THE DIANA COLLECTION OF COINS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE PART 3
The third and final part of this stunning collection of the coins of the British Empire from Asia & Europe will be sold by Baldwin’s auction department on the 5th May this year as the first part of a two day auction to be held at the CIPFA Council Chamber in London.
A culmination of 15 years of dedicated hard work by a passionate and highly enthusiastic collector, this diverse and beautiful collection has been created not simply for the benefit of those assembling it, but as a collection that will provide future generations of numismatists with a greater knowledge and understanding of a long neglected area of study.
As an avid historian this collector has looked into the history of the country of origin for each of these coins and traced their provenance back to nearly all the great collectors of the coins of the British Empire of the last 40 years. The catalogues for all three of these sales have been produced as inspirational works to stand alongside previous auction catalogues and numismatic books, offering a window to the past for future generations of numismatists to add their thoughts, observations and criticisms. The collectors hope that through their work these aspiring numismatists will gain a better understanding of rarity, striking standards and characteristics of these coins.
As with the past two sales this auction contains only the best possible grade of coins and includes items from Hong Kong, Cyprus and Sierra Leone as well as coins from the Straits Settlements, Indian Princely States and Independent Kingdoms. Amongst the many highlights include Lot 92, a Hong Kong 1941 Proof 1-Cent (pictured above), the rarest type coin of the Hong Kong series (estimate £15,000 – 20,000), and lot 332 a 1791 Proof Dollar from Sierra Leone (estimate £12,000 – 16,000). (more…)

– In the week from March 9-14, 2009, the German auction house Künker sold more than 7,400 historic coins and medals, totaling more than EUR 7.5 million, in Osnabrück (Northern Germany). The hammer prices of the sold items were on average 40 per cent above the estimate. Top-quality rare coins from the Russian tsardom experienced particularly strong demand from traders and collectors. More than once, their sales prices climbed several times higher than their estimated prices, a trend also seen in spectacular pieces from other collection categories.
The lots in this sale can be viewed in the printed catalog and at Champion’s website:
“When we began our Treasure Auctions two years ago, we had no idea how quickly the concept would grow. Just compare our first sale of around 400 lots to almost 1800 lots now, more than a fourfold increase!” Says Sedwick:















