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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 8282990, member: 26430&quot;]I’m sure others here bought coins from the same collection sale, so I thought it might be worth sharing some background info on the collector/collection (CNG Keystone Auction 6, 11 March 2022). I posted a few in another comment, but I’ll show them all here and give more background.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Please do share anything similar or relevant, as you see it</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here’s a group shot of the bulk of my takeaway:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1463040[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Kenneth Bresset (1928 - ) Bio / Background.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Ken Bressett (1928 - ) is a well-known American numismatist and author, now in his 90s, who has been active in the field since the 1950s.</p><p><br /></p><p>He was President of the <i>American Numismatic Association</i> in 1995 (among many other offices held). If you were in the Boy Scouts and got the “Coin Collecting” merit badge after 1975 (I did not, perhaps reserving Boy Scouts for outdoor stuff?) then you used his pamphlet.</p><p><br /></p><p>He may be best known in the field of U.S. Coins, but he’s also written about ancient coins. He wrote <i>Money of the Bible </i>(2005 &amp; later eds.) and edited the 1994 single-volume of Zander Klawans’<i> Ancient Greek &amp; Roman Coins</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>In addition to American and British coins (if not others), he built an ancient coin collection from the late 1940s through at least 2014.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bressett&#039;s biography is on pp. 50-51 of Pete Smith&#039;s (2021 ed.) <i>American Numismatic Biographies</i> (<a href="https://archive.org/details/2012AmericanNumismaticBiographies" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://archive.org/details/2012AmericanNumismaticBiographies" rel="nofollow">on Archive</a>; or <a href="https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/304?page=49" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/304?page=49" rel="nofollow">here on NNP</a>; Lincoln Higgie’s, mentioned below, is on p. 178; Salton is notably absent). By 1985, he had nine entries indexed in Clain-Stefanelli&#039;s <i>Numismatic Bibliography</i> (p. 1647), and many more publications after.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>COINS SHOWN:</b></p><p><br /></p><p>The “tray photo” above shows twenty-two coins. The ten coins on the top row (two groups, Lot <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197514" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197514" rel="nofollow">3334</a> [<a href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-54IC48/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-54IC48/" rel="nofollow">CNG listing</a>] and Lot <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197558" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197558" rel="nofollow">3378</a> [<a href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-54IC6O/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-54IC6O/" rel="nofollow">CNG listing</a>]) had no prior provenance but were types I always enjoy (Valens and Valentian dragging bound captives, Constantine I AEs). (For group lots I include CNG links as well, since ACSearch only shows one photo; otherwise I prefer to use ACSearch.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The remainder attracted my attention partly with interesting backstories:</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Vespasian Judaea Capta AE As.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1463041[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p><font face="Georgia"><b>Roman Imperial. Vespasian (Augustus, 69-79 CE) &quot;Judaea Capta&quot; Commem. AE As</b> (28mm, 9.40 g, 6h). Rome mint, 71 CE.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><b>Obv</b>: IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG COS III P P. Laureate head right.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><b>Rev</b>: IVDEA CAPTA / S C in exergue. Judaea seated right in attitude of mourning, Palm tree to her left; to left, pile of arms (shields, helmet).</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><b>Ref</b>: RIC II 305; Cohen 244; Hendin (GBC 5) 1554(b); <a href="https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).ves.305" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).ves.305" rel="nofollow">OCRE (RIC 305; 14 specs.)</a>.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><b>Note</b>: Incorrectly described as RIC 1233 (COS VIII / IVDAEA) by CNG.</font></p><p><b><font face="Georgia">Prov</font></b><font face="Georgia">: Kenneth Bressett (1928 - ) Collection, </font><a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197336" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197336" rel="nofollow"><font face="Georgia">CNG Keystone Auction 6 (Lancaster, 11 Mar 2022), Lot 3156</font></a><font face="Georgia">; acq. Mark Salton-Schlessinger, 1957 ($8), with tag/envelope.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>As I&#039;ve commented before, one of my favorite sub-collections is &quot;barbarians, captives, and enemies&quot; on Roman coins. It&#039;s my first Judaea Capta RIC bronze.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1463042[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The coin also fits my other favorite collection theme: History of numismatics.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bressett bought it from Mark Salton-Schlessinger (1914 - 2005) in 1957 (as a dealer, not from his celebrated collection).</p><p><br /></p><p>In this case, the provenance is particularly important in relation to the type of coin. Salton came from a family of prominent Jewish numismatists (Schlessinger, Hamburger, et al.), most of whose coins and other properties were seized by the Nazis c. 1940, and most of who were murdered in the Holocaust. (I will post more later, but I’ve also just purchased a copy of his father, Felix Schlessinger’s final Auction in 1939 [No. 15, Baron A. de la Chapelle Coll.], in exile in Amsterdam, one year before the Nazis invaded.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The important history of the family, WWII, and their fates is detailed in Ursula Kampmann’s (2022) <i>Origins of the German Coin Trade: The Hamburger and Schlessinger Families</i>, published by Künker and available online (<a href="https://issuu.com/kuenkercoins/docs/kuenker_broschuere_salton-collection_en" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://issuu.com/kuenkercoins/docs/kuenker_broschuere_salton-collection_en" rel="nofollow">English translation</a>, read-only on issuu; the <a href="https://coinsweekly.com/the-origins-of-the-german-coin-trade-brochure-on-the-fate-of-the-hamburger-and-schlessinger-families/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://coinsweekly.com/the-origins-of-the-german-coin-trade-brochure-on-the-fate-of-the-hamburger-and-schlessinger-families/" rel="nofollow">Coinsweekly summary</a> [31 Mar 2022] links the downloadable .pdf on Künker’s website).</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Philip I &amp; Gordian III AR Antoniniani ex Dorchester Hoard. </b></p><p><br /></p><p>Also among Bressett’s collection were many silver Ants from “The Great Dorchester Hoard of 1936,” as Mattingly called it in his 1939 <i>Numismatic Chronicle</i> article (avail. with free account <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42663394" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42663394" rel="nofollow">on JSTOR</a>, or free, in lower-quality .pdf <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283556/page/n28/mode/1up" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283556/page/n28/mode/1up" rel="nofollow">on Archive</a>). It remains one of the largest hoards ever found in Britain, with 20,748 coins cataloged by the British Museum (another c. 1,000-plus were not cataloged). Many of the coins were dispersed by B.A. Seaby. (I don’t know if all were.)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1463053[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Bressett’s Dorchester Antoniniani were all described as Ex “Joe Powers 1950.” Joseph Powers was an active member of the Boston Numismatic Society in the 1950s and 1960s. Bressett reported buying coins in Boston c. 1948 and 1950 and/or at Boston coin shows, so these coins were likely purchased on one of these visits.</p><p><br /></p><p>Many of the coins retain original hoard encrustations, which I appreciate on coins like these (especially since I&#039;ve seen <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9045825" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9045825" rel="nofollow">similar encrustations on others</a> reportedly ex-Dorchester). All six coins (four types) are common: In the Dorchester Hoard alone, there were 128 specimens of my Gordian III (Cohen 299) and, of my Philip I Ants, there were 526 (C. 9, 3 coins), 411 (C. 25), and 167 specimens (C. 215)! I was, of course, shocked that not even one of mine was illustrated on Mattingly’s three plates!</p><p><br /></p><p>Collectively, they were under $35 each (incl. auction fee), which I consider a good price for coins persuasively tied to an important hoard. (Lot <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197411" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197411" rel="nofollow">3231</a> and <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197424" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197424" rel="nofollow">3244</a> [<a href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-54IBZ8/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-54IBZ8/" rel="nofollow">on CNG</a>].)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Constantine I AE3s Ex “Lincoln Higgie Hoard.” </b></p><p><br /></p><p>Another group I found interesting were those described as Ex-&quot;Lincoln Higgie Hoard, 1967.&quot; Of the five I won (4X Constantine I [<a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197515" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197515" rel="nofollow">3335</a>; <a href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-54IC4A/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/view/4-54IC4A/" rel="nofollow">on CNG</a>] and a Constantine Jr. [<a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197532" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9197532" rel="nofollow">3352</a>]) these are my three favorites:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1463054[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Again, common coins, but ones I never tire of, and with an interesting story. The group of six came out to about $14.40 each.</p><p><br /></p><p>The larger group was reportedly “discovered” by William “Bill” Lincoln Higgie (1938 - ) in Turkey, 1967, and sold to Bressett “intact” (about 40 VRBS ROMA AEs, plus a couple dozen Constantine I and II). Characteristic of that era, no publications or other reports of the hoard are mentioned, nor does one imagine cultural property and export permits to have been a major concern.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>DID ANYONE ELSE WIN ANY OF THE BRESSETT COINS? OR ANY DORCHESTERS (OR OTHER BRITISH HOARDS)? EX SALTON-SCHLESSINGER COINS? ANYTHING ELSE INTERESTING OR RELEVANT TO SHARE?</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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