The American Numismatic Society
NEWS RELEASE
96 Fulton Street
New York, 10038
Tel: (212) 571-4470
Fax: (212) 571-4479
http://www.numismatics.org
The American Numismatic Society NEWS RELEASE |
|
96 Fulton Street New York, 10038 Tel: (212) 571-4470 Fax: (212) 571-4479 http://www.numismatics.org |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MORTON & EDEN AUCTION MARATHON
RAISES RECORD £3.66 MILLION ($7.32M)
Dispersal of Medals, Orders and Decorations from the
Collection of the American Numismatic Society
is a complete sell-out
After marathon auctions in which 2,717 lots were sold over a total of five days, the dispersal of the medals, orders and decorations from the Collection of the American Numismatics Society ended on Thursday April 16 having raised a record £3,657,549 ($7,324,146). The total is a new world record auction for a collection of medals, orders and decorations from a single source. Every lot offered was sold.
On sale in the final auction was material from Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania and buyers responded with now customary zeal. Every one of the 593 lots sold, while the few lots unsold from previous sessions were also re-offered with the result that the collection was dispersed in its entirety.
From the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, the ANS accumulated more than 5,000 world campaign and gallantry medals, orders and decorations. However, in recent decades the Society has gradually refocused its priorities, concentrating on its role as a museum of money and related artifacts, moving into new headquarters near Wall Street in Manhattan, and partnering with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to create a major exhibition concerning the history of coins and currency. The medals, orders and decorations in its collection had not been exhibited for over 20 years when the ANS decided to de-accession the foreign materials - though the North American material is being retained. The proceeds of the sale will be used by the ANS to finance new acquisitions in line with its mission to create the definitive collection of world coinage.
Of particular significance was the largest disposal of Chinese medals, orders and decorations ever offered at a Western auction. Notable among the 160 lots dating from the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th Centuries was a very rare Imperial Order of the Double Dragon type 1 First Class, Third Grade neck badge issued between 1882 and1898, which was estimated at £3,000-4,000 ($5,800-7,700). It was purchased by Stacks, the New York specialist dealer, for £17,250 ($34,555). A similarly rare Second Class badge from the same order was purchased by a Chinese buyer who travelled to London for the sale for £16,100 ($32,248). It had been estimated at £2,000-3,000 and both badges had been in the ANS Collection since they were donated in 1925.
The Chinese collector also purchased a very rare breast star of the early Republican Order of Merit, founded in 1912 by President Yuan Shih Kai and awarded in relation to the recipient’s former precedence of rank in the Manchu court. Estimated at £1,500-2,000 ($2,800-3,800), it sold for £13,800 ($27,635). The Chinese section of yesterday’s sale alone raised £251,585 ($499,742).
The Japanese section of the sale was smaller, raising £18,929 ($37,593), but no less significant. Notable here was an extremely rare breast star of the Order of the Golden Kite which was awarded to senior officers for exceptional bravery in action, the order being abolished following the Second World War. It was purchased by Stacks for £5,750 ($11,513) against an estimate of £3,000-4,000 ($5,800-7,500).
A Grand Cross collar, badge and star of the Order of the Crown, issued by the Sultanate of Johore in Malaysia, estimated at £2,000-3,000 ($3,800-5,800) sold to a specialist dealer for £5,980 ($11,975) and a set of insignia of the Tunisian Order of Nichan-el-Ahad-el-Aman, issued by the Bey Sidi Hamad who ruled between 1929 and 1942, estimated at £2,000-3,000 ($3,800-5,800) sold to the same buyer for £4,140 ($8,295).
Among an exceptional selection of Mexican orders and decorations was a Star for the Defence of Texas, awarded in 1836 to officers who participated in the action against the rebels at San Antonio, the Alamo, Encinal and Gonal, which sold to a U.S. dealer acting for a private collector for £14,950 ($29,951). It had been estimated at £3,000-5,000 ($5,700-9,600).
However, the highlight of yesterday’s sale was the excessively rare first class insignia of the Burmese Order of the Tsalwé which was bestowed on Major-General Albert Fytche, Chief Commissioner of British Burma in 1867. Comparable to a British Knighthood, the insignia was in the form of an elaborately decorated solid gold collar weighing over half a kilogram. It was estimated at £20,000-30,000 ($38,500-58,000) but sold for £39,100 ($77,673). Fytche’s British campaign medals sold for £2,760 ($5,527). Both lots were purchased by a London dealer on behalf of a private collector, meaning order and medals will stay together.
During the Burma Campaign of 1852-53, Major-General Albert Fytche, C.S.I. (1823-1892) was a key figure in the British annexation of Bassein, a lawless province of which he was named Deputy Commissioner and received “the special thanks and warm approbation” of the Governor-General and of the Government of India on at least three occasions between 1853 and 1857.
He succeeded Sir Arthur Phayre as Chief Commissioner of British Burma in 1867 at a critical time in the development of Anglo-Burmese political and trade relations. His mission to Mandalay at the end of 1867 led to the successful conclusion of a major commercial treaty and the award of the Order of the Tsalwé by the King of Burma. As a writer, Fytche produced a number of works, the most notable of which is his Burma Past and Present, published in two volumes in 1878 and dedicated to his cousin, the Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson.
The final sale in the ANS dispersal had been expected to a raise of total of around £300,000 ($600,000). In the event, it totalled £564,213 ($1,129,935) following the pattern for the entire series of sales. The two previous sales, held in May and October last year, were originally expected to realise up to £1.2 million but in the event, they totalled £3.1 million, the rarity factor and the impeccable provenance forcing buyers to ignore published estimates in order to secure pieces that so rarely come onto the market.
Highlights across the series of sales included:
Ute Wartenberg Kagan, Director of the ANS, commented: “I was delighted. The sales were conducted extremely well and produced so many exceptional prices. This will benefit enormously the Society’s ability to maintain and strengthen its core numismatic collections in the future.”
Said auctioneer James Morton: “This was a landmark series of sales. In the long history of collecting medals, orders and decorations I do not believe there has ever before been an auction in which so many individual pieces covering such a broad range of content has been dispersed at one time. The response from buyers has been universally positive. We were honoured to have been chosen by the American Numismatic Society to conduct the sales and delighted that they were so well received.”
Notes to editors:
Morton & Eden Ltd., are specialist auctioneers of Collectors’ Coins of all periods and types, War Medals, Orders and Decorations, Historical Medals and Banknotes. The company was founded in 2001 by James Morton and Tom Eden, who were both directors of the Coins and Medals Department at Sotheby’s, with whom the company maintains a close association.
All prices include the 15% buyers’ premium paid at the sale.
For more information regarding Part 2 of the ANS sale please contact:
Press Officer: Christopher Proudlove, Tel/Fax: 01492 544 514. Email: chris@Chris-Proudlove.co.uk
At Morton & Eden: James Morton, Tom Eden or Paul Wood, Morton & Eden Ltd, 45 Maddox Street, London W1S 2PE. Tel: 020 7493 5344. Fax: 020 7495 6325; Email: info@mortonandeden.com
At Sotheby’s: in New York: Matthew Weigman, Tel: (001) 212 606 7176. Email: matthew.weigman@sothebys.com; in London: Mitzi Mina, Tel 020 7293 5169. Email: mitzi.mina@sothebys.com
------------------------------------------------