Quote:DAVID NANKERVIS
August 16, 2009 12:01am
A CENTURY ago these South Australian coins were worth a pound each. Now they're worth millions.
Some of the South Australian coins worth up to $800,000Six extremely rare 22 carat gold coins and ingots, minted in Adelaide 157 years ago, are now worth more than 800 times their weight in gold, having sold at a recent Sydney auction for a combined total of $1.66m.
They represent a crucial part of the fledgling state's history, being struck during the reign of Queen Victoria and before Australia became a nation.
And these factors make their metal value - about $300 - irrelevant to their allure and sale price.
Sold as part of coin dealer Monetarium's Quartermaster Collection auction, held in Sydney in June, an "excessively rare" 22ct gold 1852 one pound coin, minted in Adelaide, fetched a record $337,600.
Another in slightly less pristine condition sold for $221,550, while another SA pound minted in Melbourne in 1919 sold under the hammer for $485,300.
But the stars of the auction were two gold ingots bearing stamp marks by the South Australia Government Assay Office from 1852, which sold for about $800,000 each.
They were only just outshone by a King George sovereign from the Sydney mint, which fetched a staggering $844,000.
The money spent at the auction - more than $10 million on 344 items over three hours of bidding - proved premium quality collectables have not lost any lustre as a result of the global financial crisis, according to Adelaide coin expert and dealer Luciano Iapadre.
"The market has been going from strength to strength during the economic downturn, because investors don't have faith any more in mainstream investments such as shares and property," he said.
"Some of these items are extremely rare - the two Adelaide Assay ingots were the only ones I am aware of that have ever been for sale."
Bidders from around the world had been active at the auction. Mr Iapadre said extremely rare coins of outstanding quality were making "substantial" monetary gains in the long term. "We have an Adelaide pound for sale which 10 years ago you would have paid around $60,000 for, but you are now looking at around $250,000," he said.
Amassed by collector Tom Hadley over the course of 22 years, the Quartermaster collection was arguably the greatest collection of Australian gold coins ever sold.
Posted 08/16/2009 02:58 am
