![]() | |
Formerly | Dix Noonan Webb |
---|---|
Founded | 1990 |
Headquarters | 16 Bolton Street, London |
Key people | Pierce Noonan (CEO) |
Website | www |
Noonans Mayfair, formerly Dix Noonan Webb, is an auction house based in London. It specialises in coins, medals, jewellery and paper money. [1] Since being established, the firm has sold over 400,000 lots. [2]
Noonans was established in 1990 as Buckland Dix and Wood. The name was changed to Dix Noonan Webb in 1996 and to its present name in 2022. [3] It holds regular traditional auctions throughout the year. [4] As of March 2022, the founders are CEO and chairman Pierce Noonan, [5] deputy chairman and managing director Nimrod Dix, [6] and director of numismatics Christopher Webb. [7] [8] Frances Noble heads the jewellery department. [9]
Matthew Richardson, curator of social history at Manx National Heritage, suggests that the company are "Britain's foremost auctioneers of military medals". [10] In 2010, The Independent called the firm "a prominent London auction house, specialising in militaria". [11] Noonans is the largest numismatics auctioneer in London; it had £11.7m of total hammer sales in 2018. [12]
In September 2019, it increased its buyer's premium to 24%, becoming the first UK numismatics auctioneer to go above 20%. [12] During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, the company donated 5% of all buyer's premiums to the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Appeal for a total of £24,879. [13] [14] The firm experienced a record level of website traffic during the COVID lockdown; according to the CEO, "people were stuck at home with little else to spend their money on." [15]
Noonans Mayfair is mentioned in Jeffrey Archer's 2019 novel Nothing Ventured, in which a character is encouraged to visit the firm because they are specialists in Spanish cob coins. [16]
In March 1997, the firm auctioned nearly 50 lots of Special Air Service medals and related memorabilia, raising more than £63,000. Pierce Noonan told the Birmingham Post , "Never before have so many awards to members of the SAS been offered to the public at once". [17] But four medals were withdrawn when police said the wife of former sergeant major Mel "Taff" Townsend got a court injunction to halt the auction, identifying the medals as having been stolen in the 1988 burglary of their family home in Kent. [18] An investigation revealed the medals had been sold multiple times by other reputable dealers before finally coming possession by the collector, and were held by the auction house pending the determination of the rightful owner. In June 1998, after a 14-month legal battle, Townsend recovered his medals, which Dix Noonan Webb had estimated would have sold for £20,000 at auction. [19] Townsend later sold his medals in 2009, through Spink & Son. [20] [21]
In June 2015, two metal detectorists George Powell and Layton Davies discovered a hoard of 300 Viking era coins and jewellery. [22] Under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996, they should have reported the find within 14 days of discovery. They failed to do so, instead electing to sell them illicitly on the black market. [23] One such beneficiary of this practice was Simon Wicks, an antiquities and coin dealer in Sussex. [24] At a hastily arranged meeting at Cobham Services on the M25, Powell met Wicks hoping to sell him a gold ring, an orb and a bracelet now identified as from the trove. [24]
Wicks attests that no coins were produced or bought at this meeting, but one week later he visited Noonans with a parcel of seven coins supposedly acquired by him from a West Country collector in the 1990s, but never photographed or documented. Later, Wicks produced another nine coins at Noonans, supposedly also from his collection with a letter purporting to confirm their ownership by Powell's family before he acquired them. Noonans valued these sixteen coins at £400,000, and arranged for their safe storage. [24] Wicks later told The Sunday Times, "If I knew them coins were stolen, why the hell would I take them to the likes of Noonans...the most reputable coins dealer in the UK?". [24] The coins were confiscated by West Mercia Police, and used in the 2019 trial of the three men. Powell was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, Davies 8.5 years and Wicks 5 years for assisting in the concealment of the find. [25] The finders were later subject to a further confiscation order of over £600,000 each. [26]
Among the items that Noonans have recently sold at auction are:
Allectus was a Roman-Britannic usurper-emperor in Britain and northern Gaul from 293 to 296.
The half florin was an attempt by English King Edward III to produce a gold coinage suitable for use in Europe as well as in England. The half florin was largely based on contemporary European gold coins, with a value of three shillings. The gold used to strike the coins was overvalued, resulting in the coins being unacceptable to the public, and the coins were withdrawn after only a few months in circulation. In August 1344 they were melted down to produce the more popular noble. Few specimens have survived of what is often regarded as one of the most beautiful medieval English coins ever produced.
Spencer John Bent, VC, MM was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Heritage Auctions is an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1976, Heritage is an auctioneer of numismatic collections, comics, fine art, books, luxury accessories, real estate, and memorabilia from film, music, history, and sports.
Acting Corporal James Patrick Scully, originally from Crumlin, Dublin, of the Pioneer Corps, was awarded the George Cross for the valour he displayed on the night of 12–13 March 1941 in Birkenhead in rescuing people from a bomb damaged building during the Blitz. The citation was published in the London Gazette on 8 July 1941, and reads:
George VI of the United Kingdom has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the GEORGE CROSS, to:-
No. 13039555 Acting Corporal James Patrick Scully, Pioneer Corps.
Awarded the George Medal.
Lieutenant Charles Cummins Chittenden (163280), Pioneer Corps.
When houses were demolished by enemy action, a rescue party under the direction of Lieutenant Chittenden went to the incident and a search was made for trapped people.
Corporal Scully located a man and a woman and, with great difficulty, he managed to penetrate the debris and get to where they were buried. Lieutenant Chittenden followed him. Wood was obtained to use as props to shore up the debris, but there was no means of cutting it into proper lengths.
A rescue party then arrived with tools to cut some wood into more suitable lengths for shoring. All available help was mustered and the men worked tremendously hard in their efforts to clear away the wreckage. Corporal Scully remained with the trapped persons and prevented any more debris falling on them. A long plank was inserted to take most of the weight but as the result of further falls the props began to sway out of position. There was then a very real danger of the mass of debris falling down and burying the injured persons. Realising this, Corporal Scully placed his back under the plank to try to prevent the props from giving way completely. He steadied them for a time but gradually the weight increased until the props slipped. This left Corporal Scully holding one end of the plank and Lieutenant Chittenden supporting the other. Corporal Scully could have got away at this stage, but he knew that if he did so the debris would fall and probably kill the trapped persons, so he stayed under the plank. Gradually the weight increased and forced Corporal Scully down until he lay across the trapped man. Lieutenant Chittenden who was still holding one end of the plank reached over and supported Corporal Scully's head to prevent him from being suffocated by having his head pressed into the debris. He managed to keep Corporal Scully's face clear, but he was fast becoming exhausted. Despite this, he kept up his spirits and continued to talk encouragingly to the woman. The man was unconscious nearly all this time. Corporal Scully remained in this position throughout the night until, more than seven hours later, the rescue party were able to rescue him and the casualties.
When they first entered the house. Lieutenant Chittenden and Corporal Scully knew there was a grave risk of injury or death as the high walls nearby appeared about to collapse at any moment. Had this collapse occurred, they would have been buried under many tons of debris. Corporal Scully risked
his life to save the two people and, though the position looked hopeless, Lieutenant Chittenden stayed with him.
Fellows Auctioneers is a British auction house founded in 1876 by William Henry Fellows. Based in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter it also operates a representative office in Mayfair, London.
The Treasure Valuation Committee (TVC) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) based in London, which offers expert advice to the government on items of declared treasure in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that museums there may wish to acquire from the Crown.
Coinage in Anglo-Saxon England refers to the use of coins, either for monetary value or for other purposes, in Anglo-Saxon England.
The Furness Hoard is a hoard of Viking silver coins and other artefacts dating to the 9th and 10th Century that was discovered in Furness, Cumbria, England in May 2011 by an unnamed metal detectorist. The exact location of the find, as well as the names of the finder and the landowner, have not been made public.
The Grouville Hoard is a hoard of an estimated 70,000 late Iron Age and Roman coins reported in June 2012. They were discovered by metal detectorists Reg Mead and Richard Miles in a field at an undisclosed location in the parish of Grouville on the east side of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is the largest hoard ever found in Jersey, and the first major archaeological find made by metal detectorists in the island.
Spink & Son is an auction and collectibles company known principally for their sales of coins, banknotes and medals. They also deal in philatelic items, wine and spirits, and other collectible items.
The Holloway brooch was presented by the Women's Social and Political Union (WPSU) to women who had been imprisoned at Holloway Prison for militant suffragette activity. It is also referred to as the "Portcullis badge", the "Holloway Prison brooch" and the "Victoria Cross of the Union".
The Herefordshire Hoard is a hoard of coins and jewellery dating to the Viking period found near Leominster, Herefordshire in June 2015.
Euan Lucie-Smith was a British Army second lieutenant of World War I, of mixed British and Afro-Caribbean descent.
The Ryedale Roman Bronzes is an assemblage of Roman metalwork.
A number of Roman hoards have been discovered near Pewsey and Wilcot in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England.
GreatCollections is an American numismatic online auction house founded in 2010, and based in Irvine, California. The company is an auctioneer of certified rare coins and paper money.