On September 27 and 28, 2023, Künker auctioned about 1,200 lots of the Lodewijk S. Beuth Collection of Dutch coins minted between 1795 and the present. The 10 lots presented below each realized over $100,000 euros (about $105,355 USD at the time of writing).
* * *
Lodewijk S. Beuth’s career as a collector began when he wanted to acquire some gold coins at the Schulman coin shop in the 1950s, with the end of World War II still a vivid memory. He wanted to purchase some gold so that he would have a small stock for emergencies. Jacques Schulman suggested that he invested in pieces of numismatic importance instead. Beuth was convinced by the charismatic coin dealer’s arguments, caught the collecting bug, and began to dream of assembling the largest and most beautiful collection of Dutch coins of his generation.
The first part of this unique collection was put on the market September 27-28, 2023. Künker sold it in collaboration with Laurens Schulman B. V. in Osnabrück, Germany. It was a major event for the community of collectors of Dutch coins, many of which personally attended the auction sale. After all, it had been almost half a century since a comparable collection entered the market.
This was also reflected by the hammer prices. The total estimate had been a little over two million euros. The total result was 5.2 million euros (about $5,478,460)–i.e., more than two-and-a-half times the estimate.
There were numerous remarkable individual results. We present the 10n most expensive pieces of the Beuth Collection, many of which broke previous records. For example, according to CoinArchives, the highest result of a coin from the Kingdom of the Netherlands had been at 117,000 euros (about $123,265). Read on to find out about the new record.
As always, if two coins achieved the same result, the specimen with the higher increase in price compared to its estimate will receive the higher rank.
10th Place:
((01 – No. 3284. William I, 1813-1840. Silver pattern of 25 cents (Kwartje), 1817, Utrecht. Extremely rare. Purchased in 1954 from the Menso Collection. Proof. Estimate: 25,000 euros. Hammer price: 100,000 euros.))
9th Place:
8th Place:
7th Place:
6th Place:
((05 – No. 3696. Wilhelmina, 1890-1948. Silver pattern of the 2 1/2 gulden, 1898, Utrecht. Unique? Purchased in 1955 from a Jacques Schulman sale. Proof, minimally worn. Estimate: 50,000 euros. Hammer price: 120,000 euros.))
4th Place:
4th Place:
3rd Place:
2nd Place:
1st Place:
The joint sale of Künker and Laurens Schulman set several records at once:
At 200,000 euros (about $210,710), No. 3465 – the 1867 double ducat – is the new front runner as the most expensive coin of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
At 120,000 euros (about $126,246), No. 3325 – the cent pattern of 1817 – holds the new record as the most expensive base metal coin of the Netherlands.
And also at 120,000 euros, No. 3302 – the silver pattern of 10 cents (Dubbeltje) from 1818 – is now the most expensive pattern from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Nevertheless, its result is only marginally higher than that of the former record-holder, which was sold in 2020 for $130,000 (about 116,974 euros).
There can be no doubt, however, that the most expensive Dutch coin is still the eightfold rose noble from Campen, sold by Künker in 2022 in the context of the Salton Collection at a hammer price of 700,000 euros (about $737,485).
Although we only presented high-priced coins in this auction review, there were many pieces in both sales that any collector could have afforded. See for yourself and check out the results in detail.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at Künker, Nobbenburger Str. 4a, 49076 Osnabrück; phone: +49 541 / 962020 or via e-mail: [email protected]. Or you can directly contact Laurens Schulman BV, E-mail: [email protected], Tel: +31 6 29 112 447
You can also find the auction results online at www.kuenker.de.
* * *
