Chris started collecting in the late 90’s. He became more and more passionate about coin collecting and gained a great amount of knowledge over the years as he was never afraid to talk to dealers and graders and learn from their experience. Initially he saw it as an investment but as time went on he became more and more interested in the history and the mintages of the coins. Chris mostly focused on Victorian sovereigns with the intention of getting one of each of the sovereigns minted in each year, he later extended his interest to later sovereigns and also other gold such as the 1oz Australian Kangaroo nuggets, where again he tried to collect one from each year (he had 2007 to 2022 before he died).
Chris used to buy from eBay and dealers, but had a particular affection for London Coins and their grading company CGS and had many of the more valuable and rare coins graded with the Coin Grading Service. He became very good at being able to grade coins himself and constantly was upgrading the quality of each of his coins trying to get as close to extremely fine as possible, he also knew the mintages of each of his coins. Chris was a regular at the Midland Coin Fair at the motorcycle museum near Birmingham and became very familiar with many of the dealers and became quite well known there, it was at the MSCF he met Stephen and Semra of London Coins. Chris would also buy remotely though places such as eBay, but also various dealers he had built relationships with here and overseas.
His remote buying was not free from frustration, sometimes when a coin arrived it was not of the quality the seller had indicated, Chris like most advanced collectors was very fussy about the quality of the coins he bought. He was also frustrated by the fact that he was being charged VAT and Duties on coins he bought and had many battles when he bought coins remotely. Chris was keen to get his estimation if the grading confirmed by experts and travelled to London Coins where he met Paul Redford who attributed and graded all CGS coins (50,000) as well as London Coins auction consignments. During the era where CGS published league tables (Set Registry) Chris’s collection was one of the finest recorded Sovereign collections by CGS.
Sovereign 1884M George and the Dragon, WW buried in truncation, Marsh 92, S.3857B, GEF the obverse retaining touches of mint bloom, in an LCGS holder and graded LCGS 65
Sovereign 1884S Shield Reverse, Marsh 80, S.3855B GEF/AU the reverse choice and lustrous, in an LCGS holder and graded LCGS 65, an eye-catching example
Sovereign 1886M George and the Dragon, WW complete on broad truncation, Marsh 108, S.3857C, Near EF/EF with some contact marks and small rim nicks, the reverse retaining some mint bloom
Sovereign 1886M Shield Reverse, Marsh 67, S.3854A, EF/GEF and lustrous, in an LCGS holder and graded LCGS 60, one of the key rarities of the entire Melbourne series, rated R3 by Marsh/Hill, extreme rare and sought after, especially in high grades
Sovereign 1887M Young Head, Shield Reverse, Marsh 68, S.3854A, GEF/AU and lustrous, the reverse choice, in an LCGS holder and graded LCGS 65, an extremely rare Melbourne Shield type, rated R3 by Marsh/Hill, the rarity rating fully justified, surely
Sovereign 1887S Jubilee Head, First legend, with small, spread J.E.B. on truncation, Marsh 138A, S.3868A, DISH S2, EF in an LCGS holder and graded LCGS 60, all Jubilee Head Sydney Sovereign Rare
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