Which dealers had/have the most impressive collections?
Zoins
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There are a lot of famous dealers and many of them also collect. Which dealers have collections that stand out?
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Legend had a fantastic Seated dollar collection that I am guessing TDN took over and built on. One collection that cannot be equaled. I was sure hoping the rumor a while back that his collection of SLD's was going across the auction block would have happened. I was hoping for a shot at a nice looking common? for a type coin, but alas! A dream set TDN, and congrats for putting it together.
Perhaps we have not seen - or heard of - the 'most impressive' dealer collection.... It may be closely held and purposely avoiding the fanfare of such possessions. I think Laura has referred to one or two in her writings, as amazing, but not publicly known. Cheers, RickO
David Bowers, the prolific numismatic author, has been selling some of
his collection lately. He wrote a few years ago that he was putting together
a Peace dollar set in MS 64.
Wasn't Jack Lee, silver dollar and Lincoln cent collector, a dealer?
Angel Dees toned buffaloes were pretty darn nice.
I would throw David Akers into the mix
I think the "winner" is John Ford. However, the methods that he sometimes utilized are perhaps ethically challenged.
Yes Ford!
Ed Milas no motto half eagles
also territorial gold
Ford always presented himself to me in a low key manner. In other
words if we were playing a game of
poker I had no idea he was
holding a Royal Flush
I should have realized he had a very
valuable hand or collection based on the way
some dealers fawned over him.
I knew him in the later years of his
life when the potential for his collection to come to market increase dramatically with each passing year
Watch out for the quiet ones.
Bowers and Ruddy (at least one of them) had a pretty extensive collection of non-numismatic collectibles. I don't recall the details. Just cool stuff from early jute and musical boxes, etc.
Gene Edwards for his time had a pretty nice seated and Barber collection. That was long before most of the bigger collections came to light.
David Hall's $10 Liberty collection was pretty extensive with a number of mind bogglers.
Julian Leidman had at least one of his collections sold at a Stacks public auction.
Martin Haber had some pretty wild type and better date coins put away. Some of those showed up in Auction '86.
Harold Kritzman built one of the earliest top notch sets of FB Mercury dimes.
As far as TDN's seated and trade dollar sets.....I think they were 100% his all along.
At times it's hard to separate dealer from collector when you get up into the stratosphere of the rarest or hardest to come by US coins. Was Pittman just a collector? Gene Gardner? The Norwebs? Eliasberg? Stack? Clapp? S. Benton Emory? Bass? To get up to that level you have to be pretty connected and almost operating on the mindset of a dealer....even if you have another primary job. Many of the best dealers of the past 50 yrs are just collectors "gone wild." I suspect most of them have some collections of sort put away.
Tony Terranova and Bill Anton built incredible collections of colonials for themselves. Jim McGuigan gets an A+ for his half cents. The Kagins had an unbelievable collection of Pioneer Gold. Tom Reynolds put together an awesome collection of Large Cents. Martin Paul’s half dimes were the best ever.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Steve Tanenbaum held the most extensive collection of Civil War tokens ever assembled, most in breathtaking uncirculated condition. He did this while being a major dealer in exonumia.
I'd buy anything with his name on the slab, sight unseen.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
How about your central america collection?
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
A dealer in my town owned the Bolender dollar set intact for many years until it was sold at auction.
Jim McGuigan-a silent world class collection-a good one Andy!
I had a measly #1 all time PR 3CS set-with the unique 1851 PR. I regret selling it.
Years ago, I bought a COMPLETE MS Trade Dollar set -that included an 1884+1885 from Q David Bowers! His personal collection.
Not yet, but I'm making good progress!
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
That's a collection I would love to see!
Do you have a registry set or other showcase?
What is your collection called in the PCGS Set Registry? Looked up the All Time Sets but wasn't sure which one was yours. I'd love to look through it!
No registry set. It's mostly NGC and raw at this point, and most of it has not been imaged. Really kind of pathetic.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.