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<p>[QUOTE="BenSi, post: 3569634, member: 95174"]Normally I am just an armchair archaeologist, but this is a tale of a bit of coin sleuthing. This is about a pair of coins that I acquired at auction that came with their original tags. These coins were my first entry into making serious acquisitions into a more expensive level of collecting.</p><p><br /></p><p>The two coins I acquired were Byzantine Hyperpyron gold coins. The coins were acquired at a European Auction and they were said to be from an old Swiss collector with original tickets.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was happy with the coins sitting in my collection with the original envelopes from the dealer J Schulman. Something that made them special.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>JACQUES SCHULMAN </b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>NUMISMAAT</b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Keizersgracht 448</b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Amsterdam-C </b></p><p><br /></p><p>Ticket numbers 2117 and 2104</p><p><br /></p><p>I could have stopped there but in a moment of free time I looked up the original dealer on the internet. To my surprise I found this article.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.numismaticmall.com/numismaticmall-com/schulman-jacques" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.numismaticmall.com/numismaticmall-com/schulman-jacques" rel="nofollow">http://www.numismaticmall.com/numismaticmall-com/schulman-jacques</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In the article I found not only tells the history of the dealership, a fascinating story however it also says the original files were meticulous and were donated to the ANS is New York in 1987. So, I wrote to the ANS..</p><p><br /></p><p>The next day I received a nice reply from David Hill, Francis D. Campbell Librarian American numismatic Society.</p><p><br /></p><p>“I believe there has been some confusion in the past, based on an internet claim that the ANS has these materials. When I looked into it years ago, I believe what I found was that HANS Schulman’s card system went to the ANA in Colorado.” </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I thanked him for his reply, and I proceeded to contact the ANA.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I then wrote to the Library at the ANA, their response was slower, I sped it up with a phone call, I spoke to a very nice gentleman there David Sklow, the library director at Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library. He had no knowledge of the library having the notes of the Hans Schulman but said he would research the library and get back to me, he did and once again the response was negative.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>So with both the ANA and the ANS libraries checked and neither having the files I was looking for I was left with one piece knowledge; They both knew of the prestigious firm.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>So that told me perhaps the firm was still in existence, the firms name was valuable enough to have been sold. I was right , after an internet search I found the current firm doing business in Amsterdam under that name and on their web page they make mention of how valuable the notes were and alluded to the fact that they did indeed still have them, a basic catalog of sales that would help my search for Provenance.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.schulman.nl/about_us.php" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.schulman.nl/about_us.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.schulman.nl/about_us.php</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I contacted them and a gentleman Tim Poelman very politely replied, requesting photos of the original tickets and they would look up what I was seeking.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I was in delay in getting photos of the tickets because the locked up with the coins and I was traveling, but I did manage to get them the photos they requested.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I did not have to wait long, the reply did give me one match, My Alexius coin. The other, the John II coin was a miss.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><i>“In Auction 226 of 30 jan. 1956, no. 2117 we sold an Alexis I. Solidus (Large flan). cf. BMC 7; Ratto 2059. (Estimate: 150 Gulden; price realized: 105 Gulden). Consignor: unknown, sold to: 'Basel'. (no known other pedigree)”</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The other ticket that contained the John II coin was not a match.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><i>“Unfortunately, I cannot find the John II piece, however, in the same auction as mentioned above we sold under nr. 2104 a Solidus of Arcadius (Sab. 11; To. 6; Ratto -).”</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>So the Alexius coin I will keep with the ticket and I will very much appreciate how lucky I was to find its ownership from the mid 1950’s .</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I am sure somewhere down the line someone put the John II in the wrong envelope. I did ask if it could have been from an earlier time in the dealerships long history, Mr. Poelman let me know that the pre war envelopes were made of a different paper and my envelopes were used until the 1980’s.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I hope you enjoyed my sharing of the search. Bellow is the coin with the winning ticket.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]950312[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]950313[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="BenSi, post: 3569634, member: 95174"]Normally I am just an armchair archaeologist, but this is a tale of a bit of coin sleuthing. This is about a pair of coins that I acquired at auction that came with their original tags. These coins were my first entry into making serious acquisitions into a more expensive level of collecting. The two coins I acquired were Byzantine Hyperpyron gold coins. The coins were acquired at a European Auction and they were said to be from an old Swiss collector with original tickets. I was happy with the coins sitting in my collection with the original envelopes from the dealer J Schulman. Something that made them special. [B]JACQUES SCHULMAN [/B] [B]NUMISMAAT[/B] [B]Keizersgracht 448[/B] [B]Amsterdam-C [/B] Ticket numbers 2117 and 2104 I could have stopped there but in a moment of free time I looked up the original dealer on the internet. To my surprise I found this article. [URL]http://www.numismaticmall.com/numismaticmall-com/schulman-jacques[/URL] In the article I found not only tells the history of the dealership, a fascinating story however it also says the original files were meticulous and were donated to the ANS is New York in 1987. So, I wrote to the ANS.. The next day I received a nice reply from David Hill, Francis D. Campbell Librarian American numismatic Society. “I believe there has been some confusion in the past, based on an internet claim that the ANS has these materials. When I looked into it years ago, I believe what I found was that HANS Schulman’s card system went to the ANA in Colorado.” I thanked him for his reply, and I proceeded to contact the ANA. I then wrote to the Library at the ANA, their response was slower, I sped it up with a phone call, I spoke to a very nice gentleman there David Sklow, the library director at Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library. He had no knowledge of the library having the notes of the Hans Schulman but said he would research the library and get back to me, he did and once again the response was negative. So with both the ANA and the ANS libraries checked and neither having the files I was looking for I was left with one piece knowledge; They both knew of the prestigious firm. So that told me perhaps the firm was still in existence, the firms name was valuable enough to have been sold. I was right , after an internet search I found the current firm doing business in Amsterdam under that name and on their web page they make mention of how valuable the notes were and alluded to the fact that they did indeed still have them, a basic catalog of sales that would help my search for Provenance. [URL]http://www.schulman.nl/about_us.php[/URL] I contacted them and a gentleman Tim Poelman very politely replied, requesting photos of the original tickets and they would look up what I was seeking. I was in delay in getting photos of the tickets because the locked up with the coins and I was traveling, but I did manage to get them the photos they requested. I did not have to wait long, the reply did give me one match, My Alexius coin. The other, the John II coin was a miss. [I]“In Auction 226 of 30 jan. 1956, no. 2117 we sold an Alexis I. Solidus (Large flan). cf. BMC 7; Ratto 2059. (Estimate: 150 Gulden; price realized: 105 Gulden). Consignor: unknown, sold to: 'Basel'. (no known other pedigree)”[/I] The other ticket that contained the John II coin was not a match. [I]“Unfortunately, I cannot find the John II piece, however, in the same auction as mentioned above we sold under nr. 2104 a Solidus of Arcadius (Sab. 11; To. 6; Ratto -).”[/I] So the Alexius coin I will keep with the ticket and I will very much appreciate how lucky I was to find its ownership from the mid 1950’s . I am sure somewhere down the line someone put the John II in the wrong envelope. I did ask if it could have been from an earlier time in the dealerships long history, Mr. Poelman let me know that the pre war envelopes were made of a different paper and my envelopes were used until the 1980’s. I hope you enjoyed my sharing of the search. Bellow is the coin with the winning ticket. [ATTACH=full]950312[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]950313[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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