DAVISSON'S E-AUCTION 52

Greek and Roman coinage, featuring the first offering from a significant new consignment – The Peter Bartlett Collection. Peter, a Life Fellow of the American Numismatic Society and member of Barcelona's Asociación Numismática Española, has been an avid collector since his youth, receiving a merit badge in numismatics in junior high school in New Jersey in the 1950s from an illustrious ANS member. Though his academic background is in the biological sciences, with a BA from Duke University, an MS from the University of Colorado, and a PhD from the University of California in Riverside, Peter is also a world-renowned expert in the coins of the Visigoths, having written and contributed to numerous important articles and studies in the field while collaborating with academics worldwide from Costa Rica where he resides.

His carefully assembled collection features a magnificent selection of Greek coinage, chosen with a keen eye for style and quality. In this sale we begin with coins from Magna Graecia (the historically Greek-speaking area of southern Italy), continuing through mainland Greece and the Peloponnese. Look for rarely-encountered pieces, with numerous pedigrees from the 1960s-1990s from major auction houses in the U.S. and Europe. Amongst numerous highlights, be sure to note stand-out pieces such as a stater from Lokri Opuntii (lot 68; included in the Humphris & Delbridge study and pedigreed to 1933), numerous fine coins from Sicily including a rare Naxos litra (lot 50), and a high grade example of the earliest issue of staters of Aegina (lot 78). Even the modest issues are special, with rarity, beauty, cabinet tone, and condition.

 
Lot 68

Further offerings from this remarkable collection will be featured in our sales in 2026, both from the regions covered here and from further east around the Mediterranean, with particular attention to Peter's exceptional collection of coins of Ionia, Caria, and Lydia.

Zwingli and the Protestant Reformation, Denmark and Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries: Huldrych Zwingli, along with his contemporaries, Martin Luther and John Calvin, revolted against the dogma and practices of the Church of Rome that had dominated religion and politics for over a millennium. In the process, they changed European history as well as founding new modes of worship and religious practice that continue to define Christianity in the 21st Century. This catalog offers the first part of a collection of coins from this era and our major early 2026 auction will feature the rest of the collection, an exceptional group of gold and silver coins and medals.

A quality run of tokens from the 18th century: "Conder" tokens in high grades. Two collections are featured here. One consignment is of NGC/PCGS graded tokens. The remarkable thing about this group is the number of MS64 and MS65 pieces. I have noticed that the two grading services tend to rate many MS tokens with numbers in the 60 to 63 range and few with higher numbers. This collector has selected and submitted some exceptional halfpenny tokens that garnered high numbers and they are offered here.

The collection formed by Harold Welch is another consignment that will be featured in our auctions for some time to come. Many of you are familiar with his massive work presenting his exhaustive effort to account for all of the known copies of the major references for the Conder series. Collecting the references can be as satisfying as collecting the tokens themselves and often much more challenging. Harold's work identifies what is important and records where the copies are. The quality of his tokens matches the quality of his token research—exceptional.

Early 20th century medals relating to flying: This group expresses the early 20th century romance of flying as well as presenting that history in the beauty of art nouveau and its flowing style and art deco with its celebration of modernity. This is a carefully assembled group that we have had for some time. Our efforts to add to it have been challenging—fascinating and beautiful as the medals are, this theme has not seemed to inspire a particularly large oeuvre.

Large lots of several to many examples of different issues are sprinkled throughout the latter part of the catalog. Most collections contain many inexpensive pieces that the collector acquired along the way. Whether we take a collection on consignment or purchase it outright we also typically handle the lesser material. Sometimes we can place it. Some of it is varied enough that we have begun a series of "Cupboard Auctions" where no piece is estimated higher than $100. But there is a world of coins out there and there are only the three of us to handle everything. So all of these pieces in lots are priced very conservatively. And there may be some exceptional things that we missed or don't know much about. (I have a hard time figuring out Machin Mills issues even though I have bought and studied several books about them.) All of these lots offer interesting groups that will provide fascination and possibly even profit if you do any trading.

Finally, what is going on with gold? Way up on Monday, way down on Tuesday.... Despite all the commentary and price rises I am not sure anyone really knows where it is going to be in a month or a year. While all of the gold coins offered here have numismatic interest with gold selling for over $4000 ($4379 was the record a few days ago) per troy ounce, the numismatic value for some becomes secondary. There are reasons to buy legal gold currency coins—reliability of the gold content, the lack in our sales of a buying commission or premium, the simplicity of storage, the satisfaction of owning such pieces, the chance that the gold market will continue to climb. We guarantee our consignors that we will protect their gold coins to melt value as a reserve price and return their coins if bidding does not achieve that level. As this catalog goes to print the estimates for gold assume a $4200 per troy ounce price. (If the price level changes significantly as the sale nears the closing date, we will review estimates for relevant lots in the online catalog.)

For more information, or to bid, see:
https://davcoin.com/

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