News

MB98137 France silver medal Basilica Sacre Coeur Montmartre consecrated 1919

MB98 Medals Auction snippets: a golden Diamond, a silver sorrow and some bronze bloomers.

There are only 230 lots this time in Simmons Gallery’s next online auction sale on 26 May. It begins with some thirty early medals issued by the British Art Medal Society. A very rare piece is a gilded example of the bronze medal Diamond by celebrated sculptor, Lynn Chadwick.   Made in 1983 for BAMS, out of an edition of 128 pieces only a few are known with this golden finish.  Our medal used to belong to Peter Bagwell Purefoy, the membership… Read More »MB98 Medals Auction snippets: a golden Diamond, a silver sorrow and some bronze bloomers.

MB97010 Scotland, Transport Token Glasgow  Crosshill 1D

The Ronnie Breingan collection of Transport Tokens and Tickets

From canals to ferries, horse drawn omnibus to park and ride, Ronnie Breingan’s collection charts the metallic history of transport. It’s only just over 100 pieces but what variety! The tickets and tokens are mainly Scottish but include a smattering of English and other ones too. The earliest tickets in the sale are the Union Canal tokens, giving you time or distance along the route. These tickets, our opening lots, are very plain yet potent witnesses to the industrial revolution.… Read More »The Ronnie Breingan collection of Transport Tokens and Tickets

The archive: past auctions of tokens and medals

It’s always useful to be able to find past catalogues and prices realised so here’s a round up of what we’ve done as Simmons Gallery since September 2020, with links to text catalogues and prices realised. We’ll try in the future to post prices realised here in the blog in the future with a comment on the sale. As those of you who collect tokens know only too well, we’ve been selling Emyr George’s huge Welsh collection of tokens tickets… Read More »The archive: past auctions of tokens and medals

Joie de vivre man horse animals

MB98 Medal auction 26 May 2021

Thank you everyone for bidding. Prices realised for download here. Any unsolds will be available at the start price shown in the prices realised plus 5% buyer’s premium and postage. Please see the text catalogue for descriptions here. Once the invoicing is finished we’ll relist unsolds accordingly but until then just contact us to express an interest (that’s already happening!) Overall some very good prices for very good medals, and a few bargains. Checkout: successful bidders please go to My… Read More »MB98 Medal auction 26 May 2021

Directory - Monmouthshire & South Wales - Kelly's 1891

Books, directories and catalogues for Wales token research

Our library is an essential working tool; we’d be lost without it. Along with all the tokens from Emyr George, a van load of books and well used directories landed in our hallway before Christmas, for sale and passing on to other collectors. You will find a number of reference books for tokens in the current MB97 token auction, closing on 17 March. Search on Books or catalogues. Most concentrate on specific series, e.g. unofficial farthings, tokens from a certain… Read More »Books, directories and catalogues for Wales token research

Anne 1709 shilling engraved with name & birthday baby 1766

Announcing a birth, 18th century style – an update

Queen Anne 1709 shilling engraved Sarah Cowdrey Jany. Ye 10 1766, obverse engraved LS, price £75 (CA137) Update: Further information from David Powell on this coin for you. We now know for certain that Sarah was born on 10 January 1766, daughter of William and Mary Cowdrey and baptised in St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey according to the records there. After her marriage to Robert Cleaver, Sarah lived first at Southampton Buildings and then later at Staples Inn Buildings, Holborn.   Seven… Read More »Announcing a birth, 18th century style – an update

MB94 token auction Emyr George Welsh collection

The sale closed on 30 September, with over 550 lots – download the text catalogue here. It was our first auction on this new website. Although there were a few admin hiccups (see below), all went well. Prices realised updated to 28 October can be downloaded here. Any unsolds (and there weren’t many) will be offered at a later date. Prices overall were strong with lots of collector interest. However there were still a few bargains to be had! The… Read More »MB94 token auction Emyr George Welsh collection

2 women with child saying goodbye Fame left Art Nouveau

What’s in store for you sales and future events

We’ve been busy in lockdown ( auctions and lots of cataloguing) but even so we’ve missed seeing you all at the usual coin fairs and congresses. So here’s an update of what is happening in the near future, and what you might have missed. With a second national lockdown there are no coin fairs scheduled for the rest of this year, unless the Bloomsbury goes ahead on the first Saturday of December. Coinex and September London Coin Fair were both… Read More »What’s in store for you sales and future events

Boat in Scottish landscape

New improved Simmons Gallery website!

Well in the end we decided we must upgrade as the old auction site was so clunky and created so much admin, so here’s the result: a new website which we hope you’ll find much easier to use. And we hope it will be easier for us to manage too! Also we’re hoping to upload lots more fixed price items across the board too. When we began our MailBid auctions back in the 1990s, it was all postal and so… Read More »New improved Simmons Gallery website!