The first 220 coins of the 15,000 coin ‘Traveller Collection’ have been sold at auction in Zurich, fetching double their presale estimate.

Combined, the coins sold for £5.7million at auction, compared to a presale estimate of £2.7million.

Numismatica Ars Classica, the auctioneer, adds a 22.5 per cent fee onto each sale, meaning the coins were purchased for a total of £7million.

The lot included an extremely rare ‘Una the Lion’ £5 coin of Queen Victoria, which sold for £884,163, or $1.2million, including the auctioneer’s fee, making it the eighth British coin ever to sell for more than $1million at auction.

The 1839 coin was a prototype of a coin designed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s coronation. Nusmismatica Ars Classica says it is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful coins ever produced, and is one of just a few known prototypes.

The collector purchased the coin for £14, equivalent to £800 today. The coin’s estimated sale price was £218,921 and it sold for more than four times’ that figure.

The lot included an extremely rare ‘Una the Lion’ £5 coin of Queen Victoria, which sold for £884,163, or $1.2m

‘This Traveller Collection is without doubt the most important collection of world coins ever to be offered at public auction in the entire history of numismatics,’ directors of Numismatica Ars Classica, Arturo and Giuliano Russo, said.

Before heading to auction, the coin collection spend 50 years buried underground after the collector decided to hide them from imminent Nazi invasion during the Second World War.

The coins were left undisturbed until the 1990s when the collector’s wife revealed the stash to her family members.

The collection had been assembled following the Wall Street crash in 1929.

The lot also included an George III pattern crown coin, sold for £375,622. The only other example of this coin is held in the Bank of England’s collection.

Meanwhile, a George V pattern crown sold for £265,165, and a medal of Queen Anne commemorating the capture of a Spanish fleet in 1702 sold for £121,519.

David Guest, a consultant on the British coins in the Traveller Collection, said: ‘This thrilling sale attracted several significant new buyers, who had never participated in a coin auction before, to enter the market. 

‘Among them were sophisticated collectors of fine art and antiques captivated by the romance of the Traveller story and the historical importance, rarity and quality of the British coins and medals offered.’

The first auction lot was focused on 220 British coins, while the remaining coins are set to be auctioned as part of a three-year series. The collection as a whole includes more than 15,000 coins collected from across the globe.

The next auction, of Central European coins, will take place in October. The entire collection is pegged to fetch well over $100million.

The prize piece of the collection, yet to be auctioned, is a 100 ducats coin minted in 1629 during the reign of Ferdinand III, archduke of Austria, king of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.

The coin has not been seen at auction since the before the Second World War. Numismatica Ars Classica’s initial sale estimate for the coin was £1.05million.

The collection also included coins dating well back to ancient times, with the oldest being a 296BC Athens gold stater with an estimated value of £109,515.