Auction Catalogs: Who Uses/Buys Them ?

You can never have enough catalogues as an added provenance never harmed a coin's value. I have a library of just over 5000 sales going back to 1800, all of which have potential use for extracting the provenance of coins related to my collecting interest. Even in the days before illustration, a buyer's name will often lead to next owner. Auction listings might give one or two past names if you are lucky, as an educated perusal will often pay dividends. A recent sale had a 20 year old provenance, but a trace of wax told me it was in a catalogue from the first half of the last century. An hour later and it could be traced through half a dozen collections back to Trattle, sold in 1832.

I also have a room full of spares covering all areas from many countries. Relying on the internet is not that good, as even places such as Heritage have iffy pictures when you go back 15 years, and an auction archive is only as reliable as the period the site exists. Website revamp and many things get lost.

 

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Jeebus, there is another rabbit hole. I am telling you coin folk, I think the coin rabbit holes are the deepest and fragmented of any rabbit hole collection that there is. I am sure there are others that can be just as wild, but stamps and guns come way later than coins. There are millions of stamp and gun collectors world wide, but this coin world is messing with my mind.

I bought a book when I came into the "hoard". Thing is like 10" thick, but only covers 1901-2020.

I am telling you coin folk that I respect you all for your dedication and commitment. I have found some cool coins in the hoard, but I am now just really wishing I can find someone I can trust to go through them without ripping me off.

Do they name large collections when they hit the market? If in volume, I think they should, even if quality is hit and miss.

 

If you have come into a hoard of off-the-market coins for a long time or a brand new find....catalog the inventory and take it to a reputable, established firm (assuming it is worth the time and $$$).

You should know based on the type of coins what the FMV is approximately.

Keep us posted, sounds interesting !

 

I saved all the catalogs I received back in the 80's and 90's. Bought a lot of coins using the mail in bid forms. I still use them to look up stuff. I see them as part of the history of my collection.

 

Good News for Saint lovers !!

I am working on a cut-and-paste from the Heritage Archives which would have descriptive information from Heritage's past sales of the coins, as well as commentary from David Akers from his book and/or auction catalogs including some of the more famous Saint-Gaudens sales (i.e., Price, Duckor, etc.).

The main sections have comments and observations from many experts -- including our own RWB ! -- but the Akers commentaries are larger, longer, and more detailed (usually at the end of the commentary on that particular year/mintmark). Takes a while to search them out...not every coin had the commentary for the highest-priced sale...so it required alot of searching and scanning.

When I have it finished and then re-formatted for easy reading, I'll let everyone here know. I'll post it here and/or send anybody a Word or better yet PDF document of the commentaries.

 

I have about 16 linear shelf inches of catalogs. I used to keep more, but that started changing when the weight of them broke a shelf loose on my bookcase. Between the Heritage archives and the NNP, there's not much reason to keep them. I do still have Eliasberg (including hardbound gold sale), Bass, Pittman 2 & 3, Childs, and a couple that make for excellent reference books (e.g., Missouri Cabinet half cents), but I'd rather other stuff consume cubic footage of my house.

 

If some of you are on HA's mailing list, you must get 2-3 feet of auction catalogs each year. They have auctions every few weeks and while those books may only be 1/4" thick, some of the big auctions have books that are 1" thick or more.

I can certainly see how a few years of HA auction catalogs -- let alone any other auction house -- can fill your shelfs or rooms.

 

Exactly. I have a bunch of old catalogs of LCs and HCs for that very reason. EAC guys use the information for establishing provenance.

 

Anyone considering building a library, I recommend buying someone else's if possible. One or two thousand spent on a decent library should soon pay dividends. Depending on what you are collecting, you might get away with a second or third library purchase if you are lucky, but after that you tend to get diminished returns because the best catalogues are favoured by all collectors.

 

Yes, for obscure coins or specialties like EAC I see the value of the catalogs. Some obscure U.S. coins also have nice information commentaries running 1/2 to 3/4 of a page with nice glossy photos.

Newer, more popular coins like modern pennies and others get maybe 1/5th of a page, sometimes less. A few lines of commentary and that's it.

The more expensive/rare a coin is, the more words it seems to get.

 

This is true. Catalogers are given a description length quota that depends on the estimated value of the lot and how high profile it is in the sale.

 

Or you can just start collecting now if it isn't obscure coins....I think HA lets you buy an annual supply if you don't bid/buy enough.

 

Collecting current catalogues is an integral part of building a library. What I'm saying is that once you go back more than a few years, the supply of catalogues doesn't dry up, but it makes acquisitions piecemeal. An established library is likely to have a good run of old things that would take an eternity to reassemble if done one at a time. And it would be a lot more costly.

 

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It's not technically an auction catalog, but I couldn't resist a 1959 price list from the B. Max Mehl Co. It's the #83 Price List and has lots of interesting prices and stuff; the 1903-O Morgan Dollar listed for $500 in Unc. Gem condition.

Only thing was no quotes for Saint-Gaudens or Liberty Double Eagles . I guess they didn't do enough business in those coins to make it worthwhile to include, though they did have some gold coins including commemoratives.

They did have 1 line for Liberty DE's in a small gold section with Indian Head coins. Choice condition, whatever that is/was, and it cost $47.50. That's about a 30% premium to the official $35/oz. gold price.

Nice to have something like this from the Golden Age of Coin Collecting.

 

Dealers' lists are just as important as auctions. Dealers buy at auction and on occasion will sell a named collection. They also help to corroborate claims of provenance.

 

This price list is a monthly publication, apparently. Was published for decades, I believe, even after Max Mehl passed away.

 

Also picked up the 2012 Duckor Heritage Auctions catalog from 2012 FUN.....definitely my best catalog pick-up, it's 100% on Saint-Gaudens whereas most others the Saints are just a portion of a much larger catalog.

This catalog was strictly on the Duckor Saints sales. Most of the information can probably be accessed from the HA website but it's nice to have a print copy.

Looking at other big or entirely Saints or Morgan auctions from past years or decades with the relevant catalogs. I see stuff for the Eliasburg sales, but they're pricey and not in great condition.

I'll keep looking.....

 

Thanks