By Miki Perkins for THE AGE

THE crowd of medal collectors breathed a collective sigh and craned in their seats as Australia’s first piece of colonial art sold for $750,000 at auction to a beaming mystery buyer seated in the third row.

Minutes later, it was revealed that the National Maritime Museum had bought the Charlotte Medal — a silver disc engraved by the convict and expert forger Thomas Barrett when the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay. Even the most hardened medal collectors paused in their bidding to clap.

Very little material survives from the ships of the First Fleet, so the Sydney museum sent its assistant director of collection and exhibitions, Michael Crayford, to Melbourne to secure a seminal piece of Australian history.

“It is also one of the best artworks for that period (so) we’re absolutely thrilled to have it and it will be on display to the public within weeks,” Mr Crayford said.

The silver disc was sold by John Chapman, a retired dentist, who bought it at auction in 1981 for $15,000.

The rest of his extensive collection of Australian medals, coins and banknotes, valued at $1.6 million before auction, also went under the hammer at the Noble Numismatics auction yesterday. (more…)

By Ishita Singh for the Baltimore Sun

When the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money last came to Baltimore in 2003, it made history: It displayed a 1913 Liberty Head nickel, now valued at $3 million, last seen almost five decades ago.

That nickel returns to Baltimore as a part of this year’s event. The association’s five-day convention at the Baltimore Convention Center features educational seminars, exhibits of historical coins and a treasure hunt and trivia game for children, among many other activities.

“It’s basically a giant meeting for people who have a common interest in the study or collection of money, and an opportunity for people to view and buy rare coins,” said Larry Shepherd, executive director of the roughly 33,000-member association.

Shepherd said the rarest of those coins will be the 1913 nickel. The coin disappeared after its owner, George O. Walton, was killed in a 1962 car crash. An appraiser had erroneously told the coin’s heirs that it was a fake, so they kept it in their Virginia closet for decades. It resurfaced in 2003 when the association held a nationwide search for the missing nickel, one of only five such coins known to collectors.

“At that time, we had a reunion tour of all of the 1913 nickels, and we were attempting to put them all together for our Baltimore show, and we were hoping that the fifth coin would turn up. And it actually did,” Shepherd said.

Other highlights of this year’s show are a $1 billion display from the U.S. Treasury Department, which features $100,000 bills and other high denominations. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will also display its traveling exhibit, Historic Rarities: Early United States Proof Coins. (more…)

A TREASURE hunter is set to receive his reward five years after he unearthed a hoard of Viking coins. Andy Whewell discovered 464 silver Viking coins, 26 silver ingots and an armlet in a field in Glenfaba in March 2003.

After being declared treasure trove, part of the Glenfaba hoard went on display in the Viking Galley at the Manx Museum. Mr Whewell and Manx National Heritage were locked in a lengthy battle over the value of the discovery.

In May, MNH vice-chairman Alex Downie MLC called for Tynwald to approve a payment of £275,000 for the find but the matter was adjourned after Peel MHK Tim Crookall revealed five valuations had been commissioned ranging from £166,000 to £490,000.

Last week Tynwald agreed to award Mr Whewell £300,000 for the find. It followed a meeting between the parties at which it was resolved that one of the valuations, which was 12 months old, would be revised to £298,261 taking into account market changes, Mr Downie explained.

After a five year wait Mr Whewell said he was glad it had come to an end but will continue looking for treasures with his trusty metal detector.

Chief Minister Tony Brown admitted: ‘This has been a real long struggle to get this matter sorted out.’ He said all parties were frustrated as they had had to use legislation dating back to the 1500s.

TAMPA - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a Palm Harbor scholar who is suing the U.S. Treasury secretary for neglecting to circulate coins with the images of the 10 men he says were presidents before George Washington.

Stanley Klos, 54, a scholar of rare historical documents, sued Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in May citing the Presidential Coin Act, which directs the Treasury secretary to issue $1 coins depicting the presidents of the United States and to mint the coins until each president has been honored.

Klos claimed that failing to recognize these men harms his children and all students in America by misleading them about “the existence and identity of the earliest founders and the presidents of the United States.”

U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday ruled that because the Presidential Coin Act only issues coins commemorating presidents beginning with George Washington, who took office in 1789. It does not recognize the presidents under the 1777 Articles of Confederation as holding the same post as Washington or presidents that followed. The Articles of Confederation served as a constitution for the original colonies until it was replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1788.

Most historians also dismiss Klos’ arguments, saying these 10 men did not have the same powers and authority as the presidents from Washington forward. The title of their office may have been similar, but the post was not the same, the historians say. They weren’t commander in chief, did not have decision-making powers and couldn’t veto legislation. (more…)