Auction 92 Highlights

Welcome to Sale 92.

Heading into Sale 92, I remind you that you are still able to participate until 12 noon Sunday in Sale 91 which we euphemistically labelled our ‘Silver Sale.’ As predicted the Silver price has continued to move up and as I write has just broached AUD $40 a Troy ounce. So, get out your calculators and revisit the lots on offer in Sale 91 as many are priced at or below their intrinsic silver values.

In Sale 92 we have on offer a good selection of Australian Pre-decimal banknotes including a very rare Collins-Allen ‘Red Serial’ £1. Often overlooked by collectors who doggedly pursue the Collins-Allen ‘Red Serial’ 10/-, Australia’s first Federal banknote issue, it is actually a much much rarer note. There are less than half the number of surviving examples of the £1 as compared to the 10/- and the note on offer with ‘Red Serial – P9900542’ is the highest recorded number. It seems that like the Olympics most people overlook the Silver Medallist but we think that there is no shame in coming second when you are capturing history and it would be a valuable addition to even the best collection.

There are other early £1 notes including a 'Collins - Allen' £1 with the 'T' Prefix Letter which has escaped the clutches of the ‘banknote fixers’ and has survived with full bodied paper. In fact, most of the notes on offer in this sale are presented with their ‘Original Paper Quality’ and have not been ‘flattened’ and ‘pressed’ by dealers who systematically attempt to ‘improve’ the grade of their stock. In our opinion ‘originality’ outweighs a few minor kinks in the paper and they are sold as they are found.

Also, in this sale is a handy grouping of affordable 1925 and 1946 pennies which are the key coins missing in most souvenir penny collections. This gives the opportunity to fill those annoying holes.

We have also included some very rare proof and circulation coin issues from British West Africa along with some common but very high-quality coins of British East Africa. The 1944 BWA Proof Halfpenny and the 1937 H Proof Penny in particular are exceptional coins.

We hope there is something on offer that appeals to you.

Smalls Auctions