British and World Coins, Historical Medals

Anthony C., English Coins: [A] Collection begun in 1879, an extremely detailed handwritten account of the collection of British coins formed by Charles Anthony, from Gallo-Belgic issues down to 1937 type coins of George VI, including rubbings of all coins, details of their provenances and prices paid, 250pp. Half-leather and boards; extremities scuffed, otherwise sound, a fascinating record and unique £300-£500

Provenance: Ex libris Charles Anthony Jr, with his bookplate; David Sealy.

Charles Anthony Jr formed a considerable collection of coins, beginning in 1879 with the acquisition of a Charles I shilling, mm. harp, for 3/6 from a “Dealer, Drawbridge, Bristol” and a 1708 shilling for half a crown from a “Dealer, Triangle, Bristol”. During the early 1880s he was acquiring coins from the likes of the pawnbroker and jeweller Abraham Myer in Hereford, F. Redfern & Co in Peterborough, James Verity in Dewsbury and particularly Robert Sadd Jr (1815-94), a second-generation Cambridge jeweller, from whom he bought a considerable range of coins in 1884. By 1885 he had discovered the London dealers, becoming an occasional purchaser from Lincoln down to 1927, while his first acquisitions from the then-new firm of Spink, at 2 Gracechurch street, namely extremely fine crowns of 1720 and 1739 for £2 each, were made in 1886. Visits to un-named dealers in Wardour street and Charing Cross at the same time yielded further pieces. During the 1890s occasional coins were acquired from circulation in the year of issue, but apart from new issues acquired from banks at the time, between 1900 and 1920 the only purchase appears to have been an oval countermarked dollar, bought in Buenos Aires in 1906 for the equivalent of eight shillings. Commencing again in 1920, Anthony proceeded to expand the collection with purchases from Spink and Baldwin and, from 1935, from Seaby; the latest acquisitions from all three firms were made in July and August 1947. The Buenos Aires connection yielded a Richard III groat, which cost 4/6 in 1927, and preceded Anthony’s most active decade, the 1930s, when he acquired large numbers of coins from the major London dealers and participated directly in several Glendining auctions, including the Drabble and Waite Sanderson sales. His collection was housed in three cabinets, one of which, made in Kingswood c. 1739, was made for George Montgomerie of Thundersley (1712-66). The collection was bought by Seaby in either late 1947 or early 1948 and first marketed by them in February 1948; some of the gold coins from it were acquired by Major William Tapp, MC, a portion of whose collection was sold in these rooms in March 2017