the alfred leonard fuller of bath collection of english silver coins and tokens
17th December 2025
Cold though it may have been in London, Spink London’s Coin Department is far from hunkering down in hibernation. In the week leading up to Christmas, we held The Alfred Leonard Fuller of Bath Collection of English Silver Coins and Tokens room auction, here in the showroom. A long day indeed, but incredibly fruitful.
Avid Insider readers might recall the article in the last edition, which detailed the life of the Mr Fuller, as collector, and how his meticulous and considered purchasing and record-keeping led to us discover a window to how Spink operated as a dealer, during the early years of the twentieth century, and during the infancy of the famed Numismatic Circular. It appeared that modern day collectors were just as enamoured with his story and collection, as our specialists, and we are pleased to report that the Fuller sale achieved that sought after ‘White Glove’ accolade. We recorded over 500 global buyers, and totalled 24,000 bids, cumulatively totalled £10 million pounds.
With pedigrees from the legendary Hyman Montagu dispersals; and the support of exemplary type coins from the cabinets of Webb, Nunn, Durlacher, and Temple to name but a few, the 19th century Numismatic world briefly came back to life in the Spink sale room.
Lot 482 – Anne, Pre-Union, Welsh ‘Plumes’ Crown, 1705 – SOLD £25,200
Selling for a world-record setting price, a William I Penny of Bedford went for £16,200, having been acquired by Fuller from Spink & Son back in May 1900, for the sum of £1.5.0. Elsewhere in the hammered half of the sale, there were stellar results for Charles I Crowns. Lot 271, a richly toned Group V example, with iridescent residual flare, went for £15,600, whilst a Royalist Oxford Declaration Crown, Lot 347, sold for £10,200.
In terms of English milled coinage, it was coins from the reign of Queen Anne that shone the brightest. Lot 476, a Pre-Union, VIGO Crown of 1703 sold for £12,000, and then just a few lots later Lot 482, a Welsh ‘Plumes’ Crown of 1705 set the biggest price of the entire auction: £25,200. Both were spectacular examples of key dates and varieties in a truly choice condition.
Aside from this particularly curated selection of highlights, several unprecedented results for Williamite and Georgian Halfcrowns and Shillings also helped to push this 735-lot strong sale to raise over £650,000 for charity. As a result of this sale, the little-known Dr Alfred Fuller’s name is now rightfully secured in the numismatic annals as his wonderful coins now go on to enrich cabinets all over the world. It also has us fizzing with excitement at the prospect of major collections yet to be uncovered, even in such an age of over publicity.