June 08, 2017

Spink USA 'Numismatic Collector's Series' sale in mid-June


I recently received a pair of catalogs for upcoming Spink USA sales. The first is one of the continuing series of Numismatic Collector's sales that will take place June 19 and 20 in New York. This sale (#335) is heavy on coins and currency and features a substantial number of gold items.

The second day of the sale features stocks and bonds, predominately in multi-item lots. Lots  824 through 854 are U.S. certificates and almost all are related to railroads. I count the U.S. offering at roughly 670+ certificates, making the average lot size about 24 certificates each. Generally, I classify price estimates as anywhere from 'low' to 'sub-wholesale.' While these are dealer-size lots, I will recommend that collectors look at this sale as an opportunity to bolster their collections at great prices.

With the possible exception of a 2-item lot of Ferro Monte Rail Road certificates, no overwhelming rarities catch my attention. On the other hand, I don't see any lots of ultra-common material either. Everything seems to be intriguing middle-of-the-market material that will fill holes in most collections. Anything that isn't wanted should be quite salable on eBay.

There are an additional 45 lots of world certificates, also mostly containing multiple items. That part of the sale is heavy on Canadian and Russian certificates plus a couple Chinese bond lots. 3 of the 17 Canadian lots involve railroads. (Most of the remainder are related to mining.)

The second catalog that came from Spink USA involves an auction of a large collection of terrific banknotes from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Although off-topic for me, I suggest anyone interested in highly-colored banknotes from the Muslim world check out the the Rauf Al Mannai collection scheduled for June 21 and 22.

You can view the Numismatic Collector's Series catalog online at Spink.com. Click "Auctions" on the top menubar and scroll down to sale 335. (Or click here to go directly to Sale 335. Contact Spink directly for a physical copy of the catalog.

See also Sale 334 for the Rauf Al Mannai Collection catalog.