Records Fall as Over $13,000,000 in Coins and Banknotes are Sold in Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio’s 10th Anniversary Hong Kong Auction

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1911 China Empire Dollar, LM-31 Outer Lvs Veined, PCGS SP64 Gold Shield. Click image to enlarge.

Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio is proud to announce the results from their recently concluded May Hong Kong auction. Total prices realized for this monumental 10th anniversary sale were $13,207,382, but that only tells part of the story. The sale had been rescheduled from its original date in March and was put in jeopardy of cancellation due to worldwide efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, due in large part to Stack’s Bowers’ industry-leading online bidding technology, the sale went on, with their auctioneers receiving bids on the “floor” from their California and Hong Kong offices, as well as on their award-winning Stack’s Bowers Galleries iBid Live internet platform. When the hammer on the last lot fell, over 93% of the 3,845 lots had gone to new buyers at prices that reflected 154% of pre-auction high estimates on lots that sold. Overall, the auction was Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio’s largest in Hong Kong since August 2011. (All prices include the buyer’s fee.)

Areas of strength in the sale were numerous, led by vintage Chinese coins, most notably those struck during the Chinese Empire during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, along with those from the Republic of China period that followed. One highlight from the Imperial period was an exceptional “Reverse Dragon” Pattern Dollar that was graded SP64 by PCGS. This piece, a prototype for the famous “Dragon in the Clouds” type that is so ubiquitous in Chinese numismatics, realized $210,000USD.

Coins and medals from several other countries showed incredible strength as well, perhaps best exemplified by the sale of the Trident Collection of British Trade Dollars, the #1 All-Time PCGS Registry Set for the issue. Produced for a non-Asian country, these dollars were struck for trade purposes and largely saw circulation in Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements (modern day Singapore). While standout after standout price was achieved, perhaps the most notable was the final date, a long-known rarity that resulted from much of the issue being melted prior to distribution. This 1935-B Trade Dollar, struck at the Bombay Mint in India, was graded MS-63+, and brought $45,600 USD, a new world record for the issue. Other exceptional realizations from this session of the Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio sale include a magnificent Thai silver medal from the Haw Campaign that brought $38,600 USD.

Additional Important Prices Realized Include:

CHINESE COINS

NON-CHINESE COINS

BANKNOTES

For complete prices realized for the Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio May 2020 Hong Kong auction visit StacksBowers.com. The firm is now inviting consignments to their official auction at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their October 2020 Hong Kong Auction. Contact them today at [email protected] or 800-566-2580 to speak with a numismatic expert.

About Stack's Bowers Galleries

Stack's Bowers Galleries conducts live, Internet, and specialized auctions of rare U.S. and world coins and currency and ancient coins, as well as direct sales through retail and wholesale channels. The company's 80-year legacy includes the cataloging and sale of many of the most valuable United States coin and currency collections to ever cross an auction block — The D. Brent Pogue Collection, The John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, The Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Collection, The Joel R. Anderson Collection, The Norweb Collection, The Cardinal Collection and The Battle Born Collection — to name just a few. World coin and currency collections include The Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection of World Gold Coins, The Kroisos Collection, The Alicia and Sidney Belzberg Collection, The Wa She Wong Collection, The Guia Collection, The Thos. H. Law Collection, and The Robert O. Ebert Collection.

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 PCGS SP66 1794 Flowing Hair Dollar that realized over $10 million, part of their sale of the famed Cardinal Collection. The company is headquartered in Santa Ana, California, with offices in New York, Wolfeboro, Hong Kong, and Paris. Stack's Bowers Galleries is an Official Auctioneer for several important numismatic conventions, including American Numismatic Association events, the New York International Numismatic Convention, the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Spring, Summer and Winter Expos, and its April and August Hong Kong Auctions.