East India Company, 1 cent Pattern, Penang, 1810, Cu

Editions V. Gadoury Coin Auction 2020

Auction date: 30 October 2020

Mark E. Freehill Collection (1)

Mark E. Freehill (06/08/1939 - 04/01/2019) 

The following is the biographies made Noble Auction in 2019 about Mr. Mark E. Freehill in 2019.

I first met Mark at the May 1960 meeting of the Australian Numismatic Society then held at the Mitchell Library in Macquarie Street Sydney. He was twenty and I was thirteen. He was even then an advanced coin collector and I was an enthusiastic beginner. He bought a pattern 1937 florin at Lawsons auction in Sydney in 1959 for £140 and in 1960 an Elizabeth I EIC portcullis money set. He loved travel and soon learnt how to hitch hike around the world. On his trips he visited markets and dealers. He had so many trips to Afghanistan in the early to mid 1960s he became known as the Afghan kid. We exchanged coins and often met at each other’s places along with Colin Pitchfork. In 1966 we went by road to visit Sydney Hagley in Adelaide. By 1971 I was bringing exciting coins home from New Zealand collectors and we would admire and discuss the coins. Then in 1973, Douglas Liddell, managing director of Spink and Son, came to Australia at our invitation to address the ANS on its 60th anniversary and attend the first G.C. Heyde auction at G.K.Grays. Soon after I opened the office of Spink Australia in 1976 I asked Mark to join me as a part timer so he could still travel for six months a year. Mark remained with the company for the next twelve years. Mark made close friendships with many collectors worldwide including Fred Pridmore of Taunton, Somerset and Amon Carter of Fort Worth, Texas.

Private Token: International Bodega & Restaurant

A Bodega is a popular wine restaurant opened in Penang Island in 1892 under the Straits Settlement Administration. According to the historical reference book, the wine in Bodega was sold in barrel with some snack of cheese and biscuits. The wine restaurant was owned by Messrs. Gosling and Company since 15th July 1892 and sold to Mrs. Collins in 1898. The wine restaurant issued the private token for the purpose of wine or services purchased in the restaurant although the use of private token as a medium of exchange ceased in Straits Settlement in 1848, however over the years there were several merchants remained to issue private tokens inscribed with the Arabic numeral which implies the monetary value for the good or service rendered.