Venerable auction house Stack’s Bowers & Ponterio continued their market-leading Hong Kong sales with another successful spring auction held in April. The firm presented 9,558 lots of coins, medals, tokens, and currency, which realized a total of $22.96 million. With this lofty sum, the firm celebrates its seventh consecutive Hong Kong sale with total prices exceeding $20 million—a stunning benchmark proving that, when Chinese and related coinage is sold, it is Stack’s Bowers & Ponterio that provides notable results. (All prices include the buyer’s premium.)
Rarities Night represented the majority of the superb prices, with a Mint State 1906 Gold K’uping Tael Pattern realizing $720,000, and the remarkable “mint sport” Silver Dollar featuring General Chang Tso-lin bringing $540,000. An elusive 1932 “Birds under Junk” Silver Dollar (or “Sun”) Pattern brought $528,000, an 1898 Kiangnan Dollar sold for $480,000, and a specimen 1911 Silver “Reversed Dragon” Dollar Pattern fetched $456,000. Stunning results were not limited to Rarities Night, however, with other strong realizations coming in the form of a Filipino 2 Reales (countermarked upon a Peruvian host) that realized $96,000, an 1864 Hong Kong Silver Dollar Pattern, a 2018 Great Britain Gold 1000 Pounds, and a 1953 People’s Bank of China 10 Yuan that each brought $78,000, and an early 20th century Pei-Yang Tientsin Bank 1 Tael Front Color Trial Specimen that sold for $72,000.
Other World Coin Highlights:
Lot 40023: CHINA. Fengtien. 7 Mace 2 Candareens (Dollar), CD (1903). Fengtien Mint. Kuang-hsu (Guangxu). PCGS MS-64. Sold for $264,000.
Lot 40024: CHINA. Fengtien. 7 Mace 2 Candareens (Dollar), CD (1903). Fengtien Mint. Kuang-hsu (Guangxu). PCGS MS-64. Sold for $276,000.
Lot 40050: CHINA. Kiangnan. Copper 7 Mace 2 Candareens (Dollar) Pattern, ND (1897). Birmingham (Heaton) Mint. Kuang-hsu (Guangxu). PCGS SPECIMEN-63 Brown. Sold for $312,000.
Lot 40087: CHINA. Kweichow. Auto Dollar (7 Mace 2 Candareens), Year 17 (1928). Uncertain Mint, likely Chengdu. PCGS MS-61. Sold for $228,000.
Lot 40089: CHINA. Kweichow. Auto Dollar (7 Mace 2 Candareens), Year 17 (1928). Uncertain Mint, likely Chengdu. PCGS AU-58. Sold for $252,000.
Lot 40120: CHINA. Silver Tael Pattern Restrike, CD (1906). Tientsin Mint. Kuang-hsu (Guangxu). NGC MS-65. Sold for $312,000.
Lot 40123: CHINA. 7 Mace 2 Candareens (Dollar), ND (1908). Tientsin Mint. Kuang-hsu (Guangxu). PCGS SPECIMEN-64. Sold for $372,000.
Lot 40170: CHINA. Gold Dollar Pattern, ND (1916). Tientsin Mint. Hung-hsien (Hongxian [Yuan Shih-kai]). PCGS SPECIMEN-64+. Sold for $396,000.
Lot 40171: CHINA. Dollar, ND (1916). Tientsin Mint. Hung-hsien (Hongxian [Yuan Shih-kai]). PCGS MS-66. Sold for $264,000.
Complete prices realized for the Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio April 2024 Hong Kong (SAR) Auction can be found at StacksBowers.com. For additional questions regarding this sale, or to consign to the firm’s October 2024 Hong Kong Auction, please call the firm’s headquarters at 800-458-4646, or email Consign@StacksBowers.com.
About Stack’s Bowers Galleries
Stack’s Bowers Galleries conducts live, internet and specialized auctions of rare U.S. and world coins and currency and ancient coins, as well as direct sales through retail and wholesale channels. The company’s nearly 90-year legacy includes the cataloging and sale of many of the most valuable United States coin and currency collections to ever cross an auction block — The D. Brent Pogue Collection, The John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, The Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Collection, The Joel R. Anderson Collection, The Norweb Collection, The Cardinal Collection, The Sydney F. Martin Collection and The Battle Born Collection — to name just a few. World coin and currency collections include The Pinnacle Collection, The Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection of World Gold Coins, The Kroisos Collection, The Alicia and Sidney Belzberg Collection, The Salton Collection, The Wa She Wong Collection, and The Thos. H. Law Collection.
The company is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, with galleries in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Offices are also located in New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Sacramento, South Carolina, Virginia, Hong Kong, Paris and Vancouver. Stack’s Bowers Galleries hosts an annual Global Showcase in August featuring United States coins and currency, Ancient coins and World coins and currency in its Costa Mesa auction gallery. They are also the Official Auctioneer for several important numismatic events, including the New York International Numismatic Convention, the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Spring, Summer and Winter Expos, the Spring and Fall Hong Kong shows, and the Maastricht Paper Money Shows.