JR Newsletter: 24 August 2014 (203)

We have two contributions this week.  The first is from David Perkins.  A bit of explanation is in order before sharing what David wrote.  The JRCS Hall of Fame (http://www.jrcs.org/halloffame.html) currently lists honorees by name only.  The Board of Directors of the JRCS decided that we would provide biographical sketches of each honoree so that fellow collectors and other members of the public would be able to read about each member of our Hall of Fame.  David Perkins wrote the first biographical sketch and this information on JRCS Hall of Fame member (in the Veteran category) J. Colvin Randall will be published on our JRCS website.  Here's what David Perkins wrote:

J. Colvin Randall

Relatively little has been published over the last century pertaining to J. Colvin Randall.  Randall was a Philadelphia rare coin dealer and collector, starting as best we can tell in the late 1850s to early 1860s. Rather than host his own sales he typically consigned coins to other auction houses of the time; his name appeared on numerous sales from the 1860s until approximately 1885 when W. Elliot Woodward cataloged the Randall Collection of gold and silver coins for sale at public auction by Bangs & Co. of New York City, NY.

Woodward noted in the Preface to the Randall sale catalog, “Handling vast quantities of coins, he has for the last twenty-five or thirty years been a most earnest and persistent collector, and has make it a constant practice to reserve the finest and rarest pieces which have fallen into his hands during all this period, until his collection is now unrivalled in those specialties to which he has given particular attention,-notably the gold coins and the larger coinage of silver.  The collection now offered for sale is remarkable in these particulars:- First, for variety…Second, for condition….Third, Rarity.” 

Randall was one of the first numismatists to classify and collect the early U. S. silver dollars, half dollars and quarters by die variety.  In fact, many researchers today believe Randall was responsible for much of the research that was published as the Haseltine Type Table Catalog for early silver dollars, half dollars and quarters.  There is ample evidence of this, with R (Randall Numbers) and HR (Haseltine-Randall Numbers) having been used in auction catalogs prior to the 1881 Haseltine Type Table, along with publications stating that Haseltine and Randall were “engaged in a descriptive list of the United States Silver Dollars, Half Dollars and Quarters, a work and thorough knowledge of the subject eminently qualifies them.” 

Randall passed away in 1901. The December  1901 issue (Volume 14, page 341) of The Numismatist under the heading “Obituary Notes” states,

The old veterans are passing away.  From The Curio, published by Chas. Steigerwalt, we extract the following:  “J. Colvin Randall, the old-time dealer, passed away during last summer.  Mason died in September.  Both had reached a good old age.  Through Randall’s hands in bygone years passed many of the finest gems that now grace the older collections.”
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The second contribution is from Peter Mosiondz, Jr.


Please list these in the next available JR Newsletter

History of the First United States Mint, Frank Stewart. 1974 Quarterman reprint of the 1924 original, 209 pp. Hardbound. DJ in Mylar®.  New.  $15.00

Walter Breen’s Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, Walter Breen. New York: FCI/Doubleday (1988). Ex-Library but clean and no markings. Tight and clean. Hardbound.  DJ in Mylar®. Very Fine. $125.00

The United States Half Dimes, David W. Valentine. 1975 Quarterman reprint of the 1931 original incorporating additional works by Newlin, Breen Davis, and Ahwash, 273 pp. Hardbound. DJ in Mylar®.  New. $15.00

United States Early Half Dollar Die Varieties: 1794-1836, Donald L. Parsley. The new 5th edition (March 2014). 702 pages. Hardbound. DJ in Mylar®.  New. $50.00

The Expert’s Guide to Collecting and Investing in Rare Coins, Q. David Bowers. Hardbound. DJ in Mylar®. New. $12.00

Coins and Collectors, Q. David Bowers. Softbound. New. $10.00

Abe Kosoff: Dean of Numismatics, Q. David Bowers. Softbound. New. $15.00

The 1933 Double Eagle. Stack's/Sotheby's Auction Catalog  New York July 30, 2002. Original blue leatherette decoratively blind stamped, upper cover and spine lettered in gilt; faux marbled end sheets; original printed card covers bound in. One lot. 56 pages. Illustrated  throughout, largely in color. Special Hardbound edition of this famous sale. New. $19.00

Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle. David Tripp. 363 pages. Softbound. New. $10.00

Payment by check. Add $3.00 Media Mail postage on all orders.

Peter Mosiondz, Jr.

26 Cameron Circle

Laurel Springs, NJ 08021-4861

Phone: 856-627-6865

E-Mail: choochoopete(at)comcast.net

Please call or e-mail to confirm availability prior to mailing your check.