Today saw the second day of James and Sons’ October auction. Under the hammer were mainly coins, but also some banknotes and cheques. This post looks back at a sale that was the stuff of dreams.
A FAST START
Some bidders were actually present at James and Sons HQ in Fakenham, there was at least one telephone bidder, and the both the online platforms used for our auctions, the-saleroom.com and easyliveauction.com were well patronized (I was following the action by way of the latter). Lot 501, with an estimate of 1,500-2000 soared to 3,800.
LOT 502 – THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH
Lot 502, a rare (so rare that my employer, who has been in the business almost 60 years and one of whose specialities is coins has never previously auctioned one) 1911 specimen coin set carried an estimate of 3,000 – 5,000. By the time the auctioneer’s verbal description of the item was complete the bidding was already close to the £10,000 mark, and by the time the bidding finally stopped the hammer price was £11,800! I have been involved with James and Sons for 11 and a half years and this is comfortably the highest price I have seen for a single lot of any type in all that time…
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
After a start like that the rest of the auction was bound to be somewhat ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’, but a few items succeeded spectaculalrly.
Lot 639, a Queen Victoria penny with an estimate of 50-60 was in relative times the success of the whole auction, going for an eye-popping £1,100
Lot 647, a gold coin from the reign of George III not in the best condition, went for £340.
Lot 670, a Canadian five cent coin from 1885 fared even better, fetching £380.
Lot 673, a Canadian gold coin of recent vintage expected to fetch 15-20 ended up going for £80.
Lot 705 was the last big success of the auction (the auction ended at lot 756), going for £160.
I bring this section to an end with an item that did not fare especially well. Lot 731 was knocked down to me.
PHOTOGRAPHS
A reminder that all pictures can be viewed at a larger size by clicking on them. Now for my regular photo gallery.
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