Queen of the Auction: 1891 Netherlands 25 Cents Brings Record $1.13 Million at Heritage Auctions – Europe
The 1891 Kwartje became the most expensive Dutch coin ever sold.
DALLAS, Texas (May 16, 2024)—Wilhelmina, who was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948, is now royalty of the numismatic realm.
An 1891 Netherlands 25 Cents, or kwartje, sold for €1.045.000 ($1,130,376) at HA-Europe Monday, becoming the most expensive Dutch coin ever sold.
Heritage Auctions Europe-Cooperatief is an affiliate of Heritage Auctions, the world’s leading auctioneer of coins and currency.
The previous record for the most ever paid for a Dutch coin was €700.000 ($757,190) paid in 2021 for an 8-fold gold rosenobel; the best result for a Netherlands Kingdom (1806-present) was the €200.000 paid last year for an 1867 gold double ducat.
“This coin was the cover piece for our catalog, but we expected a hammer price between €300.000 and €400.000,” says Jacco Scheper, Managing Director of HA-Europe. “Nobody expected this world record.”
Bids came in quickly for the coin, which opened at €300.000 before soaring to its record result in a matter of two minutes.
The 1891 quarter is considered the pinnacle of “Kingdom coins.” This record-setting example, which Scheper called “the Holy Grail for coin collectors” in RTL Nieuws, was the only one available on the open collecting market and has had just four owners in the past century.
This continued a strong week for World and Ancient coins at Heritage, whose CSNS World & Ancient Coins Platinum Session and Signature® Auction brought $11,904,407 as part of Heritage’s Central States Numismatic Society auction events that reached a combined $52,341,143.
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