LONDON.- An extremely fine and extremely rare; arguably the rarest issue in the Irish unofficial farthing series sold for a world record price of £2,976 – 10 times its pre-sale estimate - in sale of Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals on Tuesday & Wednesday, May 4 & 5, 2021 by international coins, medals, banknotes and jewellery specialists Dix Noonan Webb. Engraved James Mabbs, Albion Bakery, 27 Patrick Street, Cork, the copper token dated from 1840-1870 and was part of the Collection of Irish Tokens of the late Barry Woodside, who was born in Belfast. It was estimated at £300-400, however after much competition, it was bought by an Irish Collector [lot 835].

Also from the Woodside Collection, which comprised 40 lots which sold for a total of £20,795, was a group of three tokens from Belfast which fetched £4,464 after very fierce competition, it was bought by a UK collector for almost 30 times its pre-sale estimate of £100-150 [lot 830].

Other fascinating collections in the sale included a collection of British coins that was amassed 240 years ago by Samuel Birchall of Leeds. Comprising 148 lots, the Collection realised a combined total of £147,678. The highest price was achieved by a sixpence from the reign of Charles I (1625-1649), which was in almost mint condition and sold for £7,440 against an estimate of £1,000-1,200 to a US buyer [lot 115]. Also of note was a very rare Harold II penny, minted by one of the rarest of the eight Lincoln moneyers, dating from 1066 which sold for £5,952 [lot 12]. This was one of three Harold II pennies in the sale.

Also in the sale was the collection of 17th century tokens formed by the late Robert Thompson (Part II), which saw the highest price paid for a lot comprising two civic tokens from Limerick including a very fine example of a City Farthing from Limerick, dating from 1658 which sold to a US buyer for £1,612 against an estimate of £90-120 [lot 808].