Quote:Another unique coin (only 1 known), selling at a bargain, with an opening bid of only 16,000 euros!
https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=l...718&lot=1059Anyone up for fractional ownership?
You would not have needed fractional ownership a few years ago.
I had not seen that this coin had been spoken about here. It has some time in a portuguese collection classified as a fake. Sold for 3400 euros when the collection was broken down. Described as a nineteenth century replica.
The collector was extremely reputable and would be difficult for him t have mis-attributed the coin. One of his focus was on the dutch portugaleser struck for use in Brazil of which he owned several. If he classified this one as fake he must have had motive.
I still think more likely this it is a nineteenth century imitation. The coin does not match the only die in storage that I ever saw a photo of. Or the drawing of the only known coin published in the nineteenth century, part of the van Doorninck collection. That one matched the die in storage. This one does not.
The minting was very low. And the finish is medal like, not coin like. Too perfect for coin to be used in commerce as was intended.
Heritage passed it as genuine but there were legitimate doubts about this coin. Was it a coin or a medal? Is it original from the time or a nineteenth century re-strike or replica with different dies?
It would be very helpful if the auction house had published a photo of a die in the Deventer museum that really matched the coin. Because this thing keeps being resold they can still put doubts to rest by publishing it. Can they?
Buyer beware. Only because it is sold by a famous auction house or boxed in plastic does not mean a coin called unique is unique. Or genuine. With unique coins there is much work to do to prove them genuine.
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Posted 01/11/2026 10:30 am
