Auction house Bonhams & Butterfields welcomed Paul Inho Song as the director of its newly formed Coins and Banknotes Department, the firm announced July 16.An auction professional credited with several discoveries in the field of rare gold coinage, Song joins a firm with its own connection to the precious metal with origins dating back to the California Gold Rush era.
Song has more than 20 years of experience in numismatics with special expertise in appraising and selling 19th and 20th century American coinage. Over the course of his career, he has participated in the sale of more than $250 million internationally.
His primary responsibilities at Bonhams include business-getting, appraisals and the day-to-day management of the Coins and Banknotes Department, which will hold three sales annually in Los Angeles and New York City beginning in December.
Among his professional highlights, Song has made one of the most significant discoveries in the field of American numismatics this century. In 1992, he unearthed an extremely rare high relief of the 1907 double eagle coin designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. It was deemed one of the greatest rarities of the 20th century by the numismatic community, the firm says.
Song is also credited with the sale of a pristine example of the Ultra High Relief from The Sam and Rie Bloomfield Collection of Highly Important Gold Coins for $825,000 in 1996, a world auction record at the time for any gold coin.
Source: numismaticnews.net
