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Ira and Larry Goldberg are experts in the Numismatic field with over 50 years of experience. In 2010, they were each awarded a Lifetime Achievement for their contributions to the Numismatic Community. Over the last three decades, they have helped people build world-class collections which have realized record-breaking prices. Click the image below to read more about Ira and Larry Goldberg.
World’s Most Valuable
Private Coin Collection Revealed
see the website www.thetyrantcollection.com
The Tyrant Collection is to be displayed in a multi-year series of exhibits at the Long Beach Expo
(Beverly Hills, California) November 27, 2017 – The existence of a previously unreported collection of the world’s most famous and valuable ancient, world and United States rare coins is being revealed for the first time. The Tyrant Collection, which includes a treasured 1937 Edward VIII proof set, will be publicly displayed over the course of several years through a series of exhibits at upcoming Long Beach Expo conventions.
“For a number of years, the Tyrant collector has been assembling what is undoubtedly the world’s most valuable coin collection in private hands, worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Ira Goldberg, President of Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, Inc. (www.GoldbergCoins.com) in Los Angeles, California, who provided guidance in assembling The Tyrant Collection. “I’m sure collectors will be surprised and delighted as more information is revealed about upcoming displays of this remarkable collection.”
“The focus of the collection is tyrants of every age and culture,” explained the anonymous owner of The Tyrant Collection.
“Tyrants go by many titles: Kings and Queens, Emperors and Empresses, Czars and Czarinas, Dictators, Regents, Popes, Caliphs, Sultans, and Khans. But what defines them is their absolute power over a territory containing millions of people. Tyrants have been the primary shapers of history for thousands of years. One of the first things tyrants do upon obtaining power is strike coins with their name and likeness, announcing their claim to their territory. And they continue to mint coins to maintain their claim until the day they die or are deposed. Everyday coinage is the primary means by which tyrants notify their subjects and rivals of their tyranny,” the collector said.
“Coins still exist for nearly every tyrant of the last two thousand years who ever ruled a substantial country for more than a few weeks. The objective of The Tyrant Collection is to obtain a coin of every tyrant who ruled every major territory or country, preferably a large gold coin boldly displaying the tyrant’s name, likeness and titles,” he added.
The Tyrant Collection is divided into sections, one for each of the major civilizations which issued coins for an extended period of time. Civilizations require access to water for irrigation and transportation, so they tend to develop around bodies of water, such as rivers, lakes, and seas. Each section of The Tyrant Collection is named after the body of water it dominates.
One section of The Tyrant Collection, “The Tyrants of the Thames,” is the most valuable collection of English coins in private hands. Dozens of major rarities are contained within this collection, but the highlight is the single most valuable English numismatic item: the only complete proof set of Edward VIII in private hands.
When Edward VIII became King of England, the Royal Mint prepared five proof sets of the coins bearing his portrait, and these were scheduled to be issued in January of 1937. But on December 11, 1936, Edward VIII abdicated his throne to marry the woman he loved. By this act, Edward VIII became the only king of England for whom no coins were issued as money within the United Kingdom.
“Gold coins do not rust, tarnish, or decay. A two-thousand-year-old gold coin can look as if it was minted yesterday,” explained the owner of The Tyrant Collection.
“Large portrait coins are works of art commissioned by tyrants who commanded the greatest artists of their realms to render their effigies to last for thousands of years. The artistry is amazing. The few paintings or statues of the most influential and powerful people in history are locked away in museums that the public almost never sees. But here at the Long Beach Expo you will be able to see thousands of contemporary portraits, from life, of the most famous and powerful figures of history. I had so much fun assembling this collection that I want to share with the public the centuries of art, history, power, and money it comprises,” he stated.
Now, for the first time, collectors everywhere and the general public may view the coins which form this spectacular collection. The first exhibit from The Tyrant Collection will be held at the February 22 – 24, 2018 Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp and Sports Collectible Expo (www.LongBeachExpo.com). More information will be announced soon about the theme and the coins in this first exhibition.I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Numismatic Guaranty Corporation® (NGC®) has certified a 1344 Edward III “Double Leopard” that recently sold privately for the highest price ever paid for an English coin. Graded NGC MS 62, it is the only example of this important gold coin in private hands.
The Double Leopard, named for the two leopards featured on the reverse, was struck in 1344 as England’s first large-sized gold coin. Until that time English coinage was exclusively silver save for a small number of tiny gold pennies struck in 1257. Gold coins needed for domestic and international trade had to come from other European countries such as France and Italy.
Edward III decided that England needed its own gold coins and in 1344 it issued gold coins in the denominations of double-florin (double leopard), florin (leopard) and half florin (half leopard). The double leopard weighed 108 grains, or just under one-quarter of an ounce, to mimic the French florin then in common use. It was assigned a value of six shillings.
The gold leopard coinage was extremely short-lived. Struck between January and July of 1344, they were quickly abandoned in favor of the gold noble, which was a bit larger than the double leopard with a weight of 138.46 grains and a value of 6 shillings, 8 pence. The gold noble gained popularity and on August 20, 1344, the gold leopards were officially demonetized.
Few gold leopards were struck and it is likely that many were melted. In fact, the double leopard was thought to have been lost to time until schoolchildren found two examples in the Tyne River in 1857. Both pieces later became part of the British Museum, where they currently reside.
A third example—the piece recently graded by NGC—was discovered by a metal detectorist in southern England nearly 150 years later in 2006. It was subsequently sold at auction that year for the equivalent of $850,000, the highest price ever paid for a British coin at the time.
Ira Goldberg, co-owner of Ira & Larry Goldberg Auctioneers, was the under bidder at that auction, finally dropping out when the coin reached that astonishing price. A decade later, however, Goldberg was again presented with the opportunity to acquire this phenomenal rarity.
Goldberg seized the moment and purchased the coin for a client who is building a fantastic collection of important coins from England and other countries. The purchase price was not disclosed but Goldberg says that “it easily establishes this coin as the most valuable English coin of all time.”
The NGC MS 62 Double Leopard is now part of the Tyrants Collection, a fantastic assemblage of English and other world rarities.
“Before I turned over the coin to my client, I wanted to have it certified by a third-party grading service for better long-term protection,” says Goldberg. “I showed the coin to Mark Salzberg, chairman of NGC and one of its senior graders, and his incredible excitement upon studying the coin convinced me that NGC was the right choice to grade it. My client and I are very pleased with the results.”
Salzberg adds, “I was simply stunned when I saw this coin. Its beauty, rarity and historical significance are truly outstanding and I am honored that Ira selected NGC to grade it.”
SS Central America Shipwreck coins in our next auction. - mailchi.mp/goldbergcoins/…
