Cyprus 1900 piastre
The first specimen was lot 33722 in Heritage sale 3076 (Long Beach, CA, September 2019), where it sold for $288. The catalog description[1] noted, "Cyprus: British Colony. Victoria Piastre 1900 VF30 Brown NGC. One of the lowest mintage dates for the issue, which comes endowed with aged coffee tones and pleasantly light, even wear." The second specimen was lot 20101 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (Newport Beach, CA, January 2021), where it sold for $1,500. The catalog description[2] noted, "CYPRUS. Piastre, 1900. London Mint. Victoria. NGC Unc Details--Cleaned. A nicely preserved and attractive example of this SCARCE date exhibiting a bold full strike displaying lovely rich patina. Evidence of being cleaned long ago now slightly subdued by the mottled gun metal coloration offering a pleasing appearance. Despite its shortcomings a presentable survivor worthy of consideration from the specialist. We note that a much lower quality example graded VERY FINE to EXTREMELY FINE sold in a European auction in 2015 hammered down for 550 Swiss Francs." This type, one-ninth of a shilling, was struck in small numbers 1879-1900 with the late subtype dating 1881-1900. It is not rare in low grade.
Recorded mintage: 27,000 + proofs, a better date but not the key.
Specification: bronze.
Catalog reference: KM 3.2.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano and Warren Tucker, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Auction 3076, featuring the Allen Moretti Swiss Collection and the James Mossman Collection of Canadian Coinage, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2019.
- [2]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The January 2021 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Oro del Nuevo Mundo and Matt Orsini Collections, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.
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