Geoffrey Cope collection

[Kipster]

My mind has been boggled with the hammers.

Nowt for me here.

Correction. One. 😊

Edited May 8, 2024 by Kipster

[Kipster]

13000CHF for an 1827 MS65BN graded penny...

🤯

[jelida]

Bah! Underbidder twice. Crazy prices! As for the ‘MS65’1827 penny, my AU55 at less than £1800 is prettier , at least by the photos.

Jerry

[Rob]

Won one, underbidder on three, blown out of the water on about 20 and didn't get out the starting blocks on a couple.

The Roman sold for just under £2m and the British for just over £4.5m hammer prices. WOW. And there's somewhere close to 600 pieces to come.

Edited to say sorry, should have been CHF not £s. Reduce the totals by 10% or so to give pounds.

Edited May 8, 2024 by Rob

[Diaconis]

51 minutes ago, Rob said:

The Roman sold for just under £2m and the British for just over £4.5m hammer prices. WOW. And there's somewhere close to 600 pieces to come.

Gordon Bennett

[Rob]

The good news is that the remainder are unlikely to produce the same sort of results. Ok, Reddite crowns and triple unites aren't cheap and there's plenty of other desirable material especially Chas.1, but there's also a good number of tokens, Gunmoney and other oddball material. I could see another sale of British and then a third to sweep up all the sundries.

[copper123]

On 4/12/2024 at 11:33 PM, Rob said:

1860 toothed border/beaded border penny. Lot 1462. Freeman 9. NGC have slabbed it as a halfpenny in their wisdom.

so it does not say "halfpenny " on it like all the rest then?

Its a big clue!

[oldcopper]

12 hours ago, Rob said:

The good news is that the remainder are unlikely to produce the same sort of results. Ok, Reddite crowns and triple unites aren't cheap and there's plenty of other desirable material especially Chas.1, but there's also a good number of tokens, Gunmoney and other oddball material. I could see another sale of British and then a third to sweep up all the sundries.

Great to watch, shame about the prices! Even the auctioneer sounded surprised -"I sink zee auctioneer is zee least important person here!" he said as the internet pings were almost merging into a continuous sound.

Though I didn't understand them rerunning two of the James II halfcrowns as the original winner had decided he hadn't meant to bid for them or something like that...had I caught that right? Maybe the auction house had got some bids mixed up.

I can only speak of the copper but I wonder what will be in part 2, going on what was in part 1. I spotted at least five pieces ex Nicholson, three I assume bought direct from CC's auction in 2004 plus the Anne and George I silver halfpennies bought a year later at St James.

So I'm thinking for October at least one of Nicholson's two outstanding W&M tin halfpennies plus the 1701 no stops obverse. But who knows?

Looks like someone was going as high as needed to get many of those early coppers based on how quickly they were pinging counterbids. Makes the lustrous 1849 penny seem reasonable at 3K. I'd given up by then though, zero success! I wasn't too disappointed though considering what i would have to have paid to win them, and they might have gone far higher of course.

[Kipster]

Is the second part in October?

[oldcopper]

18 minutes ago, Kipster said:

Is the second part in October?

Yes

[Rob]

50 minutes ago, oldcopper said:

Great to watch, shame about the prices! Even the auctioneer sounded surprised -"I sink zee auctioneer is zee least important person here!" he said as the internet pings were almost merging into a continuous sound.

Though I didn't understand them rerunning two of the James II halfcrowns as the original winner had decided he hadn't meant to bid for them or something like that...had I caught that right? Maybe the auction house had got some bids mixed up.

I can only speak of the copper but I wonder what will be in part 2, going on what was in part 1. I spotted at least five pieces ex Nicholson, three I assume bought direct from CC's auction in 2004 plus the Anne and George I silver halfpennies bought a year later at St James.

So I'm thinking for October at least one of Nicholson's two outstanding W&M tin halfpennies plus the 1701 no stops obverse. But who knows?

Looks like someone was going as high as needed to get many of those early coppers based on how quickly they were pinging counterbids. Makes the lustrous 1849 penny seem reasonable at 3K. I'd given up by then though, zero success! I wasn't too disappointed though considering what i would have to have paid to win them, and they might have gone far higher of course.

It was a bit mad at times. If you wanted to bid on anything you had to hit the button immediately. An awful lot sailed into the distance. I was underbidder on the Morton halfgroat, having made a mental not not to spend more than 2K on it. A mistake. I did get the Chester declaration halfcrown and the third on the must buy list was the 5 Farthings. Now I really regret giving him dibs on it in Stack's in 2006. I would have paid 3-4, but 7.5 hammer was a bit rich. It cost him a grand or so.

As for what will be coming up, there will be more Nicholson including a few of the Annes. He outbid me on an awful lot in that sale. The silver Anne in St. James's was bought for him by Ras, who I was sitting next to. I was underbidder, followed by a profuse apology. Geoff asked me to catalogue the collection in 2013 and see what needed upgrading - not a lot! I will be interested in a few, but it's going to be kid in a sweet shop time - again.

 

Edited May 9, 2024 by Rob

[Rob]

2 hours ago, oldcopper said:

So I'm thinking for October at least one of Nicholson's two outstanding W&M tin halfpennies plus the 1701 no stops obverse. But who knows?

You'll be disappointed. 

[oldcopper]

27 minutes ago, Rob said:

You'll be disappointed. 

Oh well it was a nice thought!

[SilverAge3]

I won one, prob way overbid on it, second tier on many, some I wish i'd pursued more.  Some I got left in the dust quickly.  The bids were all extremely strong, in both ancients and British.

NGC got the Peck number wrong on the 1806 proof penny. 

[Master Jmd]

I was hoping to win the Elizabeth I Pattern AR Halfpenny. The estimate was 1,500 CHF, my bid was 3,500 CHF, hammer price was 5,500 CHF!

[SilverAge3]

12 minutes ago, Master Jmd said:

I was hoping to win the Elizabeth I Pattern AR Halfpenny. The estimate was 1,500 CHF, my bid was 3,500 CHF, hammer price was 5,500 CHF!

I saw pieces in both auctions netting 12x to 16x the est. Wild.

 

Either way, hope to obtain a print copy of part 2, also.

Edited May 27, 2024 by SilverAge3

[secret santa]

37 minutes ago, SilverAge3 said:

NGC got the Peck number wrong on the 1806 proof penny. 

Can you supply the link please ?

[Rob]

1 hour ago, SilverAge3 said:

I won one, prob way overbid on it, second tier on many, some I wish i'd pursued more.  Some I got left in the dust quickly.  The bids were all extremely strong, in both ancients and British.

NGC got the Peck number wrong on the 1806 proof penny. 

The 1806 wasn't there in 2013, so didn't have it on the list.

I do know the 1797 gilt penny lot 1434 is wrong. Should be P1124 instead of P1127. That was a balls up all round as I listed it in 2013 as gilt and got the Peck type (KP18) right, but then wrote down the copper reference (P1126) on the ticket. Someone must have picked up on it not referring to a gilt piece and 'corrected' it to a P1127. Has to happen occasionally as none of us are infallible.

I did not call the 1860 TB/BB mule a halfpenny on the ticket!

[Rob]

On 5/27/2024 at 6:40 PM, Master Jmd said:

I was hoping to win the Elizabeth I Pattern AR Halfpenny. The estimate was 1,500 CHF, my bid was 3,500 CHF, hammer price was 5,500 CHF!

A bit tight there. I paid over £3100 for mine in 2010, Geoff paid around £3600 for that one in 2013 and the Sanders piece sold for nearly £4K all in in 2023. 5500CHF will work out at just over £6400 delivered, so given it is possibly the best available and in the context of the buoyant sale and the current market, not really out of kilter.

[Kipster]

Just been into London to collect the lot I won and picked up one of the high quality catalogues whilst I was there.

An interesting bit about Geoffrey Cope at the start. I was just wondering though, the impression I get was that he was a hands on collector, so I'm interested as to why so many of the coins were graded. Was this done by him, or by the estate before going to auction?

[Rob]

5 hours ago, Kipster said:

An interesting bit about Geoffrey Cope at the start. I was just wondering though, the impression I get was that he was a hands on collector, so I'm interested as to why so many of the coins were graded. Was this done by him, or by the estate before going to auction?

The milled was graded to appeal to the US/Asian markets. The hammered not because many things would come back as details if graded consistently (not a given). e.g the Oxford City View crown should be graded details due to the scratches in the field, but most of us would ignore them and grade relative to its peers

[Kipster]

That makes perfect sense. Thank you.

[Kipster]

I see the 1849 penny from the auction has pitched up on ebay for double the price it hammered at...😕

[Nonmortuus]

On 6/5/2024 at 4:57 PM, Kipster said:

I see the 1849 penny from the auction has pitched up on ebay for double the price it hammered at...😕

I would assume it is someone like Atlas? There are so many coins appearing on ebay, sold at auction, that are listed for significantly more than they were bought for and  sometimes with dubious descriptions, missing key information from the original auction listing like edge bumps or inflated grades. I know dealers have to make a living but some of them are taking the proverbial..... Will the bubble burst?

[Kipster]

I think that was who it was. The listing has now gone. I can understand dealers buying and reselling at a profit, but collectors are quite savvy, so if there is a coin of interest come up at auction, the likelihood is that the collector will be bidding on it.

A while ago, Jon Blyth listed a hammered coin on ebay (think it was a William I penny) which sold for something like £2500. A week later, the buyer relisted it for around £4500. Again, those interested would have been bidding the first time around...I would have thought.