Stack’s Bowers Galleries (www.stacksbowers.com), numismatic auction house and subsidiary of Spectrum Group International, Inc. (spgz.pk), announced that live U.S. and world coin and currency auctions held in August realized a combined total of $57,733,927.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries and world division, Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio, conducted the only official auctions of the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Chicago August 13-20, the premier annual coin show and convention in the United States.
The entire auction realized an impressive total of $40,036,290, which consisted of $29.8 million U.S. coins, $6.2 million U.S. currency, and $3.4 million foreign coins, and $385,000 foreign paper money. All realized prices indicated include buyer’s premium.
"We are extremely pleased with the results of our Chicago ANA auction and I am very happy to say that the numismatic market appears to be alive and well in the United States," said Chris Napolitano, president of Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
"The outstanding success of this auction really speaks to the level of excellence and quality of Stack’s Bowers Galleries, and what has been created in less than a year with the joint venture between the two great auction houses of Stack’s and Bowers and Merena.
We have a larger customer base and a much expanded reach that allows us to bring more coins and currency to more buyers and, as we showed in this auction, breaking some records, as well."
Top honors in Chicago went to a magnificent offering from the collection of the late Harry W. Bass, Jr. An intricately bound set of three First Educational uncut sheets, with notes numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the 1896 $1, $2 and $5 notes, sold for an astonishing $1,265,000, making it the most ever paid at auction for a single U.S. currency lot.
Also making headlines was a 1975 No S Roosevelt Dime that earned an impressive $349,600 to become the highest price paid at auction for a modern (post-1964) U.S. coin.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries will return as the Official Auctioneer of the ANA World’s Fair of Money conventions in Philadelphia in 2012 and again in Chicago in 2013.
Following the completion of the Chicago auction, the Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio team flew to the other side of the world to conduct their second Hong Kong Auction.
The first auction in December 2010 was a major success realizing in excess of $10.7 million, but the August 2011 auction far surpassed that with an astounding $17,697,637 in sales of Chinese and East Asian coins and paper money.
Top coin and paper earners in Hong Kong included a CHINA Kiangnan 7 Mace 2 Candareens (Dollar), ND (1897) that realized $388,375, more than five times its original pre-sale high estimate, and a CHINA–EMPIRE Board of Revenue 50 Taels, Year 4 (1854) P-A13b that finished at $119,500, nearly four times its pre-sale high estimate.
"The demand of the Chinese and Asian numismatic market is truly sensational and shows no signs of waning any time soon," said Rick Ponterio, executive vice president. "We are greeted with tremendous enthusiasm from very eager collectors and there is a wealth of inventory looking to trade hands. We will return to Hong Kong for two auctions in April and August of 2012, and the anticipation is already quite great."
Stack’s Bowers Galleries is currently preparing for the upcoming Philadelphia Americana Sale as the Official Auctioneer of the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Philadelphia Auction to be held September 13-16, as well as accepting consignments to the Official Auction of the Whitman Baltimore Expo in November.
Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio is also preparing to present world lots in Baltimore in November, and is currently accepting consignments for their Official Auction of the New York International Numismatic Convention in January, and the next Hong Kong Auction in April 2012.
Details and information on all Stack’s Bowers auctions can be found at www.stacksbowers.com and by calling 800.458.4646 for the California office and 800.566.2580 for the New York office.
About Stack’s Bowers Galleries
Stack’s Bowers Galleries, a division of Fortune 500 Company Spectrum Group International, Inc., was launched in January 2011, combining the extraordinary histories of Stack’s, the oldest rare coin auction and retail company in America, with Bowers and Merena Auctions, one of the world’s pre-eminent auctioneers of rare coins and paper money.
The two companies unite to share a combined legacy that spans more than 100 years, and includes the cataloging and sale of many of the most valuable collections to ever cross an auction block – the John. J. Ford, Jr., and Louis E. Eliasberg collections, the Harry W. Bass, Jr., Collection, and the Norweb Collection, to name just a few. Topping off this amazing numismatic history is the inclusion of the world record for the highest price ever realized at auction for a rare coin, the legendary 1933 St. Gaudens Double Eagle which realized an astounding $7.59 million (sold in partnership with Sotheby’s).
The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, with offices in New York, New Hampshire and Hong Kong. Stack’s Bowers Galleries is the Official Auctioneer for several important numismatic conventions, including the ANA World’s Fair of Money and ANA/PNG Pre-Show, and the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Expos in Baltimore, three times yearly, and Philadelphia.
About Spectrum Group International, Inc.
Spectrum Group International, Inc., named to the Fortune 500 list in 2010 and 2011, is a global trading and collectibles network. We are a trader of precious metals and an auctioneer of coins, stamps, wine, and antique arms, armor and historical memorabilia, serving both collectors and dealers. We are also a merchant/dealer of certain collectibles. Our collectibles offerings span the price spectrums from modest to ultra-high end. Furthermore, we offer loans to coin dealers, collectors and investors back by their precious metals, rare coin and other collectibles as collateral.
Our Trading business is conducted through A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. and its subsidiaries. A-Mark is a full-service precious metal trading company, and an official distributor for many government mints throughout the world. A-Mark products include gold, silver, platinum and palladium for storage and delivery in the form of coins, bars, wafers and grain, and our services include financing, leasing, consignment, hedging and various customized financial programs. A-Mark’s subsidiary, Collateral Finance Corporation, which is the official Numismatic Lender of the American Numismatic Association, provides financing on a wide array of bullion and numismatic products.
Our Collectibles business operates as an integrated network of leading companies concentrating on numismatic (coins) and philatelic (stamps) materials, and rare and fine vintage wine. We have offices and auction houses in North America, Europe and Asia. In addition to traditional live auctions, we also conduct Internet and telephone auctions.
Our Collectibles companies in the philatelic field are auction houses H.R. Harmer Global Philatelic of Irvine, California, Corinphila Auktionen of Zurich, Switzerland, Heinrich Köhler Auktionshaus of Wiesbaden, Germany, Corinphila Veilingen B.V., Amstelveen, Netherlands, and John Bull Stamp Auctions, Ltd of Hong Kong. Spectrum Group’s Collectibles companies in the numismatics field include Bowers and Merena Auctions (rare coin and currency auction house), Ponterio & Associates (world and ancient coins and currency auction house), Teletrade (online coin auctions) and Spectrum Numismatics International (wholesale rare coin dealer), all based in Irvine, California. Spectrum Wine Auctions is engaged in the sale by auction of rare and fine vintage wine.
