I’ve been experimenting with various styles and uses of “provenance charts” (illustrating a single coin’s history; or focusing on a specific collection and its ties to other collections, publications, and institutions; or visualizing networks of collectors). This one shows the history of one coin: PHOTO CREDIT: CNG 247 (12 Jan 2011), 145 One of my favorite collecting themes is what I think of as the “modern history of ancient coins” (or “modern social lives of ancient coins” haven’t settled on one). It’s become a topic of relevance as cultural property and antiquities are increasingly subject to public debate and policy. It’s also central to longstanding questions in the history of numismatic knowledge: How has our understanding of any give type developed over time? Which collectors, publications, commercial actors, and institutions are connected by social networks? When, where, how, and how often have coins traveled across international borders, or into and out of museum collections? Which coins are published, which escape notice? (The personal benefits include becoming familiar with literature, institutions, collections, and coin types that one otherwise wouldn’t.) * Correction, the Weber volume was 1929, not 1922. Sources at the end If that's too small, here are thumbnails of the left and right halves separately: What does this example illustrate about the history of numismatics? Changes in the primary sources of literature used for ancient coins, from the “golden age” of auction catalogs (pre-WWII, such as Naville-Bement) and standalone catalogs of major private collections (such as Spink-Weber [1922] and Comparette-Bement [1922]), to major series such as Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum (1930s-1980s), to e-auctions and archives (post-2000). Some commentary of the history of this type This type of coin was once much rarer, which is why this same scratched up specimen remained the best-known specimen until recently (there were a few others in the de Luynes Coll. = BNF cited by Babelon; Knight’s in the BMC; Mionnet cited an early (BNF?) example; I don’t think Eckhel knew of the tetradrachm, but still learning how he described denominations). Many more became available on the market – and in much better condition – after the 1978 Pixodarus Hoard (CH 9.421; Konuk 2002). The following speculations may be of less interest to most, and worth skipping, but I probably won’t find better chances to share this part: My attempts to trace the provenance prior to the James Whittall collection (1884, sale 3 of 4) have been unsuccessful, but I have my suspicions. A plausible candidate may be the Calymna, 1823 Hoard (IGCH 1216; Noe 189) though it reportedly contained no Hidrieus Tetradrachms. According to the first sale (Sotheby’s 1858), Whittall's original collection was formed by “Ismail Pasha, Minister of Commerce and Public Works in Turkey,” who, on at least one other occasion “selected these specimens” from a hoard before “the remainder were melted” or “fell into the hands of the Turkish government.” The Calymna Hoard (ancient Halicarnassus, in modern-day Turkey), reportedly contained 10,000 silver coins, 90% of which were melted (too degraded to be of any imaginable value). Several authors commented on its surprising (suspicious?) details (see, e.g., Borrell 1846). As JP Six wrote in 1877 – if I understand correctly – the tetradrachms were “few in number” and not a single one of Hidrieus – “as far as we know” (my emphasis; “Les tétradrachmes ou plutôt statères étaient peu nombreux. ... mais il y en avait un de Cnidus, quelques-uns de Mausole et pas un seul ďIdrieus, dont on en connaît pourtant”). The British Museum specimen was acquired in Richard Payne Knight’s bequest, 1824. Could he have still collected a tetradrachm from the Calymna, 1823 Hoard in the year before his death? Sources used in the Provenance Chart: Noble Numismatics Auction 126 (24 March 2021), Lot 2768 CNG e-Auction 247 (12 Jan 2011), lot 145 SNG von Aulock (Hans von Aulock, 1906-1980) = Kraft, Konrad & Dietmar Kienast. 1962. Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum: Deutschland. Sammlung Hans von Aulock: Heft 7 (Karien). Berlin. [Clain-Stefanelli 1914* (for the complete set); Daehn 1988; Kroh p. 13 (five stars)] SNG Lockett = Robinson, ESG. 1949. Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum: Great Britain 3. The Lockett Collection: Part V (Lesbos – Cyrenaica). [Clain-Stefanelli 1913*. Daehn 1970; Kroh p. 13 (four stars); see SNG Online] Richard Cyril Lockett (1873-1950) Collection (Part XII/Greek IV, Glendining, 21 February 1961), lot 2384 [Clain-Stefanelli 1971*; Daehn 2047; Grierson 298; Spring 234, “Most important sales of ancient Greek coins.”] Clarence S. Bement (1843-1923) Collection, Naville VII, 23 June 1924 lot 1520 [Clain-Stefanelli 1942*; Daehn 2086; Grierson, p. 280; Spring 477, “Most important sales of ancient Greek coins”] Comparette (ANS, 1921), p. 79 & Pl. XIX, No. 283. A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek Coins, Selected from the Cabinet of Clarence S. Bement. [Clain-Stefanelli 1922; Daehn 2037] Sir Hermann Weber (1823-1918) Collection = Forrer, L. 1929. Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Greek Coins formed by Sir Hermann Weber, published 1922-1929 by Spink, Vol III Plates, Pl. 233, No. 6604 [Clain-Stefanelli 2001*; Daehn 2042; Grierson p. 57; Kroh p. 10] James Whittall (1819-1883) Collection (Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge 10 July 1884), lot 1113 Please share anything relevant! (Old collections, old hoards, history of numismatic photography or literature, Carian Satraps, etc.)
An interesting theme and one that intrigues me as well as I look across sources on coins that are often 19th to 21st century. How did our understanding evolve - and who contributed to that understanding? With Roman Egypt one of the areas where I at least accumulate coins (not yet sure I can claim to collect these) - I'll post this coin with its Giovanni Dattari reference. More including an excellent ANS Article from Lucia Carbone can be found in my Note on Coins from the Dattari Collection. I especially liked your question about: Which coins are published, which escape notice? PS. Great coin and provenance!
I love it! Great blog post and topic and coin. Dattari is such a fascinating collection (and one of my favorites, since there are so many -- including many affordable tetradrachms!). It also gives us a lot of insight into antiquities trade from the late-19th to mid-20th century (incl. his daughter). It's amazing to think the vast majority of his coins, including many new types, were unknown before Savio's 1999 volume (and hundreds more until the 2007 edition). Without those manuscripts, there could still be hundreds of types that remain totally unknown today. (Many RPC entries, for example, cite only Dattari specimens.) This one, for example: I don't believe there are any other published examples, and only became known in 1999 from Dattari's pencil rubbing, then cited by Emmett (3101.7) in 2001 based on the rubbing (and now RPC Online Temp no. 10362), but would otherwise be unknown. I've seen at least one author develop a theory about the Elpis coinage of Severus Alexander based on the belief that it began in Year 10, unaware of this Year 7 example (though Matthies 2014 should've had time to find it). It must've also passed through HJB's possession and one other dealer's (their tags came with the coin) before arriving at CNG recently, though I've been unable to find another photograph or record of it.
@Curtis, that's a wonderful and extremely impressive timeline! I'm curious as to how many coins you have for which that much detail is possible. I have none; not even close. My oldest provenance, except for one Valens siliqua from the 1887 East Harptree hoard - which apparently remained largely intact, in private hands, for 129 years until it was auctioned by Spink in 2016 - is a Vespasian aureus with a documented provenance I found (with invaluable assistance from several of our members) dating back to its publication in 1910. For all the details, see my thread about the coin at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/do...to-1938-and-also-to-1910.391624/#post-8153812. The provenance history I have is as follows: Purchased from Arete Coins, Seattle, WA, Dec. 2021; ex. Triskeles Auctions Sale 21, Lot 392, 29 Sep. 2017; ex. Ars Classica XVIII (“COLLECTION TRÈS IMPORTANTE MONNAIES ROMAINES FORMÊE PAR UN DIPLOMATE ÉTRANGER DEPUIS LONGTEMPS DÉCÉDÉ” [Collection of Vicomte de Sartiges]), Lot 144 [ill. Pl. 6], 10 Oct. 1938, l'Hôtel Schweizerhof, Lucerne, Switzerland (Experts Dr. Jacob Hirsch & M. Lucien Naville); ex. Collection of Louis, Vicomte de Sartiges (1859-1924), published in Sartiges, Vicomte de, “Collection du vicomte de Sartiges. Séries grecque et romaine, en 1910, ainsi que les acquisitions depuis cette date” (Paris, D.A. Longuet; Plates I-XLIII published 1910; undated supplement contains five additional plates), Pl. XXVI, No. 105 [this coin, acquired before 1910]. Here is the coin as illustrated in the 1910 de Sartiges Collection book: And in the 1938 Ars Classica sale: The problem is that although I know that the coin was in the possession of the Vicomte de Sartiges (a French diplomat stationed at various times in Latvia and Washington D.C., as set forth in my original thread) from some date prior to 1910 until his death in 1924, and was held by his estate from 1924 until the 1938 auction, I have no information on when or from whom de Sartiges originally acquired it before 1910, or the identity of the owner(s) during the period of nearly 80 years from 1938 until it appeared in the Triskeles auction in 2017 with no listed provenance. (Which suggests that whoever owned the coin immediately before that auction was unaware of the 1938 provenance, which had apparently been lost in the interim. EX-NVMIS found that 1938 provenance for Arete, but found nothing to indicate that the coin was sold at auction between 1938 and 2017.) On the theory that perhaps de Sartige's family may have turned to Ars Classica in 1938 to sell his collection because of some previous association with Jacob Hirsch -- and given the fact that de Sartiges himself was clearly not an anti-Semite* -- I did check all the pre-1910 Jacob Hirsch auction catalogs available at the WUSTL Newman Numismatic Portal to see if perhaps he was de Sartige's original source for the coin, given that he was in business as far back as 1897 in Germany, moving to Switzerland in 1919. See Provenance Glossary, p. 14, Numismatica Ars Classica Auction 91 Catalogue, 23 May 2016, Zurich, Switzerland: But I didn't find my coin, although, coincidentally, I did find another specimen of the exact same type sold in two separate Hirsch auctions prior to 1910. I hope to go through some other pre-1910 catalogs when I can set aside the time. Perhaps I'll get lucky. I think a lot of luck would be necessary to find it absent the creation of some database including not only a comprehensive collection of old auction catalogs (which the Newman Numismatic Portal already has), but the creation of a word-searchable function or index that would permit the finding of all the sales of any particular type of ancient coin recorded in those catalogs, without laboriously scrolling through thousands of pages of catalogs looking for a needle in a haystack. As of now, my coin's whereabouts prior to 1910 are still a mystery. Although it seems evident that de Sartige's connections, numismatic and otherwise, were hardly limited to France but were quite cosmopolitan in nature. *The Vicomte de Sartiges typified a rather obscure sociological phenomenon in France in the late 19th century, prior to the Dreyfus Affair: he was one of a number of aristocratic Frenchmen who married the daughters of wealthy Jewish businessmen. So obviously he was no anti-Semite! Thus, the Vicomte's first wife (whom he married on 26 Feb. 1886 in Paris and who died at the age of 29 in 1893 in Monaco) was Louise Hortense Goldschmidt, from Frankfurt, one of the three daughters of Leopold Benedict Hayum Goldschmidt and Regine Goldschimdt b. Bischoffsheim. All three daughters married French aristocrats. For anyone interested, there is a French-language article discussing this phenomenon at length, including with respect to the three Goldschmidt daughters, by Cyril Grange, entitled "Les alliances de l'aristocratie avec les familles de financiers juifs à Paris, 1840-1940 : déterminants socio-démographiques et débat religieux," Histoire, économie & société 2014/4 (33e année), at pp. 75-93 (available at https://www.cairn.info/revue-histoire-economie-et-societe-2014-4-page-75.htm). It points out, among other things, that there is no evidence that Louise converted to Christianity upon her marriage, something that was itself highly unusual.
@DonnaML -- that's a fantastic coin with a fantastic backstory! I'm glad you linked that post because there are a number of other wonderful examples -- I must've just missed it. I've put the link in my "provenance notes" file and look forward to finishing the whole thread. That one is probably the best documented -- certainly in terms of photography over a long period of time. I do tend to go for coins that have as much density of prior information as possible and then investigate to exhaustion. Sometimes it's all relatively recent (e.g., most of those in my other new post on CT Member coins). For the Hidrieus, most of the info was in the auction listing, but usually I look for coins that I suspect have longer backstories than the catalogers are aware of, and often bid only when I find something interesting. (If I lose I try to let the seller or winner know, e.g., by adding a comment with provenance research to acsearch.info.) Here's an interesting one where CNG gave a provenance back to 2004, but I found a more interesting story back to the 1990s, maybe even late 1970s (including this coin being one of the first "slabbed" ancients ever and part of a big failed ancient coin investment fund -- Athena Fund -- though I had to de-slab it to find the rest): I'm working on such a chart for my new Byzantine AE Tetarteron of John III of Nicaea (shared briefly here). CNG suggested it was "reportedly" from the Hugh Goodacre (1865-1952) collection, sold in 1986. I found he had published it in his classic handbook of Byzantine coinage and two articles in the 1930s (making it definitely his, and also having been loaned to Oxford/Ashmolean Museum for several decades after he died). I suspect the provenance goes back almost another 100 years to a line-drawing in an 1842 essay by de Saulcy, citing it as ex-Curt von Bose collection (if that's really it; and an engraving by Leon Dardel in Sabatier's 1862 volume). You've cited one favorite resource of mine: Here's the link to the combined document, available on his academia.edu page: Rambach, Hadrien. 2016-2018. “Provenance Glossary” (Parts I, II, and III) He has a couple other useful papers on the history of collecting, this one on his academia -- Hadrien Rambach. 2017. “A List of Coin Dealers in Nineteenth Century Germany,” pp. 63-84 in Stefan Krmnicek & Henner Hardt (eds), A Collection in Context. Kommentierte Edition der Briefe und Dokumente Sammlung Dr. Karl von Schäffer (Tübinger Numismatische Studien. Band 1), Tübingen University Press. I don't see the following on academia, but available directly from SMB (with some of my notes): Rambach, Hadrien. 2010. “Collectors at auction, auctions for collectors.” Schweizer Münblätter [SMB] 60: pp. 35-43. 35: “…short history of auctions…” beginning with Herodotus, continuing through antiquity, medieval, and modern period. 37: “The first printed auction catalogue was published in Leyden for the dispersal of the library of Philips van Marnix van Sint-Aldegonde 1538–1598) on 6 July 1599. The catalogue was prepared by the renowned book-dealer Louis Elzevier c.1540–1617); among the lots were several numismatic books and some ancient coins as well. The first printed auction catalogue devoted to coins was issued in Amsterdam for the sale of the Johan Raphael Grill Collection in 1679.” A couple other interesting ones online: Forrer, Leonard (posthumous?). 2003 (?). “Numismatic Reminiscences of the Last Sixty Years: by a Coin Dealer.” British Numismatic Journal 73 (20): 191-196. The recent volume produced by Kuenker in cataloging the Mark Salton-Schlessinger Collection: Kampann, Ursula. 2022. The Origins of the German Coin Trade: The Hamburger and Schlessinger Families. Fritz Rudolph Künker. Salton, Schlessinger, Hamburger Families & Collection. [.pdf downloaded; on Issuu; direct link to pdf: https://www.kuenker.de/data/kataloge/Kuenker_Broschuere_Salton-Collection_en.pdf ] And by the always-enjoyable-to-read "ASW": Walker, Alan S. “Catalogues and Their Collectors.” American Journal of Numismatics (1989-) Vol. 20, 150 YEARS (2008), pp. 597-615. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43580331
Thanks for all the links! As one of our provenance experts, do you happen to know approximately when auction catalogs were first illustrated, when they first began to be illustrated with photos rather than drawings or engravings, and when the photos began to be of the actual coins themselves rather than of plaster casts?
A fascinating question, glad you asked! I call myself a newbie still, but I do have an answer (two actually!): Two great volumes have tried to address that topic recently and both are well worth buying (the latter especially for an American, I enjoy it, though I haven't found any of my coins yet using it). (There are others in this genre, maybe others will point some out, but I think these are the best two having to do with ancient coin catalogs.) The late great John Spring thought the earliest was 1880, but to everyone's great surprise, David Fanning discovered photographic ancient coin catalogs as early as 1869 in the USA! Below are my notes on the two: 1. John Spring. 2009. Ancient Coin Auction Catalogs: 1880-1980. London: Spink. Excellent volume covering 886 (!) auction catalogs from the first European photographic auctions and for the next 100 years. (Some American auctions covered, but not as comprehensively as in Fanning, below.) Superb indexes of important collections and sales. Essential for anyone doing frequent provenance research or collecting ancient coin auction catalogs. He missed an occasional sale, but very good coverage of the important sales. Remarkable density of biographical and historical material on the coin trade and its participants, both well-known, and quietly important. Many consignors are named that were anonymous in the titles and often aren't easily found elsewhere. (Usually in brackets.) Obituary and biography of Spring (1934-2017) published online by NBS in The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 27, July 2, 2017, Article 4. Brousseau's (in French) includes an excellent "Annexe" of recent important auctions at the end of his review: Brousseau, Louis. 2009. Annex n pp. 580-590: “Important Collection Auction Sales, 1980-2010” (French): https://www.academia.edu/461305/Rev...ns_Auction_Catalogues_1880_1980_Londres_2009_ There are a few others for recent sales: @Valentinian 's auction catalogs page is great, so is the FORUMImportant Collection Auctions - NumisWiki page. And Andrew McCabe's site is great on Roman Republican auctions (he has the image from Spring's book at the top of that page and uses Spring numbers): 2. Fanning, David P (2020) Ancient Coins in Early American Auctions, 1869-1939. Gahanna, OH: Kolbe & Fanning. Another outstanding book. Covering all kinds of important information about the early U.S. coin market, its important dealers, and technologies of illustration and publication. Summary on Numismatic Bibliomania Site here. Available free online on archive at the link above -- but if you order a hard copy from Kolbe & Fanning (which I find easier to use for some purposes), you can request a signed copy! Well worth it to me. Many fewer auctions covered than Spring (only 95 total I believe), but including at least one reproduction of the photographic plates from each, which greatly improves its value. Particular historical detail on every important early American coin dealer who dealt in ancients. Several nice appendixes on auxiliary topics of interest. There is an interesting 60+ min video presentation he gave at the "2020 Newman Numismatic Portal Symposium, held virtually, August 28-30, 2020," available via Archive.
I really like this pedigree visualization, especially with the photos aligned chronologically. Now to find a 25th hour in the day to make one!
Thanks! Haha, that was actually one incentive to shift my collecting interests in this direction: Now that I spend much more time researching/documenting each of my coins, it has forced me to reduce the time I spend buying new ones!
This is a wonderful idea! I love it! Initially, I misread the title as hideous tetradrachm. Now I have an image of Paul Lynde stuck in my head. The coin is the very opposite of hideous.
Oh, BTW, @DonnaML I forget to address part of your question above which is also an interesting one: I think American auctions may have always used photographs of the coins themselves, from the beginning (19th cent.; Fanning has noted somewhere that Americans were more suspicious of plaster cast photo, and Europeans more accepting for some reason). In Europe, it seems most auctions still used casts well after WWII. I haven't double-checked this, but according to Andrew McCabe's page on the topic, they didn't stop photographing casts until about 1970 (and then primarily to save money/time). I'm not exactly sure how the timing & geography translated in academic publishing. But there have been a number of great articles on related topics: Hoover, Oliver D (2012) “Paper, Plaster, Sulfur, Foil: A Brief History of Numismatic Data” ANS Magazine (Spring 2012), pp. 18-26. [.pdf avail on Academia / 28753342] Kraft, Jesse (2021) “The Acrylic Slides of William Guild.” ANS Magazine (Fall 2021, Issue 3), pp. 28-41. [Not yet online?] Another interesting one on line-drawings/engravings: Hollard, Dominique. 1991. “L'illustration numismatique au XIXe siècle.” Revue Numismatique (Année 1991), 6th Series, Vol. 33: pp. 7-42 & Pl. I- III. https://www.persee.fr/doc/numi_0484-8942_1991_num_6_33_1952 Plates ("planches") in separate pdf: https://www.persee.fr/doc/numi_0484-8942_1991_num_6_33_2709
