ROXBURY'S #69 - $36K FOR AN UNC 1925 PENNY

The talk of the town following the last Roxbury's auction was the result they got for an Unc 1925 penny - $31,000 + 15% buyer's premium (making a nett price of $36,270).

I was pretty keen to see this coin, as the images in the catalogue showed that it could have some nice red lustre in the devices.
It wasn't quite that nice in the flesh - a mint state coin for sure, but very little lustre in the devices. My auction research told me that the last Unc 1925 peny to come up before this one was in the KJC auction of April 2006, where the coin made $22,718 nett as against an estimate of $25k. I don't remember what circulted 1925's were selling for back then (anyone?), but they'd have to have risen strongly since then. I expected the Roxbury's coin to sit around the $25k - $27.5k mark (and had a commission bid to that level), but was surprised to see it move well above that in the room on the day.

What we're seeing here is the evolving sophistication of a lot of Commonwealth coin collectors - a lot of folks have been collecting pre-decimal coins in low grade for the past few years, they know how seldomt eh key dates turn up in good grade, and are happy to take a strong punt on them when they do. The other key date Commonwealth coins in top grade that were in this sale made strong prices also, athough I must say I was taken aback by the volatility in the prices for pre-decimal notes here. Low grade pre-decimal notes still seem to be ticking over well, as are high grade rarities, however mid-grade notes or even common ones in good grade are softening a little. Vendors in this area will do well to be patient!