Despite lockdown having been eased across most of the country, life is far from returning to normal. Public transport, the tubes, trains and buses are all eerily quiet and the main high streets are far less busy than usual, with many retail outlets still not opening their doors.

Here at Baldwin’s, however, our doors are well and truly open and business is as usual.

We have welcomed many visitors to our newly refurbished premises over the last four weeks and have even issued a new, printed, Fixed Price List far sooner than usual, which focuses on ancient and British coins. The new list has been extremely well received with over half the coins selling in only a matter of days.

All the UK coin fairs have remained cancelled, though there are plans to hold some of the more regular events later on in the year. It was to the disappointment of many that this year’s annual September Coinex event, the United Kingdom’s biggest coin fair, has been cancelled.

We still want to give you, our clients, the opportunity to view the coins that we would have offered at the coin fair. It is our plan that during the days Coinex would have been held we will hold our own “Virtual Coinex” whereby we will create digital and hard copy lists of all the new stock we would have been exhibiting, and a special section of our website for the event.

This online event will take place from the 25^th to the 28^th September, and is not to be missed. 

The coin market remains robust and if anything quality items seem to be only increasing in value judging by the UK and International auctions. Recent examples include a common but choice example of a Charles I Unite hammering at $34,000 plus premium, a typical but high-grade James I Laurel realising $32,000 plus premium and an utterly breathtaking 1768 Pattern Two guineas selling for a monumental $384,000. These are just a few of the record prices achieved recently.

All the remaining items from our Fixed Price List have now been uploaded to the website and are available for viewing.

One item, in particular, I would like to highlight is the extremely rare Philip and Mary Angel in superb condition. A very underrated coin, this was the highest denomination gold coin in Philip and Mary’s reign. They were only struck for about a year between 1557-58. It is believed that less than 50 of these angels exist today, this total encompasses both museum trays as well in private collections.

This example is one of the strongest examples known and a comparable example realising over £36,000 including premium makes this specimen an extremely attractive proposition and can only be good value in the current market.

Additionally, our current Fixed Price List contains a wonderful piece of ancient gold. This stater of Lysimacus was issued in the decades following the death of Alexander the Great. It is one of the few gold coins to feature the portrait of the legendary, deified Macedonian King. A similar example sold at a US auction for a staggering $26,000, before buyer’s premium is added. Though encapsulated and with an impressive grade, it didn’t appear a world away from the delightful piece we have available here, and ours is a fraction of the price, at a mere £5,950.