They have raised £2.8m by issuing shares to the Iranian property billionaire Vincent Tchenguiz and to one of Noble’s existing corporate investors.
As far as is known, Mr Tchenguiz has not been involved in the market before, but the fact that his father was a coinmaker to the Shah of Iran may have influenced his decision to put money into London’s only listed numismatic investors.
The additional capital will allow Noble to expand their interests into trading in collectable stamps. Managing director Ian Goldbart told ATG: “Stamps represents an enormous market and it makes sense for us to branch out.”
Specialists include Andrew Claridge, who became director of Grosvenor Philatelic Auctions in 1997, and Andrew Lajer, an independent stamp dealer for 14 years. They will use Baldwin’s facilities, but this does not mean that Baldwin’s will hold stamp auctions themselves.
Noble look to stamp market
NOBLE Investments, the publicly listed coins company and owners of Baldwin’s auctioneers, have branched out into the stamps market.