Copeland Roberts Auction 020 Realises $542,314 With 99.3% Clearance

The highest result of Auction 020 was Lot 120, the 2001 Royal Australian Mint Centenary of Federation Gold Proof Set.

With a maximum mintage of only 650 sets, it sold for $23,424 including buyer's premium against an estimate of 18,000–20,000.

Lot 148, the 2015 Kimberley Sunset 2oz Pink Gold Proof High Relief Coin, was another major result. Struck in 22-carat pink gold and featuring a genuine Argyle pink diamond, it realised $17,812 including buyer's premium against an estimate of 12,000–15,000.

Two complete 2000 Sydney Olympics Gold Proof Coin Collections also performed well, with Lot 119 realising $16,104 and Lot 118 $15,860, including buyer's premium.

The gold was always going to account for a number of the highest-value lots, but some of the results I found more interesting were further down the catalogue.

That is where we saw collectors competing strongly for better-grade coins, key dates, scarce modern issues and unusual pieces where the numismatic value was more important than simply the value of the metal.

Lot 95, the 1911–1929 Perth Mint Framed George V Sovereign Mintmark Collection, contained seven sovereigns representing London, Sydney, Ottawa, Perth, Melbourne, Bombay and Pretoria.

Estimated at 8,000–10,000, the collection realised $11,834 including buyer's premium.

Lot 79, a 1908-M Half Sovereign catalogued as Fine, was another strong result. Estimated at 600–700, it sold for $1,220 including buyer's premium.

There continues to be good demand for Australian sovereigns, particularly where there is something more interesting about the coin than simply its gold content.

Complete collections, better dates and coins with genuine scarcity continue to attract attention.

Australian pre-decimal material remains an important part of our auctions and there were several results from Auction 020 worth highlighting.

Lot 32, a 1943-I (b) Penny graded PCGS MS64RD, sold for $2,318 including buyer's premium against an estimate of 1,200–1,500.

A complete 1910–1963 Dansco Florin Album, Lot 48, realised $2,135 against an estimate of 1,000–1,500.

Lot 54, a 1932 Florin graded PCGS XF45, sold for $885 including buyer's premium against an estimate of 400–600.

The 1932 Florin remains a key date in the Australian florin series and is the type of coin that will nearly always attract competition when it is properly graded and presented.

This is also the type of material I want to see more of in Copeland Roberts auctions: key dates, better grades, rare varieties and established Australian collections.

There were also some very good results in modern Australian material.

Lot 520, a 2016 Changeover 50c graded PCGS PR70DCAM and recorded as Top Pop, sold for $793 including buyer's premium against an estimate of 200–300.

Lot 375, a 1985 Proof Set graded PCGS PR70DCAM, realised $1,098 against an estimate of 300–600.

Modern Australian coins vary enormously in quality and value. Much of the material is relatively common, but exceptional grades, low mintages, important varieties and genuinely scarce issues can be a completely different market.

We are seeing an increasingly sophisticated market develop around the best modern Australian material and I expect this area to remain interesting over the coming years.

One of the better banknote results was Lot 723, the 1991 25th Anniversary of Decimal Currency Rare Collector Edition.

Only 800 of these portfolios were produced. The set combines the final pre-decimal and first decimal banknotes with matching final serial digits and sold for $4,819 including buyer's premium.

There was also strong competition at a much lower price point.

Lot 732, an accumulation of Australian $1 and $2 notes dating from 1966 to 1985, was estimated at 180–220 and ultimately realised $640.50 including buyer's premium.

Results like this are a useful reminder that you do not necessarily need a five-figure rarity to create competitive bidding. Interesting material at sensible estimates can attract plenty of attention.

While individual highlights are useful, one of the figures I pay the most attention to after an auction is the clearance rate.

In Auction 020 we sold 750 of the 755 lots offered.

Only five lots passed in.

That gave us a 99.3% sell-through rate, while 159 lots sold above their high estimate.

For someone consigning an entire collection, this matters.

A collection is rarely made up exclusively of headline rarities. There might be several exceptional coins, followed by hundreds of pieces ranging from a few hundred dollars through to several thousand dollars.

An auction house needs buyers for the whole collection, not just the best five coins.

The clearance rate in Auction 020 gives me confidence in the depth of the bidder base we are continuing to build.

When we started Copeland Roberts, I wanted to build an auction house that serious Australian collectors would want to buy from and consign to.

That takes time.

You need to build a bidder base, establish trust in the cataloguing and consistently bring interesting material to market.

We have now reached the point where I want to become increasingly selective about the material we take and continue moving the auctions further towards important individual coins and substantial collections.

I would rather offer a properly catalogued collection of quality Australian coins than simply add another thousand ordinary lots to an auction.

The quality of the catalogue is ultimately what determines the quality of the buyers you attract.

That does not mean every coin needs to be worth $20,000.

A $500 coin can be an excellent auction lot if it is scarce, unusually high grade, historically interesting or something collectors genuinely want.

The aim is to offer good numismatic material and to present it properly.

Auction 020 was another step in that direction.

With Auction 020 complete, we are now working on Copeland Roberts Auction 021.

We are particularly interested in speaking with owners of significant Australian coins and banknotes, sovereigns and half sovereigns, high-grade certified coins, important errors and varieties, specialist collections and larger estates.

We are also very interested in established collections that have taken many years to assemble.

These collections often benefit from being carefully broken down, researched and offered in a way that allows specialist collectors to compete for the individual pieces they want.

Where a collection has an important history or provenance, we also want to preserve that identity when it is offered.

If you own an important coin or banknote, have built a substantial collection, or are responsible for an inherited collection or deceased estate, we are always happy to have an initial discussion.

For significant material we can review the collection, discuss estimates and reserves and explain how we would propose presenting it at auction.

There is no obligation to consign simply because you have asked us to look at a collection.

Our aim is to continue building Copeland Roberts into one of Australia's leading specialist numismatic auction houses, and the quality of the collections entrusted to us is going to be a major part of that.

Contact the Copeland Roberts team to discuss an upcoming consignment.