Aside from this and that and previous comments, Anyone who would like to share something about what you know of either of these gentlemen and their published works, I would be happy to hear from you. These Two are but a few very obscure names in the history of our mutual Numismatic endeavor 's .
I would be interested to know what the title of A.M.Smith's work you have. These are all not that common. Please do tell more ?
Some of the Von Bergen's are unique in that different business addresses were used in the publication's . If you let me know which one's you have Frank, I'll check mine and perhaps it may be one you want to add to your collection. I have only one copy and don't intend on building sets.
It's hard to get young folks to even look at a book and when they see the price they put it down. I only know a little about A. M. Smith. It's said that he once owned a giant hoard of early proof sets and proof coins from the 1870's and 1880's. He once owned over half the production of one year of proof 3 cent silvers.
I know there is a high end clientele that will pay what an item is worth if it is unique enough. Stores like Neiman-Marcus could not exist if there were not. However, it's extremely difficult to find the right marketing venue. It's like a rare coin of mine that has no known sales records. Heritage won't touch it and neither will stacks. I don't think most collectors of this type of book haunt eBay looking for one. I hope you are fortunate enough to locate a dealer who has a client seeking this. I think that's you best bet for a high value, but it might take a very long time to find the buyer. IMHO gary
Some infor on A.M. Smith: Born Anders Madsen Schmidt, in Knudsbol, Parish of Jordrup, Denmark, on February 4, 1841, Andrew Madsen Smith (as he came to be known) emigrated to the United States, arriving in Philadelphia on May 1, 1859. In 1861 he was in the business of selling chickens. Subsequently he served in the Union Army and Navy, and traveled extensively and lived throughout the West. In 1875 he returned to Philadelphia, and in that city was a dealer in wines and in rare coins at 6th and Chestnut streets through the year 1886, when he moved to Minneapolis. In 1885 his biography, Luck of a Wandering Dane, appeared under the nom de plume Hans Lykkejaeger. His updated biography was published in 1890 in Minneapolis, and gave 249 Hennepin Avenue as his address. Bearing the name of A.M. Smith as author, it was titled Up and Down in the World, or Paddle Your Own Canoe. In 1886 he published the Encyclopedia of Gold and Silver Coins of the World. For a number of years he operated the California Restaurant at 247 Hennepin Avenue, decorated with sets of coins and medals framed high on the walls. Smith joined the American Numismatic Association in 1901. In August of that year he advertised in The Numismatist and offered Proof trade dollars of the 1879-1883 years for $2 each. The Minneapolis Journal; December 5, 1908, printed the following: The silver dollar of the date of 1884, that sold in Chicago [a silver 1884 trade dollar in Ben Green's auction] for $280, is what is known as the "trade dollar," and it is doubtful if more than a few hundred people have ever seen one of that date, as there were only five struck in silver and a few in copper, and these are in collections, closely guarded. A.M. Smith of Minneapolis has one of the copper Proofs in his collection of coins, others are in private collections in the East and in the United States Mint Collection. When the story of the Chicago sale appeared, hundreds of persons of Minneapolis made the mistake of thinking that it was the ordinary standard dollar of 1884 that brought the high premium, and many thought they had a small fortune in their grasp, when, in hunting through their pockets and cash registers they discovered several of that date. AM. Smith has been kept busy for the last four or five days informing people that they did not have any of the valuable coins. In one day he answered over 100 telephone inquiries on the subject. Smith died in Minneapolis on July 20, 1915. (Mason's Monthly Illustrated Coin Collector's Magazine, June 1890, p. 7, gave the curious and incorrect information that "A.M. Smith"was really Jacob Smith, who used the name of his wife, Annie M. Smith, in his business. Smith's wife was the former Botilla Elberg. Pete Smith (no kin to A.M.S.) has written a biography of A.M. Smith; see Bibliography.) • Private collection, apparently still with certain other 1884 copper strikings (information per Walter Breen)
The only Von Bergens that I have are: 5th Edition (1889) red cover - two copies, with the thick (heavy stock) paper and the regular paper (pages) and the 7th edition, from 1901, larger book, (larger than the 1889) blue cover.
My copy is the 8th edition and numbered # 896. The listed business address is 196 Chestnut st, Boston, Ma. If you interested let me know. I'm asking $40.00
