A 1896B Gold British Trade Dollar sold for £222,000 or US$340,048 (including buyer premium) in A.H. Baldwin & Sons Auction 96, held at 399 Strand in London on 24 September 2015. The beautiful gold coin (ex Spink Coin Auction 38, 10 October 1984, lot 723) graded by NGC PF64 broke a record for most expensive gold British Trade Dollar.
Previous record for the most expensive Gold British Trade Dollar sold in private auction is a Johanna Austin Collection 1902B Gold British Trade Dollar come in a PCGS holder graded PR64DCAM sold for £154,700 or US$200,00 during Hong Kong Coin Auction 57 on 21 August 2014.
The pick of the lots was undoubtedly the 1839 Victoria Proof Set – the highest quality set to ever have passed through our saleroom, and most probably the highest quality of its type in the world.
Previously, the world record for a set of this calibre stood at £225,050. Today saw that figure retreat into the past as the 1839 set sold for a cool £504,000.
The final price certainly surprised A.H. Baldwin & Sons specialists, who had given the lot a conservative estimate of just £120,000.
Baldwin’s director Seth Freeman said “we believed the set would sell well simply because it is the finest we have ever encountered. We also knew that there were a few people interested in the item, but the final total was a bit of a surprise to us all.”
The final bidder was in the room at the time of sale, but chose to remain anonymous.
Queen Elizabeth II may have recently become the longest reigning Monarch the UK has ever seen but it is her great-great-grandmother that today has grabbed the headlines once more.
Source: A.H. Baldwin & Sons
