Dr. Jürgen Baur Collection - Medals

The Jürgen Baur medal collection is just as significant as his collection of Cologne coins and medals, which we had the pleasure of offering in our last auction. Perhaps in some respects it is even more important. In its completeness, it is worthy of a documentary exhibition on the subject of medallic art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It begins with the Art Deco of the Belle Époque - known in German-speaking countries as Jugendstil - with the strongholds of Paris and Vienna as the centers of medallic and sculptural art of their time.

The collection also contains numerous works by Munich medallists who had a decisive influence on the further development of the fine arts, such as Josef Bernhart, Maximilian Dasio, Ludwig Gies and Karl Goetz. In turbulent times, the artists were forced to deal with two world wars, especially the First World War as the primal catastrophe of the 20th century, sometimes more, sometimes less critically. With regard to Judaism in Germany, the work of Benno Elkan and Arthur Loewent(h)al is of special importance. Of course, collectors of personal medals, city views etc. who are less interested in art than in their thematic field should not miss out on this important collection.

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Auction 435: Ancient - Medieval - Modern coins- Literature

The results of the fall auction of Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. (Frankfurt) show that collecting historical coins is still very popular, resulting in an overall high price level. Special coins often achieve surprisingly high prices. A good example of this is the bronze coin for Cleopatra VII with an unusual portrait of the queen (no. 192). With an estimate of €1,500, the bidding struggle only ended at €6,000. Our title piece, the golden Trihemistater of Carthage (no. 177) achieved a hammer price of €38,000 with an estimate of €30,000. The fact that this piece was hammered for CHF 30,000 in Switzerland less than two years ago illustrates the price trend for exclusive ancient coins in recent years. The bidding battle for the Binio of Gallienus (no. 293) only ended at €24,000 (estimate €10,000). The rare solidus of Constantius II (no. 317) was sold for €5,500 (estimate €3,000) and the even rarer Magnentius (no. 322) fetched € 6,500 (estimate €4,000).
The foreign coins that followed in the afternoon sold well. In particular, the modern Chinese coin sets from the 1980s, Polish thalers and Orts as well as the Russian coins were highly contested. A so-called "Ganggut-Ruble" from 1914 (no. 733) fetched a proud €11,000. Also on the same day, the coins of the Habsburg hereditary lands sold excellently as usual. Emperor Franz Joseph's coins in particular continued to hold their own at a high level. The 100 Crowns gold coin from 1907 commemorating the anniversary of his coronation in Hungary fetched a hammer price of €9,000 (no. 877). Austria's secondary territories, such as Salzburg and Transylvania, were also well observed via the Internet from locals and abroad and consistently fetched good prices. Wednesday's feudal German coins were characterized by a large number of thalers and silver denominations before 1800 and were very well received by the public. The series of medium-priced talers from the imperial cities of Augsburg, Nuremberg and Regensburg as well as old talers in general were particularly well received across the board. The afternoon showed that German coins after 1871 remain probably the most popular collecting area for the local general public. Prices remained solid, and a number of commemorative coins from the Weimar Republic in proof condition in particular fetched very good prices. As always at Peus’, the combined lots at the end of the day achieved high results, as numerous dealers from near and far had inspected them well in advance.

Auction 436: 
Jürgen Baur Collection - Cologne and linked territories

The third day of the auction was reserved entirely for the Baur collection, Cologne coins and medals, as well as some very rare coins from Cologne's neighbors. The pennies and obols of the Middle Ages, which the collector was often able to acquire at favorable prices at the beginning of his collecting activities, were particularly hotly contested. The quality of the collection attracted a great deal of attention here, as it did later on, resulting in numerous top results that cannot possibly be listed here. A look at the list of results, which will be published shortly, is recommended. As expected, the areas related to Cologne were also generally well received. The medals of the Teutonic Order relating to Cologne and especially the coins of Arenberg, some of which achieved record results, stood out in particular. Overall, the hammer price of the Baur collection exceeded its estimate by a whopping 65%.

The total increase of both auctions was once again almost 30 %. Despite the strong competition from the auction room and the Internet, we would once again like to thank the numerous bidders who placed their trust in us in advance with their pre-bids and were often pleased to receive numerous hammer prices below their bids.

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Ancient - Medieval - Modern coins

Dr. Busso Peus got off to a good start in 2023 with its 434th auction. The two large collections that formed the basic framework of the antiquities lots, "Saarländischer Apotheker" (Greeks) and "Dr. E." (Romans) were very well bid for. The title piece, a gold stater of Kalchedon (no. 178), came from the first-mentioned collection and was hammered for € 5,000 at an estimate of € 3,000, which is representative of the increase in the overall auction. The gold pentadrachm of Ptolemy I (no. 312) doubled its price from € 5,000 to 10,000, and the mnaeion (no. 313) was also hammered at € 10,000 (estimate € 6,000). The fact that a special focus of our customers is on excellent quality was proven, for example, by the drachm of Kalchedon (no. 176), which is generally common, but which jumped from € 200 to € 1,200.
Among the Roman coins, the aes nominals were particularly in demand. For example, a Dupondius for Livia (no. 420), which had last been auctioned in our house in the Neussel Collection (2017), did not cost € 650 this time, but a whopping € 1,400 (estimate € 200). A sestertius of Caligula (no. 422) even rose from € 250 to € 3,000. Roman gold also achieved robust prices. One example is the aureus of Lucius Verus (no. 586) on the installation of the Parthian king, which achieved a result of € 19,000 with an estimate of €15,000. Among the silver coins, the excellent pieces again caused bidding wars, for example, an excellent Nerva denarius (no. 511) rose from € 350 to € 1,100. The lots were almost fiercely bid for, with a tenfold increase in the estimated price not uncommon.

Friday began with the traditionally hotly contested sections of coins of non-German countries and the Habsburg hereditary lands. Here, the Internet participated lively, because many dealers and collectors of foreign countries knew to appreciate the rarities of their homeland and did not shy away from high prices after a long struggle. A few figures should illustrate this. In addition to the many very good results for smaller gold coins, the Polish specimens particularly stood out. The rare 5 Zlotych variety from 1925 (no. 2079) achieved a hammer price of €4,200 at an estimate of €1,500. Another specimen of a 10 zlotych commemorative coin on Romuald Traugutt (no. 2083) fetched €3,600. On the whole, the hammer price exceeded the estimate by 33%. The interest of the mainly East-Central European numismatists in the more than 140 coins of the Habsburg monarchy was even more pronounced. Here, the estimate was even doubled. As a highlight, a 100 crown commemorative coin 1908 for the 60th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Josef (no. 2251) fetched a proud €13,000. The final series of the morning was the auctioning of two fine, partly complementary, collections from the Imperial castle Friedberg. In addition to the always popular talers, small coins were not spurned here. To highlight individual results here would go beyond the scope of this report. Only this much: the estimate of the 31 individual lots was outbid by 89%. Small coins in lots were also not ignored later. As expected, the pre- and post-1871 German coins auctioned in the afternoon were solidly bid in all areas and again significantly outperformed their overall estimate. The lots for the crowning finale had, as always, been well inspected by the dealers in advance and achieved prices in the hall as well as on the internet that should reconcile every consignor with the traditionally low estimates of Peus Nachf.

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Auction 432: Collection Peter Kress - Saxe-Hildburghausen

A report on the worl coins of this year's fall auction must begin with the special auction of the Peter Kreß Collection. It was, as most of you are probably aware, a collection of Saxe-Hildburghausen coins assembled over 50 years, which not only included the aforementioned core area in probably unique completeness, but also followed to a particular extent the dynastic ties of the ducal family and also reflected the cultural-historical importance of the small duchy in coins and medals. Especially the core area of the collection, peppered with rarities, attracted the special collectors into the hall or increasingly in front of the computers at home. In all price segments, rarely offered collector's items often changed hands only after long struggles. Here, not only the prestigious thalers and ducats, but also the often disdained small denomination coins were driven up to several times their estimate. Among the top pieces was a ducat from 1771, which was bid up from €20,000 to a proud €38,000. In silver, a convention thaler from 1760 estimated at € 5,000 changed hands only for € 14,000. Among the small denomination coins, a 5 Kreuzer 1770 (estimate €500, hammer price €3,000) and a 20 Kreuzer 1781 (estimate €1,000; hammer price €3,400) should be mentioned here as examples. The highlight of this autumn auction was reached at the auction of the Necessity-Klippen from the Fortress Braunau, which the Saxe-Hildburghausen’s Prince Ludwig Friedrich had minted during the ultimately unsuccessful defense. A 2 ducat Klippe, according to our knowledge not yet offered in the trade achieved the top result of the fall auction with a hammer price of 60,000 Euro. The other denominations in this series were also highly bid for in advance by interested parties from Germany and abroad and achieved record prices, often in the five-digit range. It was quieter with the medals and small denomination coins with closer and further reference to Hildburghausen until it came in the large collecting areas of Bavaria and Brunswick-Hanover again to struggles between pre-bidders, collectors and dealers in the hall and anonymous customers on the Internet. A specimen to the Bavarian "Blessing of Heaven" Thaler 1828 achieved a hammer price of €14,000.

Auction 433: Ancient - medieval - modern coins

As expected, the antiques section of our autumn auction achieved robust prices. All in all, the estimate almost doubled. Considering that these are estimated prices and not, as is often the case, "bait prices", this is a very nice result. Some pieces with unexpectedly strong price increases contributed significantly to this pleasing result, especially for the consignors. For example, the pretty stater of Kaulonia (no. 1065) achieved a result of € 18,000 at an estimate of € 5000 -- not least thanks to its excellent provenance, which was only revealed by our consignor. The title piece, the tetradrachm of Rhegion (no. 1073), fetched € 26,000 (estimate € 12,500), the price that a coin of this quality currently has to achieve. The very rare didrachm from Kamarina with the facing head of the local river god (estimate € 6000) triggered an intense bidding war that ended only at € 42,000. The percentage increase in the estimate (€ 2000) of an Alexander tetradrachm from Memphis (no. 1200) was even greater, and it only found its new owner at € 20,000. The Roman gold coins remained within expectations; the very rare aureus of Octavian (no. 1443) achieved € 19.000 (estimate € 20.000), the earlier one of Marcus Antonius (no. 1439) was knocked down at € 22.000 (estimate € 25.000). The good quality Roman bronzes were particularly appreciated by the bidders. The estimate for the rare quadrant of Titus (no. 1479) increased eightfold to € 400.

The mixed offering of coins and medals in the universal catalog for the 433rd auction was consistently well received. The number of unsold pieces was extremely low in all fields, proving that coin collecting remains a stable hobby even in the current crisis and that money is loose among collectors and investors alike. The international participation via the Internet also proved that the auctions of Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. still have an excellent reputation in the world and are keenly observed. The fact that viewing the coins in person is worthwhile was demonstrated by a consignment of mostly non-German coins with strong patinas, which once again proved how conservatively Peus Nachf. estimates the preservation of its offered coins. The surveyors were so impressed by the quality that they sometimes exceeded the estimates by a factor of ten. Among the Feudal German coins and medals, a universal collection with the image of the swan as a leitmotif was well received. The Graichen collection of strikes, specimens, miss-mintages, and curiosities of small denomination feudal German coins attracted much attention and was disputed between the room and the internet. The coins of the German Empire achieved very high hammer prices and the later German coins also brought good results. The combined lots had been well inspected in advance and brought consistently good prices. On the whole, the Kreß collection exceeded the estimate by 66%, the world coin section in catalog 433 was 59% above the estimate.