LONDON.- An impressive single-owner collection of 33 Sovereigns from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I sold for £1,640,520* against a pre-sale estimate of £800,000 at international coins, medals, banknotes and jewellery specialists Dix Noonan Webb, today (Wednesday, November 17, 2021). The George Holloway Collection of Fine Sovereigns of Elizabeth I was 100% sold and comprised 33 examples of the largest coin produced during Elizabeth’s reign and the collection is is thought to be about a tenth of the total number of specimens still in existence. Mr Holloway, who lived in the East Midlands, collected these coins over a 60-year period and the collection was sold by his family.

As Peter Preston-Morley, Head of Coin Department at Dix Noonan Webb, commented: "The sale was a phenomenal success and brought a hammer price that was over £500,000 more than we were expecting. 27 online bidders competed with a full room of buyers, with virtually everything being bought by people based in the UK, including all the top-priced coins. It remains a great testament to a dedicated student collector, who trawled auction catalogues and dealer’s lists from all over the world over almost 60 years in his quest for these magisterial coins.”

The highest price of the sale was a First issue Sovereign, that was issued between 1559 and 1560. Depicting the Queen seated on an ornamented throne holding an orb and sceptre on one side and the Royal arms in the centre of a Tudor rose on the other, this coin is one of only eight known to exist, and sold for £173,600 against an estimate of £60,000-80,000 [lot 1]. From the Second issue was another depicting the Queen in a similar pose, which was one of 18 known to exist and also sold for £173,600, following an estimate of £40,000-50,000 [lot 6] and a later Second issue coin dating from 1592 to 1593 and one of nine known to exist sold for £136,400 against an estimate of £30,000-40,000 [lot 33].

Another Second issue example from 1585 to 1587 realised £117,800 against an estimate of £30,000-40,000 [lot 7] and from the same dates, another Sovereign sold for £111,600 [lot 14].