'King and I' coins sell for $8.5m

www.timesonline.co.uk 
By a Correspondent
Wednesday, Novenber 2, 2005

A set of coins that belonged to the King of Siam, the inspiration for the musical The King and I, was sold yesterday for a record $8.5 million (£4.8 million). 

The 11 coins, which include a rare 1804 silver dollar, were bought in California yesterday by Steven Contursi, a professional collector.  The seller, an anonymous collector, bought the coins in 2001 for about $4 million.  Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the Unites States, gave the coins to King Ph’ra Nang Klao, also known as Rama III, in 1836.  The King’s English governess, Anna Leonowens, later wrote Anna and the King of Siam, which became the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. 

The coin collection was sold in 1962 by descendants of Ms Leonowens.  Mr Contursi collected coins throughout his childhood but as a student was forced to sell his collection to pay for textbooks.  So impressive was his knowledge of coins that the owner of the shop that bought Mr Contursi’s collection offered him a job.  In 1975 he abandoned physics to buy the same shop.