. The design’s intricate details tell the story of Mercury’s extraordinary talent through carefully crafted design elements. Freddie’s legendary four-octave vocal range is represented by a musical stave that runs around the edge of the coin, spanning from bass to treble notes. The studded armband edge design draws inspiration from his iconic Live Aid performance outfit, considered by many to…

The latest Chris Rudd auction, held on 16 November, included an excessively rare gold quarter stater of c.55–45 BC known as a Danebury Sun Snake, which was struck in western Britain by the Regini and derived from the QC series defined by Sills (lot 6). Excessively rare, with only one other recorded, this example, which was found at Worldham in east Hampshire on 22 October 2020, was struck with a wellused obverse die but a new reverse die. The obverse featured a central wreath, with a large sun in the bottom-right angle and two ‘S’-shaped snakes at the top right. On the reverse, there was an annulate horse to the left that had an exuberant mane, with knees and feet formed from conjoined trefoils of long, sharp blades. There was…

The coin market in the United States has been profoundly impacted in recent months by streaming sales platforms. These platforms allow anyone with an iPhone to become an auction company. The first company to capitalise on live video streaming sales was Whatnot. The company was founded in Los Angeles in December 2019. The idea for live streaming sales flourished during the Covid-19 boom for collectables. The company offers a wide array of collectables on the platform, with rare coins being one of the most popular categories. The company recently announced an equity raise that values Whatnot at over $10 billion. Not to be outdone, eBay has recently entered the live streaming sales business with the launch of eBay Live. The company is a giant of online collectable auctions and sales,…

All medal collectors love to reunite groups of awards that have been split up. But the case of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Beaver was very unusual and involved an appalling case of medallic vandalism. Long ago, I bought a single 1914 Star with the August–November clasp (Figure 1). Somebody had tried to gouge out the naming to ‘Lieut P.S.L. Beaver, Wilts R.’on the reverse but, although they had failed to do this entirely, they had mutilated the medal horribly. With the Star was a handwritten index card outlining Beaver’s service, which added: ‘Deep scratches on name. Split from group of erased medals: B.W.M., Victory & G.S.M. Palestine’. So whoever had tried but failed to erase the naming on Beaver’s 1914 Star had succeeded with the three other named medals in his…

9 December – SGB 399 Strand, London WC2R 0LX sgbaldwins.com 9–10 December – Spink 67–69 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 4ET www.spink.com 10 December – Warwick & Warwick Chalon House, Scar Bank, Millers Road, Warwick CV34 5DB www.warwickandwarwick.com 12 December – SGB 399 Strand, London WC2R 0LX sgbaldwins.com 14 January – St James’s InterContinental New York Barclay, 111 East 48th Street, New York 10017, USA stjauctions.com 14 January – Tennants Harmby Road, Leyburn, North Yorkshire DL8 5SG  www.tennants.co.uk 18 January – Chris Rudd PO Box 1500, Norwich NR10 5WS celticcoins.com 27 January – Noonans 16 Bolton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8BQ www.noonans.co.uk 27–28 January – Lockdales 52 Barrack Square, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich IP5 3RF www.lockdales.com 10 February – Noonans 16 Bolton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8BQ www.noonans.co.uk 18 February –…

One of the most fascinating chapters of 19th-century European numismatics is the monetary iconography of the French Second Republic (1848–52) In a short span of barely four years, France redesigned almost its entire coinage, oscillating between classical republican symbolism, the legacy of the First Republic and the exigencies of political instability. At the centre of this story stands Eugène-André Oudiné (1810–87), one of the most influential engravers of his generation, and the creator of the dignified female head now universally known as ‘Ceres’; the serene face of the French Republic on silver denominations from 20 centimes to 5 francs. We took a first brief look at the design in the October 2024 column. SILVER SERIES OF 1849–51 Although the Republic was proclaimed on 24 February 1848, the mint could not…