Issue 2024 | 21st January 2012 UK £2.00 – USA $6.50 – Europe €3.95


toy reports page 18-22


Our quarterly report on sales of tinplate and diecasts


It’s a Royal Mint rip-off, says top dealer


■ Coincraft boycott special issues over accusations of overcharging the public


Ivan Macquisten reports


THE Royal Mint stands accused of ripping off the public through sales of coins as collectables. Even the latest Olympic issue is affected, it is claimed. The problem has become so


outrageous, says the UK’s leading dealer in the secondary market in non-gold coins from the Royal Mint that he has announced a boycott. “Their prices are often four times


what they should be,” says Richard Lobel, managing director of London-based


375 Live Ltd O F HA T T O N G AR D E N Precious Metals


Our buying prices against a fi x of £1070.83 are as follows am Thursday


9ct


14ct 18ct 22ct


per gram £12.52 per gram £19.48 per gram £25.04 per gram £30.60


Platinum per gram £27.00 H/M Silver per ounce £16.62


Phone for up to date prices Voted best prices in the Times


58G HATTON GARDEN, LONDON EC1N 8LX Offi ce: 020 7242 3235


vince375_live_ltd@yahoo.co.uk A n t i q u e s Tr a de Ga z e t t e: 115 Sh a f t e s b u r y Av e n u e , L o n d o n, WC 2H 8A F. P R I N T ED IN THE UN I T ED KI N G D OM


Coincraft, who has been involved in the coin collecting world since the 1950s. “Many of the limited issues are worth considerably less than the ticket price at the point of sale, with absolutely no hope of ever recouping the cost, let alone seeing values rise beyond that.” Mr Lobel, who has emailed fellow


members of the trade to let them know about the boycott, told them: “Let the Royal Mint buy back their own material. I am tired of having to tell collectors that, the silver proof £5 they bought from the Royal Mint at £99.50 is only worth £20 in the trade.” He sees the problem as little less


than a scandal. “The Royal Mint is either incompetent in setting prices or cynically exploiting non-expert buyers who think they are getting something special.” He also accuses the Royal Mint of


getting rid of specialist advisers who know how to value such coins in favour


continued on page 2


Jewelry, Art & Antique Show


Palm Beach FEB 17-21


THE MOST IMPORTANT SHOW OF ITS KIND IN THE UNITED STATES


www.palmbeachshow.com


14-20 June 2012 Private View 13 June


Albert Memorial West Lawn


Kensington Gardens, London Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 6555


www.haughton.com Incorporating the renowned International Ceramics Fair & Seminar


Two Rotating Forms II, 1966 by Barbara Hepworth, £250,000 at Sworders.


£250,000 Hepworth marks the beginning a new era


THIS alabaster sculpture by Barbara Hepworth (1903-19), entitled Two Rotating Forms II and dated 1966, began the new year in style for Sworders when it sold for £250,000 (plus 20 per cent buyer’s premium) on January 10. Measuring 11in (27cm) high from the wooden base, it came for sale in Stansted Mountfi tchet via a deceased estate. Attracting much interest in the run-up to the sale at its £60,000-80,000


estimate, 11 telephones lines were booked for lot 303 of the Decorative Art and Design Sale January 10 – the 109th anniversary of the artist’s birth. Bidding came down to two telephone bidders, a London dealer the purchaser. Following the January 1 extension of the Artist’s Resale Right to the estates of


artists who have been dead for less than 70 years, the buyer will pay an additional £6227.02, which after collection fees of £934.05 will leave £5292.97 to go to the Hepworth estate, the fi rst in what promises to be a bonanza of royalties.  See this week’s Letters on page 63.


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