Auction 130 highlights

Welcome to Smalls Auctions Sale 130.

This is a continuation of our travels around the world using the medium of coins. Since the advent of currency, coins have reflected the progress of nations revealing in their designs and composition the politics and commerce of the societies they support. For example, in the far-flung corners of the Ancient Roman Empire it was often the portrait of a new Emperor appearing on the coins which first signalled to the subjugated peoples the new man in charge.

Some of the highlights include some high-grade examples of the coins of Mombasa, now part of modern Kenya. Mombasa was originally settled by the Portuguese first coming under British protection in 1823 before it was officially ceded to the Imperial British East India Company in 1888 by the Sultan of Zanzibar. Coins were stuck by the Heaton Mint for circulation and in our sale we have a few high-grade examples in proof and uncirculated condition including one from the eponymous Jerome Remick Collection which is the finest known.

There are also rare proofs from Mauritius as well as beautiful examples of the New Guinea 1929 Halfpenny and Penny struck by the Melbourne Mint when it was a mandated Australian Territory on the authority of the League of Nations, a forerunner to the United Nations. This pair are certainly museum quality once being part of the Melbourne Mint Museum Collection.

These are just a few of the standouts and of course there is also a wide selection of quality Australian coins for those with more parochial interests.

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