Feature Auction Doubles Estimate at $4.4 million
Top results included $110,250 for lot 1044, a spectacular Queen Elizabeth I, gold pound graded MS 63 by NGC.
Frenzied bidding drove prices for Ancient, World, and British coins in Classical Numismatic Group’s Feature Auction 124, held live online Sept. 19-20, to double the $2.2 million presale estimate, reaching a total of $4.4 million for the 1151-lot offering. Top results included $110,250 for lot 1044, a spectacular gold pound of Queen Elizabeth I, graded MS 63 by NGC.
A follow-up internet auction, CNG Electronic Auction 547, also doubled its presale estimate to add just under another $1 million to CNG’s two-week total.
The overall results point to a surging market for top-quality ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, World, and English coins, said David Michaels, CNG’s director of consignments and shows. “This was one of the most active auction cycles we’ve ever held,” he noted. “Almost every coin had multiple bidders fighting it out right up to the closing gavel.”
Ancient Greek coins continued their recent history of strong auction results, with lots 159 and 160, both gold staters of the Black Sea port of Pantikapaion, reaching $147,000 and $153,125 respectively (all prices quoted include the 22.5 percent buyer’s premium). Struck circa 340-325 B.C., each coin was graded Mint State by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Other Greek and Oriental Greek highlights included $30,625 for lot 42, a beautiful silver tetradrachm of Rhegion in southern Italy; lot 318, an extremely rare silver drachm of Philistia, which reached $24,500; and lot 416, an extremely rare silver drachm of the Sasanian Persian Kings Yazdgird and Sabuhr, dating from 414-420 A.D., which attained $33,687.
Ancient Roman coins were particularly strong in Feature Auction 124, with several lots reaching multiples of the presale estimate. These included lot 644, a bronze sestertius of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, depicting the seated figure of Britannia on the reverse, which hammered for $30,620, more than 15 times the $2,000 estimate. Other top-performing Romans included lot 546, a gold aureus Mark Antony and his wife Octavia (who he later abandoned in favor of Cleopatra), which hammered for $33,687; lot 700, a gold solidus of Constantine the Great depicting his famous “eyes upturned to God” portrait, which reached a heavenly $30,625; and lot 499, a rare denarius depicting Erato, the muse of erotic poetry, which attained $20,825.
British and World coins also showed exceptional strength, highlighted by the $110,625 result for the Queen Elizabeth I gold pound, a stunning piece depicting a half-length bust of the famous queen in a richly decorated gown. Other top results included $70,437 for lot 842, a four-coin set of Czechoslovakian gold pieces struck in 1934 to celebrate the re-opening of the Kremnica gold mint; $58,187 for lot 829, a huge Austrian gold 12-dukat piece struck in 1687; $55125 for lot 1040, a lovely gold sovereign of Queen Mary Tudor dated 1553; and $42,875 for lot 1090, a gold five guinea piece of the “Glorious Revolution” sovereigns William III and Mary, dated 1691, graded PCGS AU 53.
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