CoinTalk Forum Member Seeks Spink Auction Catalogs From 1972 or 1973
On the CoinTalk forum, a member posting as Coinsandmedals asked whether anyone had Spink auction catalogs from 1972 or 1973. Another member wrote that Spink's first UK sale in its sole name was in 1978. These are statements by forum posters; the source does not give the date of the thread.
Correction (Oct 13, 2026): We shortened and rewrote the headline, summary and body to match the source, a CoinTalk forum thread. We removed unsupported claims (that Spink's realized prices set market benchmarks worldwide, market transparency, that catalog printings aid authentication) and the incorrect statement that the post did not specify which years were sought, and made clear that the member was seeking catalogs from 1972 or 1973 and that the posts are statements by forum members. The previous headline was "Spink Auction Catalogs: Why Serious Numismatists Archive These Records."
This article is based only on posts in the CoinTalk forum thread "Spink Auction Catalogs." What follows are statements and opinions of forum members, not confirmed facts. The source does not give the date of the thread.
A member posting as Coinsandmedals asked whether anyone had Spink auction catalogs from 1972 or 1973. The member wrote that the NNP does not list any prior to 1978.
Joint sales with Glens from 1974, according to one member
A member posting as robp wrote that the first UK sale in Spink's sole name was dated "11/10/1978," and that before then Spink held joint sales with "Glens" from 1974 on. robp also wrote of owning a few catalogs of sales in Switzerland, and said that world gold tended to go to Switzerland.
robp mentioned Manville and Robertson, which, in robp's words, lists British auction catalogues from the early 18th century onwards until 1984, giving the number of lots, content types and, where possible, the vendors' names.
Coinsandmedals replied that they had been unaware that Spink did not hold standalone auctions before 1978, and wrote: "I’m working with very limited information, but the medal is rare enough to stand out." The thread does not say which medal the member is looking for.
In-house copies and Australian sales
Another member, KBBPLL, suggested contacting Spink and trying the ANA library. Coinsandmedals wrote of being in London in a few weeks and planning to contact Spink closer to that time.
robp said a request to peruse Spink's library might not succeed, because the in-house copies contain data such as the buyers of individual pieces. In robp's view, "Prices paid are open knowledge. Who bought it requires discretion."
Asked when Spink (or its associates) first held auctions in Australia, robp answered that it was probably close to the time they started in London, and that the first one robp has is no. 4, dated "20/11/1980."
Source: CoinTalk, "Spink Auction Catalogs."
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