A number of specialised private collections are led by over 100 coins and medals from a group formed in the 19th century by Münster-born businessman Wilhelm Huffer. The offering reflects both his hometown and his extensive travels in Central and Latin America and the Ottoman Empire.
Collector Wilhelm Huffer.
Pictured above is a Peace of Westphalia gold medal by Sebastian Dadler and Engelbert Ketteler. One of a number of commemoratives issued to mark the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 and the conflict between Spain and the Dutch Republic, it depicts the city of Münster where the treaty was signed together with figures holding olive branches. Estimate £3000-4000.
Greek history lesson
Spink will also hold its first ancient-only room sale in over 20 years on October 3, led by the ‘Kyrios’ Collection of Ancient Greek Coins.
Put together between the late 1990s and 2017, it covers the entire sweep of Greek numismatics, from the dawn of coin currency in Lydia to the Roman subjugation of the Greek states.
Pictured above is a gold stater struck in Lysimachos in the kingdom of Thrace between 323-281BC. To one side is the diademed head of Alexander the Great with Athena and Nike to the reverse. Beautifully struck in high relief, it was formerly in the collection of St Peter’s College, Oxford. Estimate £6000-8000.
