Numismatica Genevensis SA, a leading coin firm with offices in Geneva and Dubai, has announced details of three major auctions taking place in Geneva on the 9th and 10th December 2024. The series will be divided into three auctions, The World of Islam, Masterpieces, and The Royal Gold Set, each of which contains many coins of great historic importance and in the highest grade of quality. These three sales cover the entire spectrum of numismatics from antiquity to the present day and from all over the globe.
Sale 19 includes a remarkable Islamic gold collection that was assembled over three decades. Sale 20 includes masterpieces from ancient to modern times with highlights including an important group of greek coins, the extraordinary Brutus aureus, unique gold coins of the Spanish empire and a remarkable group of world-wide half-crown size pieces from 19th and 20th Century. Sale 21 is notable as it contains the only known unique set of the entire British Five Guinea series in private hands, the largest ever denomination of British gold coin.
Et Tu, Brute?
The star coin of this auction series will be a gold aureus of Brutus which is regarded as one of the most iconic and historically significant coins in all of Roman history. Remarkably this coin was minted after Brutus murdered his own adopted father, Julius Caesar, and prior to the famous Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, against Marc Anthony and Octavian, which Brutus would go on to lose, taking his own life in the process. It represents an extraordinary moment in history from one of history’s most infamous characters, and one that shaped the future of the Roman Empire.
The coin depicts a striking portrait of Brutus alongside a breastplate, helmet, shield and spears. This portrait emphasises his role as a powerful and strategic military leader in an effort to win soldiers over to his cause. Whilst most legionaries of this period demanded a daily wage of only one denarius, Brutus paid each of his soldiers before this battle with the immense allowance of 1,500 denarii. This was an incredible sum and a major logistical undertaking for Brutus’s advisers to mint and distribute silver coins to all 80,000 legionaries in a short space of time. Beyond this Brutus issued a very limited number of gold coins with his portrait for personal use by the highest dignitaries of the time, and only 17 specimens are known to remain today. The starting price for this coin is CHF 750,000, and it is expected to reach a sale price of well over a million Swiss francs.
Huntington
Alongside the aureus of Brutus, the Masterpieces auction focuses on other numismatic masterpieces from throughout history. Among the Ancient coins are a Pantikapaion stater featuring what is believed to be the oldest image of a dinosaur on a coin and an extremely rare aureus of the short-lived Roman emperor Galba, minted in the year of his assassination. British coins in the sale include a Henry VIII gold sovereign once held by the British Museum, a 20 pound coin of James VI, the heaviest gold coin ever minted in Scotland, and the famous “Una & The Lion” coin of Queen Victoria, one of the most sought after coins in the British series.
Other highlights from around the world include a tenfold ducat of Leopold of Graz with a provenance dating back to 1893, the finest known specimen of the famous gold écu au bandeau coin of Louis XV of France and a unique 8 escudo piece of Felipe IV of Spain once described as the ‘Queen of 8-escudo pieces’. This 8 escudo was once part of the Huntington Collection, the most important collection of Spanish coins ever assembled by a private collector.
The Royal Gold Set auction features the only complete date-run of the British Five Guinea series known to be in private hands, going to auction for the first time ever. The Five Guinea piece is the largest denomination of gold coin ever struck in Britain and was originally introduced in the reign of Charles II, after which the denomination was produced over 110 years and in 49 dates. This collection, the Royal Gold Set, is the only time that all 49 dates have been united in a private collection, and is valued in total at over 2 million CHF. Included are some of the rarest and best preserved specimens of the coins in the Five Guinea series, including a trio of pattern pieces created for George III for a proposed new coinage; each of these is one of only a few known specimens.
World of Islam
The World of Islam auction has a catalogue made up entirely of Islamic coins, dating back to the Umayyad dynasty of the 7th Century and throughout Islamic history. The highlight coin in this auction will be an extremely rare dinar of al-Walîd I ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, minted in around 711 AD. Significantly, this dinar was minted in Medina rather than the traditional mint of Damascus, and was used to shore up political power in the city at a time when the 6th Caliph was strengthening the role of Medina and establishing it as a second capital. The auction will also contain a collection of 33 coins of the Umayyad period, including a significant solidus of the caliph of Mu’awiya depicting the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, demonstrating the influence of the Byzantine empire in the region. The auction also contains a museum-quality series of 114 glass weights, stamps and seals which will be offered as a multiple lot. These weights would have been used as both small currency and for valuing other coins.
Dr. Alain Baron, Founder of Numismatica Genevensis SA, said: “We are pleased to present three auction catalogues which provide a peerless opportunity to obtain iconic pieces in incredible quality. The aureus of Brutus dates to one of the most pivotal moments in Western history following the assassination of Julius Caesar, whilst other lots in the collection cover the breadth of global numismatic history, dating back to the ancient period as well as the very beginning of the Islamic world, many in the highest possible grade of quality.”
Numismatica Genevensis SA’s three December auctions will be a groundbreaking event taking place in Geneva over two days:
● 9 December – The World of Islam and the first half of Masterpieces
● 10 December – The second half of Masterpieces and The Royal Gold Set
Viewings for all three auctions will take place at the Geneva offices of Numismatica Genevensis SA prior to the auctions in December and collectors can register in advance for the auctions by visiting ngsa.ch
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