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What You Can’t Live Without Buying in Treasure Auction #20 (part two)

25 Oct

In this blog, we will cover some of the big-ticket items (i.e. gold and gold and silver bars) you can find in our upcoming auction. These coins and bars are important for either their rarity, their quality, their provenance or all of the above. They are for the discerning advanced collector who can afford the best. These lots also represent historical treasures which anyone can appreciate whether they can buy them or not.

 

 

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Lot 30, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

The above Lima 8 escudos cob is the finest known of its type in the NGC census with a grade of MS 63. Dan has described it as “a superb specimen all around, befitting the top honors.” Over and above that, it’s from the 1715 Fleet!

 

 

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Lot 35, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

Another Lima 8 escudos cob, this coin is tied for finest known in the NGC census with a grade of MS 62. Dan’s description: “Clearly top grade but probably also the best in terms of strike, and apparently one of very few of this date and denomination recovered” from the Luz. ‘Nuff said!

 

 

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Lot 48, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

A Bogota 8 escudos cob, this coin is the finest and only specimen in the NGC census with a grade of XF 45. Per Dan’s description it’s a “royal-like specimen on a broad flan with 100% full and bold date and king’s name in legend….one of just a handful of full-date specimens from this mint that seem to have been intended as presentation pieces, so great is the contrast between them and the regular issues with only partially or non-visible dates.” Furthermore, he notes that “this Philip V issue is much tougher than the Ferdinand VI type that followed.”

 

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Lot 89, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

This Potosi bust 4 escudos is the finest and only known in the NGC census with a grade of AU 58. As Dan has noted, only 170 pieces (both laureate and non-laureate types) were minted and this date is the rarest bust-type issue in any denomination from this mint. It’s “a trophy gem and has no equal in any sales records known to us,” with “trophy” seeming like an understatement!

 

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Lot 161, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

The above is a Lima, Peru, bust 8 escudos from the time of Ferdinand VI and dated 1751. This lot is “one of only two of this ‘large wigged bust’ type” from the Luz shipwreck. Pretty rare stuff!

 

 

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Lot 202, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

On to bars! Above is a complete gold “strap” ingot for making oro corriente pieces, marked five times with circular tax stamp of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Charles I of Spain) from an unidentified early 1500s wreck in the Caribbean. As Dan states, “its near-uniform flatness and its markings all indicate that this piece is the first example ever recorded of a complete ‘strap’ (in Spanish: riel) for cutting into the known (but very rare) money pieces (small) known as ‘oro corriente,’ which were used in place of actual gold coins (which were in short supply) in the colonies and thus represent the ‘first fish out of the lake’ from the colonies in terms of local gold coinage.” It dates to the 1520s and hence is “unique in importance, especially as the earliest form of Spanish colonial gold treasure we have ever offered.”

 

 

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Lot 203, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

Another important bar, the above gold “finger” bar is encrusted with coral as from the “Golden Fleece wreck” and was made “in a period when gold coins were not yet made in the New World and ‘oro corriente’ was being phased out” says Dan. Shipwreck bars are always in demand in our auctions.

 

 

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Lot 210, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

A very unusual silver “tumbaga” bar (#M-61) whose “most intriguing aspect is a large area of exposed pure copper, revealing how most ‘tumbaga’ silver was created by hammering silver and copper together and therefore showing the true nature of ‘metal of Michoacan’,” according to Dan. You should read The Tumbaga Saga by Agustin Garcia Barneche to learn more about these important and fascinating early silver bars.

 

 

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Lot 211, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

What’s an auction without a large silver Atocha bar (#451)? As Dan notes of special importance, accompanying this bar is a “complete manifest report, which was an optional (and mostly declined) item when the bars were first distributed.” Rarity and provenance!

That’s all for now, and we hope this note will whet your appetite for our auction.

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Some of Our Favorite Things in Upcoming Treasure Auction #20

14 Oct

As you peruse our catalog online, you might enjoy some of the items that stand out to us. Not all are big ticket items. Some are just cool because of what they represent. What items in our auction catch your attention?

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Lot 17, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

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Lot 24, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

If bling is your thing, then these gold-coin earrings (Lot 17) and pendant (Lot 24) are a must-have! We don’t usually have earrings in our auctions, much less a pair of one escudo cobs from the 1715 Fleet. And what would complement them? Why an 8 escudos cob pendant from the 1715 Fleet! It’s really not overkill if you like to strut your stuff.

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Lot 210 Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

This “tumbaga” silver bar (Lot 210) is one of the coolest bars we’ve ever handled. It’s a typical rectangular bar without the depth, i.e., it’s almost like a slice of “tumbaga” (even though it’s a full bar). More interesting is the large area of exposed copper. The photo says it all. If you’ve been wanting a “tumbaga” bar, then this should be on your want list. Be sure to buy a copy of Augi’s book, The “Tumbaga” Saga, Treasure of the Conquistadors, to go with.

 

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Lot 777, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

Provenance and pedigree are terms that are thrown around a lot when dealing with antiquities. We love to know where things come from, whether from a shipwreck or a particularly important collector. We have that in spades with this auction lot: It’s the first coin collected by Emilio Paoletti (Lot 777). If you don’t already know his name, then this isn’t the coin for you, but if you do, then bookmark this lot and bid!

 

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Lot 1569, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

Connor, our new employee and banknote guy, praises this note (Lot 1569) as a “fascinating combination of Mexican iconography (the eagle) and Texan images (the frontiersman).” It’s an unsigned remainder from a bank chartered to operate in Columbia, Texas by the Mexican government on April 30, 1835, just a few months before the start of the Texas Revolution. During the revolution, the bank was instrumental in arranging loans and fundraising for the revolutionaries.

 

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Lot 1625, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

While I’m not a fan favorite of this engraving (Lot 1625), the rest of the office loves it. It’s a German copperplate engraving showing native Americans dismembering and eating Spaniards, including pouring molten gold into one poor Spaniard’s mouth. I know the Indians weren’t exactly saints, but in the larger picture, they were almost always on the losing end of run-ins with Spaniards, and this is one of the few times they came out ahead. Go Native Americans!

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Lot 1626, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

Part of this engraving (Lot 1626) graces the front cover of our catalog. It’s a hand-colored British copperplate engraving of Philip II. He’s surrounded by crests of the many countries where he was king. Yertle the Turtle (a Dr. Seuss character for those of you who didn’t grow up reading his books) had nothing on him.

 

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Lot 1661, Sedwick Treasure Auction #20

If I owned a sword, this is the one (Lot 1661) I would want to own because it expressly tells me when it’s OK to use it: “no me saque sin razon,” which translates to Don’t Use Me Unless You Really Need to. Maybe our modern guns should have the same inscription.

We hope you enjoy all our auction offerings and find something that truly speaks to you!

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Sedwick Treasure, World and US Coin Auction #20 Preview

7 Sep

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While all of us at Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC, are diligently working on making our November Treasure World & US Coin Auction #20 the BEST ever, I thought I would pause to tell you about some of the cool stuff we will have for you to bid on and *hopefully* buy. First off, make sure your Christmas wish list is empty because there are lots and lots of goodies you’ll want! I’m already making my list.

In the upcoming auction, we have a Maravillas Research Collection of countermarked Potosi cobs. Here’s a refresher about the Maravillas from our website (abridged):

Maravillas, sunk in 1656 off Grand Bahama Island

shipwreck

As the almiranta (“admiral’s ship,” or rear guard) of the homebound Spanish fleet in January of 1656, the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas was officially filled with over five million pesos of treasure (and probably much more in contraband, as was usually the case). That treasure included much of the silver salvaged from the South Seas Fleet’s Capitana of 1654 that wrecked on Chanduy Reef off Ecuador. The ill-fated treasure sank once again when the Maravillas unexpectedly ran into shallow water and was subsequently rammed by one of the other ships of its fleet, forcing the captain to try to ground the Maravillas on a nearby reef on Little Bahama Bank off Grand Bahama Island. In the ensuing chaos, exacerbated by strong winds, most of the 650 people on board the ship died in the night, and the wreckage scattered. Spanish salvagers soon recovered almost half a million pesos of treasure quickly, followed by more recoveries over the next several decades, yet with over half of the official cargo still unfound. The first re-discovery of the Maravillas in the 20th century was by Robert Marx and his company Seafinders in 1972. The second big salvage effort on the Maravillas was by Herbert Humphreys and his company Marex in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The wreck area is still being searched today, but officially the Bahamian government has not granted any leases on the site since the early 1990s.

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Roberto Mastalir Divisek

 

In addition to the above Potosi shipwreck cobs, we are honored to present a collection of “Transitional” 1652 Potosi 8 reales cobs put together and written about extensively by Robert Mastalir. All of his coins in the upcoming auction are featured (photographed) in his book The Great Transition at the Potosi Mint, 1649-1653, the 1652 Transitional 8 Reales, which is out of print already, but we plan to re-print it for the auction soon.

 

 

Unfortunately, sometimes collections come to us after the death of the collector, and that’s the case for the Charles Eidel collection of shipwreck coins and ancient Greek and Roman coins. Charlie was a genial retired NYC policeman whose appetite for coins was wide ranging. His meticulous record keeping and coin descriptions reflect his love for the hobby. It’s now time for him to posthumously pass along his gems for the next generation of collectors.

Near and dear to my heart is our major offering of Charles and Joanna coinage (both Early and Late Series) in this auction. We have a smattering of coins from several different sources which complement each other very well and will give you a lot of opportunities to enrich your collection…or start one! While we generally feature 4 reales from shipwrecks, this time we will have a large selection of the very hard-to-find smaller denominations. We will even have an early series Assayer R 1 real. And when’s the last time you saw Assayer S in any denomination? We’ve got a 2 reales for sale!

That’s it for now, but it should help you decide on what you’d like to see under the Christmas tree this year (or before)! Happy bidding.

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Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC welcomes numismatist Connor Falk

16 Aug

Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC, a world class auctioneer of coins and artifacts, is proud to have numismatist Connor Falk join the company.

Falk will review and catalog consignments as well as work with clients to get the most out of the auction experience. Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC, already the leader in Latin American and shipwreck coin and artifact auctions, is expanding into new areas of numismatics such as U.S. coins and paper money to better serve a growing market. Falk will lead these expansion efforts with his numismatic knowledge and enthusiasm.

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Connor Falk

“It comes down to personal service,” said Daniel Frank Sedwick, president and founder of Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC, “and to maintain our high level of service in additional areas, we needed expertise and energy. With his experience in customer relations, writing and editing, and of course numismatics, Connor was the right fit in every way.”

According to Agustín García-Barneche, vice president and partner of Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC, “you just don’t see enough young, professional numismatists in world coins like Connor, so we jumped at the chance to bring him on board. Like each of us in the company, Connor will be involved in all the logistics, which will give us even more flexibility to travel and service our clients, collectors and dealers alike. Our growing company has just taken a big step forward!”

Prior to joining Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC, Connor Falk was the online content editor for F+W’s Numismatics department and a journalist for Numismatic News. He was the bourse chairman for both the 2016 Chicago Paper Money Expo and the 2016 Chicago International Coin Fair. A numismatist in his own right, he focuses primarily on U.S. and Mexican coins and paper money.

Falk has a B.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (Class of 2014). He is a member of the ANA, the Central States Numismatic Society (life member), the Chicago Coin Club, and the U.S. Mexican Numismatic Association (life member). Outside of numismatics Connor spends time scuba diving and he is working his way up to a Master Scuba Diver certification.

Want to discuss consignments or upcoming auction lots? Contact Falk at 920-676-5269 or by email at connor@sedwickcoins.com

sedwick_teamConnor Falk, Daniel F. Sedwick and Agustin Garcia-Barneche. Anaheim, CA ANA World’s Fair of Money 2016. 
Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC is the world’s premier specialist company in the colonial coinage of Spanish America, shipwreck coins and artifacts of all nations. In addition to an Online Store, we sell coins and artifacts at various numismatic shows around the nation. Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC also has the honor of being the only auction company in the world specializing in authentic treasure! Our auction catalogs are accessible on the web and printed in a high-quality format with full-color illustrations for all lots.
Contact Info:
Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC
407-975- 3325
info@sedwickcoins.com
www.SedwickCoins.com
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Summer Reading (and the upcoming ANA Show)

25 Jul

Summertime is the perfect time to delve into a little lighter reading as you relax by the pool during your summer vacation. Below are some cool numismatic reads that I’ve enjoyed over the years—they’re a fast read that won’t bog you down! In an upcoming blog, our interns, Emily and Lola, will tell you about their summer reading of numismatically related books; in the meantime, check out my recommendations.

Where can you find us next month? We have a table at the ANA World’s Fair of Money show in Anaheim, CA, from August 9 to 12. It’s a great time to bring your consignments for our next auction in November. Or, just stop by and say hello.

If you’ve got a good read to share, by all means let us know what it is. Until then, here are some of my picks:

One Coin is Never Enough by Michael S. Shutty, Jr. Ph.D.

One Coin Is Never Enough

As the title suggests, coin collecting can become habit forming! Mike Shutty takes you through the sometimes logical, sometimes nutty world of coin collecting. As he says at the beginning, “It should be clear by now that, as coin collectors, we believe in magic! We love our coins and treat them accordingly no matter how irrational it appears to onlookers. The coins in our collections are special. They have stories to tell, and we marvel at their survivorship, rarity and beauty. Through the act of collecting them, we transform the mundane into the marvelous.”

 

City of Silver by Annamaria Alfieri

City of Silver

The story of the scandal at the Potosi mint in the mid-1600s is well documented and it makes a great story because people love to read about misfortunes of that proportion. It’s also the stuff of legend and conjecture, as in the case of City of Silver, which is a fictional account of the backstory of the Potosi mint scandal. It’s very readable and certainly enjoyable to those who love Potosi coins.

 

Caliban’s Shore by Stephen Taylor

 

Calibran's Shore

This is a bit deeper a read because of the extensive research the author conducted to give an authentic portrayal of the shipwreck of the Grosvenor, the finest East Indiaman of its day that was sailing from India when it became shipwrecked off the coast of southeast Africa in 1782. The details of the fate of the 123 surviving passengers (from a crew of 150 total) is harrowing and sad, especially given that only 18 eventually survived. From the privations of losing everything aboard ship to dealings with native Indians inland, it’s a wonder that anyone lived to tell the tale.

 

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

Pirate Latitudes

I almost read this book twice! It’s hard to argue with success, and Michael Crichton knows all about that. This novel, set in the swashbuckling pirate days of Port Royal, Jamaica in the mid-1600s, depicts the Hatfield-and-McCoy relationship between the Spanish and English. The characters and scenery are vivid, and you almost feel like you’re there. It’s hard to put down this book.

 

There are hundreds if not thousands of interesting books pertaining to maritime history, coins, shipwrecks, and all things pirate, so my selections are but a tip of the very large iceberg. Next month, you’ll hear from our interns about the books that they’ve read!

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