News & Blog

£3.7 million coin sold!

Posted on Fri, 8 April 2011 by Phil Mussell - General News, Coin News


Congratulations go to Morton and Eden whose recent sale saw an Islamic coin fetch a staggering new record - the Umayyad dinar, dated 105h (723AD) was struck from gold mined at a location owned by the Caliph himself - known on the coins as the “Mine of the Commander of the Faithful”. An additional legend which reads: “bi’l-Hijaz” (“in the Hejaz”), makes it the earliest Islamic coin to mention a location in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It had been expected to realise £300,000-400,000, but four bidders in the saleroom sent the price spiraling ever higher to the fantastic sum of £3.7 million! Making it the most expensive Islamic coin sold at auction and the second most expensive of all time after the 1933 double Eagle (sold in 2002 for $7.59million)




A second, slightly earlier dinar (92h - 711AD) struck from gold from the same mines sold for £648,000. It had been estimated at £250,000-300,000.


 


All in all a good day on teh rostrum - more news on the sale in the June issue of COIN NEWS