DAVISSON'S AUCTION 45

A catalog we spend a year creating—seeking consignments, selecting exceptional pieces, spending hours of effort and research cataloging, meticulously and conservatively grading, reviewing values from auctions and sales around the world to settle on estimates, carefully photographing each piece.

This catalog is the result—the highest value sale we have ever produced, the most important collection of ancient coins we have ever handled, more exceptional classic hammered gold than we have ever presented in one catalog—this catalog sets some new standards for us. The front cover of the print catalog (shown on the opening page of our website) is an introduction to the magnificent collection formed by Peter Bartlett, a distinguished collector who began as a youth. Though his academic background is in the biological sciences, including a PhD from the University of California in Riverside, he 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.

We introduced the Peter Bartlett Collection in our November 2025 sale, with selections from his coins of Magna Graecia, mainland Greece, and the Peloponnese. His lots there showed his keen eye for style and quality. In this sale we turn to the heart of the collection – gold, electrum, and silver from the beginning of coinage itself, in the 7th century B.C. in Asia Minor (Anatolia; modern-day Turkey).

The cover of our print catalog displays the beauty and breadth of the collection. The center of the images and of the collection is a rare electrum trite (1/3 stater) of Phanes (lot 58), the earliest known occurrence of a legend on a coin. The four lots that follow (59-62) are four smaller denominations of this exceptionally rare issuer. More extremely rare pieces from this era follow with coins from Kroisos, (or Croesus; lots 125-139) the first ruler to issue gold coins with standardized purity for circulation. These include an exceptionally high grade stater and two choice 1/3 staters, showcasing both light and heavy issues. More denominations and different eras are on display in exceptional quality issues from Aegina, Ephesos, Miletos, Phokaia, and the many Ionian issues with no identified mint.

Both rarity and quality is evident in Peter's collection. The less famous and expensive issues were clearly all carefully selected from the finest available on the market in the 1980s, ‘90s, and early 2000s. Pedigrees to many well-known classic firms are included throughout. Exceptional pieces are present at every estimate level. Working with this collection has been a pleasure, thanks both to its numismatic significance and its beauty.

Our Roman section includes several select lots from the Bartlett Collection, alongside beautiful selections of Republican silver and aes graves, and Imperatorial and Imperial denarii. Some choice and rare sestertii along with several rarities such as Laelianus (lot 197) round out the section.

The hammered and milled gold section comes from two serious and thoughtful collectors who sought quality along with historic interest. The British hammered gold—England, Scotland, Anglo-Gallic—offers a representative sampling of exceptional quality gold issues from across the British hammered gold numismatic spectrum. The Danish and European pieces are the final part of a collection introduced in our auction last November tied to Denmark with a couple of European issues including a charming piece from 16th century Italy (lot 31).

For the most part, hammered gold was created with great care and the designs reflected high artistic merit. Typically, more used as a store of value rather than a means of trade, we can still enjoy high quality examples of these from centuries back.

Accurate grading of hammered coins requires substantial experience. Whether ancient, medieval or Renaissance, the hand-made aspect of these pieces means that strict wear-pattern standards do not apply in the way they do to modern coins. Following classic British and European standards we depend on several decades of handling and viewing hammered coins at auctions, at dealers' shops, collections and purchases to provide a good sense of what to value in these coins. A "good Extremely Fine" hammered gold coin in our sale is a piece I consider exceptional and in the top rank. It is not about a number. It is about how this piece measures up against other similar pieces produced in a similar fashion in similar circumstances.

The British section of the catalog is shorter than usual for one of our sales. A collection of well-matched and choice Maundy sets representing each reign from Charles II to Elizabeth II anchors the section. A few choice pieces from a larger British collection—English and Scottish— also help fill the section.

The 18th Century trade token (Dalton & Hamer) section has been carefully put together out of a much larger group of tokens consigned to us by different collectors. Though featuring tokens of more remarkable interest generally, the key to this section is choice material from the very young John Gregory Hancock—seven years old when he designed Sir Original (lot 310) and nine when he designed the Welch piece (lot 303). These pieces help introduce the collection of Harold Welch, creator of a massive bibliography of the many works on British tokens. Our next several auctions will include his high quality collection.

The sale could have been much larger, but we have always sought to keep our sales compact enough that good pieces don't get lost in phonebook-sized sale catalogs. You will see more from us in E-Auctions through the year. And even though we have some strong material for those sales, we still need consignments. Whether a few pieces that you want to de-access in anticipation of something different, or an entire collection you have worked on, we will treat your material with great care, bring all our experience to bear in cataloging and presenting it to our worldwide client base formed over more than 40 years, and produce a printed catalog that you will have as a record of what you have achieved.

Thank you for your interest and support—you are the final chapter in the success of this project.

To bid, see:
Auction 45 (https://auctions.davcoin.com/auction/auction-45-1001)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web