1974 fiji pattern 1 cent

[Mister T]

Does anyone know anything about this coin: https://www.ha.com/itm/fiji/british-colony/british-colony-elizabeth-ii-cent-1974-ms63-red-and-brown-ngc-/p/231917-51024.s

It looks okay but there doesn't seem to be any known history. I thought it had sold at another auction before that one but I can't find it now.

[eurocoin]

As for the provenance, the auction listing of 2019 mentions that it was part of the 'Engelen Collection of World Coinage'. We have discussed this exact same piece before here. Unfortunately it appears that back then we did not find too much information on it. These images, that appear to have been copied from an earlier auction or sale listing, were first posted on the forum by <k> in 2015 here. The quality of the piece seems to have deteriorated significantly over the years. 

[Mister T]

Oh nice thanks - so it looks like the design was reused from some coins/medals from Ghana. The plot thickens.

[eurocoin]

If I am not mistaking, during one of the forum events I heard that a forum member had premium access to the entire Coinarchives database. It is very likely that <k> copied the images from Numisbids/Coinarchives. So it shouldn't be too difficult for that person to likely find the earlier listing.

[Figleaf]

I believe it was Paul Stevens and the occasion was the October live event panel. Not sure, but I don't think Paul is a member. Will be back home next week and see if we link up with him. No guarantees, though.

Peter

[eurocoin]

Thank you for your comment. I will be looking into it. In the past I had been looking to get premium access but found that it was extremely expensive. He suggested that there was also another way of getting access which was much cheaper or free, don't remember the specifics now. I will have to rewatch the meeting. Not only for this specific question, but also in general access to that database would be very useful.

[eurocoin]

I have now managed to find the auction listing. It was sold on 20 September 2014 in a coin auction of Stephen Album Rare Coins. The starting price was 170 dollars and it sold for 440 dollars. The listing can be found here.

[Mister T]

Yep that looks like - I found https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=825&lot=2962 which is that same listing.

A cupronickel example sold in 1995 as well: https://www.noble.com.au/auctions/lot/?id=155479