Baltimore's auction of numismatic gems has produced several notable sales amongst its 6,000 lots.

An 1821 Capped Head Left Half Eagle BD-1 die marriage sold for $112,125. 1821 $5 coins are rare for two reasons:  many of the coins struck in 1821 actually used 1820 dies, reducing the number of 'openly' 1821 examples minted.

More famously, large numbers of pre-1834 gold coins were melted down when their bullion value rose past their face value. This piece was graded Around Uncirculated 53 by the PCGS.

1870-S silver dollar seated liberty (reverse)

An 1870-S Seated Liberty Silver Dollar sold for $126,500 (S being the mint mark for San Francisco, California). 1870-S is the rarest issue in the Seated Dollar series of 1840-1873. Nine only have been positively identified and they were probably used first for presentation, and then spent, sustaining damage.

A 1901 Morgan Silver Dollar (Philadelphia minting) sold for $155,250. The coin is not exceptionally rare overall, but the mint made a miserable job of striking the coins. This example, assessed at Mint State 65 by the NGC, is one of six in existence of the quality, and there are none better.

1830 Left Half-Eagle (obverse)

The top lot however was the 1830 Capped Head Left Half Eagle from the collection of great collector Albert Globus, as we predicted.

The number of $5 gold coins from 1830 is thought to stand at just 55-75, and of these just 25-35 are from the BD-1 die pair. (Again many were melted down.) This particular example, graded Mint State 65 by the PCGS, sold for an impressive $241,500.

An excellent weekend for numismatists carried out by famous auctioneers Bowers and Merena, showing the coin market remains healthy. Now eyes will turn towards the 1913 Liberty Head auction in January.