Over two days of record-setting bids that eclipsed pre-sale high estimates, Stack’s Bowers Galleries auctioned Part II of the famed L. E. Bruun Collection: A Corpus of Scandinavian Monetary History, garnering more than €9,413,400 (nearly US$10.3 million) in total prices realized. The 550 coins in this white glove auction on March 15-16 in Zurich, Switzerland were just a minuscule portion of this 20,000 piece collection that has been insured for 500 million Danish kroner (about US$73 million).
This auction followed quickly on the heels of the inaugural auction of the L. E. Bruun Collection, which was held on September 14, 2024 in Copenhagen, with prices realized totaling €14,820,900 (nearly US$16.5 million), a record for a single numismatic auction in Scandinavia. In just 3 auctions (including one online-only auction) over the course of the last 6 months, cumulative prices realized for the L. E. Bruun Collection are now a staggering €24,693,198 (nearly US$27.2 million). The auctions have also set a new record for an individual Scandinavian coin, the unique in private hands Danish gold Noble of King Hans that sold for €1,200,000 (approximately US$1.33 million) in Part I of the Bruun Collection, more than three times the previous world record.
Part II included a wide spectrum of Scandinavian numismatics, ranging from the Viking period through the 19th century, inviting participation from not only Scandinavia but from all around the world. “In the auction business, it is easy to fixate on the flashiest, highest value pieces in a market-defining collection like Bruun,” commented Michael Fornitz, Director of Stack’s Bowers Galleries Denmark, “But having been immersed in Scandinavian numismatics my entire life, for me the utter strength in the modest end of the market is unlike anything I have seen in my career.” For example, a small silver Danish 4 Skilling of 1665 with the “Hebraic” reverse soared to sell for €6,600 on a high estimate of just €1,200, while a lowly copper 12 Skilling of 1812, still gleaming red like the day it was struck, brought €3,120 compared to a high estimate of just €1,200.
The sale was also replete with quality and rarity, with high end coins garnering record prices realized. A small but visually striking Viking silver Penny of Oluf Hunger , estimated at €8,000-€12,000, climbed to a final sales price of €38,400. In gold, an iconic Danish 5 Ducats of 1659 with the hand of God severing the hand of the king of Sweden as it reaches for the Danish crown, saw some of the most spirited bidding in the sale, selling for €288,000 on a high estimation of €110,000. The highest grossing lot in the auction, at €312,000, was the over 2-ounce gold Danish 1788 20 Ducats, the sole example outside of a museum. It was struck as a gift for dignitaries when the crown prince of Denmark visited Norway in 1788.
“They say that coin collecting is the hobby of kings,” noted Brian Kendrella, President of Stack’s Bowers Galleries. “But looking at the geographic and demographic range in our bidder and buyer pool, I am heartened to see that Stack’s Bowers Galleries and the compelling story of the Bruun Collection have attracted participation from all sorts of folks the world over. It is this ability to capture worldwide attention—in the U.S. and Asia as well as in Europe—that attracted the Bruun family to Stack’s Bowers Galleries.”
Additional highlights include:
- • An immensely rare DENMARK. Rose Noble, 1612. Copenhagen Mint; privy mark: Clover. Christian IV. NGC MS-63 realized €204,000
- • One of the finest known NORWAY. Ducat, ND. Christiania Mint. Christian V. NGC MS-62 hammered at €50,400
- • A magnificent taler SWEDEN. Fürth. Taler, 1632-CS. Fürth Mint. Gustav II Adolf. NGC MS-62 soared to €72,000.
- • A virtually impeccable SWEDEN. Swedish Livonia. Ducat, 1643-HW. Riga Mint. Christina. NGC MS-61 crossed the block at €48,000.
- • An ultra rare GERMANY. Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. Portugaloser (10 Ducats), ND. Eutin Mint. Johann Adolf. NGC Unc Details—Cleaned realized €198,000.
- • An extremely rare DENMARK. Goldgulden (Rhinsk Gulden), ND (1523-1533). Gottorp Mint. Frederik I. NGC AU-58 soared to €72,000.
The L. E. Bruun Collection will be sold in a series of live auctions over the course of three to five years, along with a series of quarterly online-only auctions that will feature more modestly valued coins. The next live auction of the L. E. Bruun Collection will be held in Copenhagen in late October 2025, while the next online-only auction is slated for June 10-11, 2025. Please visit www.StacksBowers.com/the-L-E-Bruun-Collection for additional information. For catalog requests or inquiries about the L. E. Bruun auctions, contact Stack’s Bowers Galleries at +1 949.253.0916 (US) or +45.80 40 49 42 (Denmark) or email [email protected].
About L. E. Bruun and His Collection of Scandinavian Coinage
Beginning in the late 19th century, Lars Emil Bruun, better known as L. E. Bruun, amassed his fortune from the sale and export of countless millions of tins of world-renowned Danish butter. He invested some of that fortune in real estate on the outskirts of Copenhagen, which saw a marked rise in value as the population of that city tripled from 1890 through 1920. These business successes allowed him to expand the modest coin collection he had begun as a boy in the 1850s into the world’s greatest private collection of the coins, medals and paper money of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. When the final coin from the Bruun Collection has been auctioned, this cabinet will stand as the most valuable collection of international coins ever to have been sold.
Bruun, who passed away on November 21, 1923, left behind not only an impressive estate, but also an unusual destiny for his coin collection that has attracted international attention since the sale of his collection was announced early last year. Having seen the destruction wreaked by World War I, and keenly aware that the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807 had destroyed nearly the entirety of the Danish capital, L. E. Bruun formulated a unique and innovative will and testament: his collection of over 20,000 coins, medals, tokens, and notes would be held as a reserve for the Royal Danish Coin and Medal Collection for a period of 100 years after his death. If the Royal Collection was damaged or stolen during that century, the L. E. Bruun Collection would become a gift to the Danish state. But if the Royal Collection remained intact, the collection would be sold at auction, with the proceeds benefiting Bruun’s direct descendants. On November 21, 2023, that 100-year waiting period ran out, and with the Royal Danish Coin and Medal Collection intact, L. E. Bruun’s fantastic collection of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish numismatics became destined for the auction block, with Stack’s Bowers Galleries awarded the contract for this world-renowned collection.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries will be continuing its auction presentations of the L. E. Bruun Collection for several years, with the next installment in spring 2025. For more information on future events please visit stacksbowers.com or contact the firm by email at [email protected].
