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Now Online! Treasure, World, U.S. Coin and Paper Money Auction 38

13 Oct

This auction brings together one of the most complete and exciting selections we have ever offered, combining important named collections with individual rarities from all across the world of numismatics. The result is a sale that captures the full story of coinage in the Americas and beyond. As usual, it is consignors and bidders who make this possible, so we thank you all!

Our business was built on cobs and shipwreck treasure, for which we remain the world’s foremost experts, so it is no surprise that this auction is loaded with shipwreck ingots, coins, and artifacts. We run a very clean operation—everything is checked carefully for proper provenance and certification, and in most cases the material we offer comes straight from the source. In fact, our auctions are better than buying from the source directly, as everything we sell is guaranteed and certifiable at any time. In today’s fly-by-night world, this is a critical difference.

First, it is our privilege to presen the Sedwick-Downing Collection of Charles-Joanna Coinage of Mexico City, the result of more than a decade of study and collecting. What began as curiosity grew into a deep passion for the beauty, history, and meaning behind the first coins of the New World. This catalog marks an important milestone in that journey, with the full publication of Cori’s research to follow soon.

For this auction, we hit the ground running with the McGregor Collection of Gold Cobs from the 1715 Fleet, a vivid reminder of the beauty and adventure tied to Spanish colonial treasure. While this collection showcases a full range of denominations of gold cobs from Mexico City (including a fabulous Royal-dies 1714 8 escudos) and Lima, it also contributes to significant offerings from Cuzco and Cartagena, the latter including a coin that will be featured in Daniel Sedwick’s upcoming book, Arce’s Doubloons. Of course, our treasure coverage is certainly not limited to Spanish colonial cobs. In fact, in this sale we feature all of the famous United States shipwrecks, namely S.B. Pulaski (1838), S.S. New York (1846), S.S. Central America (1857), S.S. Brother Jonathan (1865), and S.S. Republic(1865).

Highlighting our usual silver-cob offerings are several key collections, in addition to the aforementioned Sedwick–Downing Collection. In Lima cobs you will find the Jorge Ugaz Collection of Lima Cob 2 Reales, and in Guatemala cobs is the Darby Collection of Guatemala Cobs, both the result of decades of study and selectivity by devoted specialists. As always, “Royals” (galanos) steal the attention in all three cob sections (Mexico, Lima, Potosí), including a unique Mexican 4 reales Royal dated 1612/1, expanding the cob market into a rarified level of special pieces for truly dedicated collectors.

Outside of cobs, this auction presents an enviable selection of Latin American trophy coins, including two concentrated collections in Chile (the Val y Mexía Collection of Chilean Bust 4 Reales) and Peru (the Almenara Collection of Peruvian Republic Gold Coins), plus key rarities in Spanish colonial pillar dollars (Mexico 1732 and Nuevo Reino 1759), Cuba (unique Guanabacoa medal dated 1747 plus many rare or unique modern proofs), Dominican Republic (10 reales silver pattern 1855), and Panama (1904 proof set), and a veritable panoply of types from around the world, not just the Americas (including some key U.S. coins) but also Europe, Asia, and even Africa. The mix extends from ancients and early hammered types to classic milled crowns and gold issues, all the way to modern proofs, and every section offers key pieces selected for rarity and quality in a range that rarely appears at auction.

           

The other side of numismatics is paper money, and in Latin America we continue a strong auction presence, here with a selection of incredibly rare and high-grade Dominican Republic notes issued between 1857 and 1865, all new to the market.

Finally, our auctions are unique for offering treasures in coin jewelry and shipwreck artifacts in a wide range of time periods (over two centuries), particularly from the Atocha (1622), Concepción (1641), Bannister’s pirate ship Golden Fleece (1686), 1715 Fleet, and S.S. Central America(1857).

As yet another exciting auction from the Sedwick company, this one is sure to get everyone’s collecting juices flowing, demonstrating that numismatics and treasure transform history and artistry into excitement and positive human collaboration, something our world can surely use more of today.

 

The Sedwick & Associates, LLC team:

Daniel Sedwick, Augi García-Barneche, Cori Sedwick Downing, Connor Falk,

Michelle Heidt, and Sarah Sproles

Live on the Internet, Thursday-Saturday, November 13, 14, & 15, 2025

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW!

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In Professionals We Trust

16 Feb
Chef David

Chef David

Last weekend, when my husband and I (and Augi and his wife too!) spent a sumptuous Valentine’s dinner at a cooking school with a chef, we learned a great deal about food preparation and cooking. And here I thought I was pretty good in the kitchen! It just goes to show that a professional beats an amateur any day of the week, and if you want to learn a lot, find a pro and become his mentor. It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about cooking or coins, the same principle applies. Bon appetit!

Last week, a reader asked what features in a given coin are sufficient enough to affect its value relative to another similar coin? While that’s a very hard question to answer because it’s so general, I can tell you something about judging cobs by way of an article my brother wrote for The Practical Book of Cobs. 

 How to Judge the Worth of a Cob 

by Daniel Frank Sedwick

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Judgment of the relative worth of a gold or silver cob, within the market range of its category at any given time, should reflect a composite evaluation of these factors:

  • 1.   What is the mint?
  • 2.   Is the mintmark visible, and how clearly so?  How many indications of mintmark are visible?  (Up to three are possible on silver cobs of the pillars-and-waves type.)
  • 3.   Is the full date visible?  In the case of a partial date, the final one or two digits are more important than the first one or two digits.  Or is the cob of a period when cobs were not dated, hence the absence of a date is no factor?
  • 4.   If dated, how many dates are visible, and how clearly so?  (Two or three dates are possible on some cobs, only one possible on others.)
  • 5.   Is the assayer’s initial visible, and how clearly so?  How many repetitions of the assayer’s initial are visible?  (Up to three are possible on silver cobs of the pillars-and-waves type.)
  • 6.   Is the legend readable?  Completely so?  Partially so?  Not at all?  (The king’s name and ordinal are the most desirable part of the wording to be visible.)
  • 7.   Is the denomination visible, and how clearly so?  (A second indication of denomination is possible on silver cobs of the pillars-and-waves type.)
  • 8.   How complete and clear are the elements of design and other details?  For example, what percentage of the shield, crown, and cross is visible?  How nice, or poor, are the lions and castles?
  • 9.   Are the design and details well centered, and on both sides or on only one side?  If not well centered, as is usually the case, what is gained and what is lost in the expansion of some peripheral details and the resultant reduction of others?
  • 10.  Is the strike bold, average, or weak?  Neatly struck or double struck?
  • 11.  Is the cut of the metal of a shape typical for its period and mint or in some way more, or less, attractive or interesting?  (Cracks in the edge, while natural, lower a cob’s value, although smaller splits are less detrimental.)
  • 12.  How closely does the weight of the coin approximate its original stipulated weight?  Has the coin lost weight from shaving, slinging, or immersion in the sea?
  • 13.  Has the coin been unnecessarily cleaned or polished?  (Cleaning is necessary for silver cobs from sea salvage or land burial, undesirable otherwise.)
  • 14.  Has the coin been holed?  Plugged?  Removed from jewelry?  Mutilated in any other way?  (Holes in silver cobs are frequent, so not as damaging to their value as in the case of machine-made coins, but a cob without a hole is still much preferable to the holed piece.)
  • 15.  What is the overall condition or grade by normal numismatic standards?  (Very few cobs are seen in Uncirculated grade, or even in About Uncirculated.)
  • 16.  Entirely a subjective judgment, how attractive is the overall appearance of the coin (“eye appeal”)?  Does the coin appeal to you?
  • 17.  How many coins of this type—such as mint, assayer, date, specific shipwreck or sea-salvage—have been on the market lately?  (Sometimes a hoard of similar coins is discovered, and what used to be rare can become less rare.)
  • 18.  Are you sure the coin is genuine?  (Its purchase or trade from a cob specialist—be he dealer or advanced collector—is the best guarantee, until you yourself are sufficiently experienced to make the judgment with confidence.)

The few coins that do not fit into the prevailing price ranges are the particularly awful specimens (greatly underweight, very poor details, badly corroded, or mutilated), which will be lower, and the extraordinarily nice ones (singular detail and beauty), which can be higher.

Like all commodities, the overall foreign or domestic coin market oscillates be­tween strength and weakness at a given time.  This can be affected by general economic conditions (rare coins are purchased with discretionary income), or by fad (silver dollars can be hot one month, commemorative half dollars the next; or British coins are in demand one year, Spanish coins the next), or by a temporary and usually accidental surfeit or shortage of certain types of coins.  For example, in the 1983-85 period a huge hoard of gold cobs of the 1715 fleet appeared on the market and depressed prices.  After the material was absorbed, prices rebounded and today are many times their former levels.  The test of a coin worth holding is the ability of its price to recuperate from any temporary depressant.  Buy the best and the rarest and in the long run you will be safe.

Reproduction of the articles in whole or part is strictly prohibited without written permission of the author/s.

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