SOVEREIGN RARITIES AUCTION XIX: THORBURN COLLECTION

Sovereign Rarities proudly present their 19th Auction to be held at their London office on Tuesday 23rd September in conjunction with the Royal Mint. The online catalogue is now available to view at www.sovr.co.uk with images and estimates of every lot.

The sale commences with the magnificent Thorburn Collection of coins of 1887 mostly struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. This collection consists of over 200 coins arranged in 198 lots to begin the auction and covers everything numismatic from the Royal Mint medallions for the Jubilee and all the denominations in use for 1887 from the senior gold Five Pounds to the more lowly bronze Farthing as well as many patterns and proofs produced at the time for Adolph Weyl, J. Rochelle Thomas and Spink. The sale now has its own pdf flipbook with all relevant introductory passages at this link SOVR Auction XIX - Featuring the Thorburn Collection - Flip Book Catalogue

   
Lot 73 – 1887 Silver Proof Set (£7,000-10,000)

Focusing on the silver denominations one of the most significant items is the silver proof set of all the coins from Crown to Threepence which contains a more unusual die variation of Halfcrown, Florin, and Shilling than the usual proofs seen of this date, as explained in the extensive cataloguing notes. There are also individual high grade examples of all these silver denominations in both currency and proof throughout the collection with other die variances. Examples below:

   
Lot 90 – 1887 Proof Crown PCGS PR66 Deep Cameo (£5,000-7,000)

   
Lot 100 – 1887 Proof Double-Florin with Roman I date NGC PF68 Cameo (£4,000-6,000)

   
Lot 119 – 1887 Proof Halfcrown with I for J in JEB NGC PF66 (£1,000-1,500)

   
Lot 122 – 1887 Gothic type Proof Florin PCGS PR64 (£8,000-10,000)

   
Lot 133 – 1887 Pattern Sixpence – only one available NGC PF64 (£2,000-3,000)

   
Lot 166 – 1887 Pattern Sixpence for Spink in gold NGC PF66 ultra cameo (£4,000-6,000)

The Thorburn Collection of 1887 is perhaps most notable though for the presence of 19 different Pattern Sixpences made for Spink and Son and J. Rochelle Thomas by Lauer of Bavaria. This intriguing series was made in a small quantity and has become highly collectible since for its variation in design, metals used and variance of edges. Never have so many been offered for sale in one auction opportunity. The only other comprehensive assemblage of these patterns was in the Alfred Bole Collection sold over three sales circa 2010 from where a number of these examples were purchased. The catalogue explains the story and variance in a lot more detail.

   
Lot 182 – Trial Penny in Lead with three date obverse – unique (£600-800)

The Thorburn Collection closes with the patterns prepared for dealer Adolph Weyl also manufactured by Lauer of Bavaria made in an even more limited quantity than those above. The trial piece in lead above shows three dates on the obverse side as a sample striking to show how the aesthetic of date insertion would look physically. This coin is unique.

The sale then continues into the general properties Ancient to modern with Ancient British, Anglo-Saxon and Norman, as well as Mediaeval including Irish, gold and silver from the Tudor period to modern day. The 1935 gold Crown for the Silver Jubilee is the key lot featured two weeks back.

   
Lot 237 – Anglo-Gallic Edward III gold Leopard D'Or AU58 (£10,000-12,000)

One of the highlights is an Anglo-Gallic Edward III gold Leopard D'Or graded by PCGS as AU58 at £10,000-12,000. Always an interesting animal design from this medieval gothic era of coinage. There will be a final selection of highlights on next week's E-Sylum.

The sale takes place at Sovereign Rarities on 23rd September as a live auction with online bidding.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
1935 GEORGE V SILVER JUBILEE CROWN IN GOLD (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n35a16.html)
SOVEREIGN RARITIES AUCTION XIX (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n36a20.html)

 

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