Rare coin exceeds expectations with £180,000 sale at auction
This was against an estimate of £40,000-50,000 at Noonans Mayfair on Thursday, September 19, in a sale of British, World Coins and Historical Medals.
2000 year-old rare coins were discovered in Israel.
Coins were hidden in a rock cleft in central Israel. This treasure date back to the period of Hasmonean (126 BC).#archaeohistories pic.twitter.com/M4VmAquwYS — Archaeo - Histories (@archeohistories) October 15, 2021
Nimrod Dix, Deputy Chairman of Noonans, said: 'This medal is a unique and splendid testament to one of the defining moments in Anglo-American history.
"There are very few Congressional gold and silver naval medals known to exist – possibly only four of each.'
A silver example from the same collection was also in the sale, which had been awarded to Captain Isaac Hull while in the Naval Engagement of U.S.S. Constitution and H.M.S. Guerriere on 19 August 1812.
"Estimated at £12,000-15,000, it fetched a hammer price of £46,000.
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Elsewhere in the sale, one of the earliest coins, an oak tree shilling, from Boston, Massachusetts, dating from 1652 – the year that round coinage was implemented - fetched a hammer price of £44,000 and was bought by a private collector.
It had been in the possession of the same British family for the last 300 years.
Not bad, eh? Always worth a little root around your grandparents' attic, just in case.
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New Statesman
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Anders Fernstedt, a nomadic 57-year-old man known as the 'swan whisperer' who lived in Hyde Park, was banned from the park in June after being seen cuddling and kissing the swans, cycling into a resident and swan volunteer who tried to intervene. The judge imposed a restraining order on Fernstedt. But he also noted that they had more in common than they might think. 'The sad thing is all three of you have an interest in the welfare of birds but different views about how this should be achieved.' In a sense, the swan has become a scapegoat for society's own ruffled feathers and a victim of a collective ennui. Yeats's grave vision of 'when I awake some day/to find they have flown away' may soon be realised. Their demise would be a crying shame. But there are glimmers of hope. In July, a row erupted in Oulton Broad, Suffolk, after the local authority put up wooden 'safety' fences that prevented resident swans from reaching their feeding and resting area. Local human residents tore it down for them. 'They've got their freedom back – that should never have been taken away from them,' Peter Rix, a local retired builder, told the BBC. And a few days after my trip to Runnymede, I hear some positive news. The five-day escapade ended with 115 young swans being found, up from last year's tally of 86. We can hope that swans are not singing their dying song just yet. [See also: English cricket's greatest record] Related
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