Our contributions for the week come from David Perkins and Sheridan Downey.
First, from David Perkins:
First, from David Perkins:
I spent a few enjoyable hours last weekend looking through
the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP). I’ve
collected M. H. Bolender auction sale catalogs for a decade or two. The NNP now has a long run of these sale
catalogs scanned and online, from 1925 to 1960.
The 1925 through early 1928 catalogs were printed in a small size
format. The September 1928 catalogs and
later were approximately the size of our John Reich Journal. At one point in the 1950s Bolender went back
to the small format for these catalogs.
Milferd H. Bolender was a dealer and was originally from Freeport,
Illinois.
He eventually retired to San Marino,
California. Bolender was the author of THE UNITED STATES
EARLY SILVER DOLLARS FROM 1794 TO 1803; the first edition of this book was
published in 1950. This book essentially
updated and replaced the Haseltine Type Table sale (1881) as the primary
reference for the early dollars.
As I paged through a fair number of the catalogs, I noted
that the early U.S.
silver dollars 1794 to 1804 were cataloged using Haseltine numbers from 1925 to
1949 or so, then Bolender numbers from 1950 on.
It was fun to see half dollars attributed by both Haseltine and later
Beistle numbers, and half dimes with Newlin numbers! As might be expected, early quarters and
dimes seemed to appear much less frequently in these sales than the half dimes,
half dollars, and early dollars 1794-1803.
Bolender’s sales offered a wide assortment of lots,
including U.S.,
foreign, and ancient coins, currency, Colonials, tokens, medals, and Numismatic
Literature.
What amazed me the most was that by 1959 Bolender stated he
had over 16,000 names and addresses on his mailing list. By 1960 this number was over 20,000! I can only imagine the efforts and cost that
went into printing the catalogs, typing the name and address, inserting the
catalogs into envelopes, and mailing all of these in the 1955-1965 time frame!
I have a number of Bolender sale catalogs in the original
mailing envelopes that I purchased years ago from Numismatic Literature dealer
Charles Davis. I’ve attached a photo of
the mailing envelope for the June 14,
1944 Bolender 159th Sale. Note that the address appears to be typed on
the envelope, and Bolender had a postage permit (coincidently No. 159). I especially got a kick out of the “DATED
SALE CATALOG / USELESS IF DELAYED” above the return address on the top left of
the envelope!
W. David Perkins
Centennial, CO
------
Sheridan Downey wrote:
Sheridan Downey wrote:
I
just finished cataloging the lots for my upcoming FUN Show Sale, Mail
Bid Sale No.44. The sale will close Thursday Jan. 5, 2017 at 6 PM EST,
during the FUN Show in Ft. Lauderdale. It's been a long while since I
so thoroughly enjoyed fondling and describing such a wonderful group of
bust halves. The consignors, notably Keith Davignon, outdid themselves.
There is not a dud in the group of 103 pieces.
The Sale is loaded with pretty coins, rare Red Book and Overton varieties
and fascinating die states. I will be posting descriptions on my web
site early this week: www.sheridanscoins.com. Lance Keigwin's photos
may be seen there now. The printer promises to have the written catalog
ready for mailing by week's end. Recent bidders will automatically
receive a copy. Others who plan to bid in the sale may request a copy
by email, sdowney3(at)aol.com. Lot viewing by Express Mail and Fed Ex. is
going on now. The lots, of course, will be available for preview at my
FUN bourse table, Jan. 4-5.
I've attached a couple of
photos that should entice collectors: lot 58, a PCGS AU 58 CAC 1827
O.122 R.5; and the sole example of a PCGS AU 58+ 1839-O, lot 103, also
with a CAC sticker.
Kind regards,
Sheridan
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