Collection of English silver crown coins from the reign of Edward VI. sold at auction in the 1550s for £331,000
Collection of 180 English crown silver coins from the reign of Edward VI. sold for £331,000 in the 1550s after a bidding war
- David Hoover amassed a collection with a fascination with coinage for over a decade
- The American collector has examples from the reign of Edward VI in the 1550s
- The best seller was the 1643 Charles I ‘Silver Pound’ from the English Civil War for £11,250
One man’s impressive collection of 180 silver English crown coins spanning over 470 years sold for £331,000 after a bidding war.
American collector David Hoover has amassed the pieces fascinated by this type of coin over the past decade.
He acquired specimens from the British Museum and had rarities from the reign of Edward VI in the 1550s through to Queen Elizabeth II.
The coins were originally priced at £220,000 but fetched over £100,000 more at London-based auction house Spink & Son on Wednesday 4th May.
The front runner was a 1643 Charles I ‘Silver Pound’, minted at Oxford University during the English Civil War, fetching £11,250.
American collector David Hoover’s impressive collection of 180 English silver crown coins spanning over 470 years has sold for £331,000 at auction house Spink & Son after a bidding war. Pictured, top performer 1643 Charles I ‘Silver Pound’ which fetched £11,250
A 1662 crown from Charles II for his restoration fetched £9,375 while a crown from Edward VI. fetched £3,375 from 1552.
A 1603 James I crown from the year he ascended the English throne fetched £3,750, while another James I coin in Welsh silver fetched £5,750.
Also in the collection was a 1703 Queen Anne crown, minted by the mathematician genius Isaac Newton from silver captured from the Spanish in the Bay of Vigo. It sold for £1,625.
A 1662 crown belonging to Charles II (pictured) for his restoration fetched a total of £9,375 at auction on Wednesday 4th May
A 1746 George II Crown, made from Peruvian silver captured from Admiral Anson, cost £3,000 and an 1877 Victoria Crown, minted in the year of its Golden Jubilee, fetched £2,325.
More recent examples included a 1953 coronation crown of Elizabeth II which sold for £400, while a silver crown marking the birth of Prince George in 2013 went for £600.
Gregory Edmund, a specialist at Spink & Son, said the astonishing figure raised by the collection’s auction was thanks to the resurgence of coin collecting thanks to the pandemic.
He said: “The impressive collection has been assembled with devotion and skill by an American collection over the last decade and included great rarities from the reign of King Charles I, examples of which are known only from this auction and coins in the British Museum.
The coins were originally priced at £220,000 but fetched over £100,000 more at London-based auction house Spink & Son on Wednesday 4th May
“David informed us that after completing the Date Run, the remaining few coins became prohibitively expensive and he had therefore decided to sell at that point.
“He was very pleased with the results, which show the vigor and enthusiasm for coin collecting that has been rekindled by the pandemic.
“Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee coin sold for a European record £2,375.
“In 2019, the same coin would hardly have fetched £200.”
A 1603 crown of James I, the year he ascended to the English throne, in Welsh silver fetched £5,750 (pictured).
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