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Which provenance is better T. Harrison Garrett or Louis E. Eliasberg?
Realone
Posts: 18,519 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have my fav but curious about yours and why. So I will tell you my reasons toward the end, and there are many.
Thanks for responding, we have a great place to learn here!
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Eliasberg all day long .😀
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
Might depend on the series but Eliasberg is more recognizable to most.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Eliasberg for completeness. Garrett for quality.
This.
I don't think one is better than the other.
Eliasberg carries more recognition and he will always hold a special place in numismatics for his achievement, and rightly so.
Garrett carries more mystique and star power to me. It's hard for me to explain why, but it's probably because of Q. David Bowers' book "The History of United States Coinage: As Illustrated by the Garrett Collection". Also, the four Garrett auctions took place from 1979 to 1981, the same time I was first getting into coin collecting as a teenager. I remember reading about them and being amazed at the coins. There were a lot of "WOW!" coins.
Probably depends on the coin...
I'd rather have a coin from the Garrett collection than an identical coin from the Eliasberg collection. And if I could go back in time and attend either series of auctions again, it would be Garrett. It's not even close.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Garrett coins are interesting because they were held in the family for many years and then went through Johns Hopkins University. The 1804 dollar was purchased in 1883 and sold by Johns Hopkins in 1980!
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End Systemic Elitism - It Takes All Of Us
Neither.
Which would you rather have:
1. Amazing coin, best of it's type you've ever seen.
2. A slightly lesser coin than #1 that has a Garrett provenance.
3. A similar coin to #2 that has the Eliasberg provenance?
If the provenance matters more than the coin, you're an idolater.
[Also, let's not forget, Pittman had some coins that Eliasberg did not.]
It would depend on the coin...........IEliasberg is more recognized but, frankly, I've seen some poor quality coins from his set.
If both coins were nice.....I'd probably go with Eliasberg.
“I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947)
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I prefer Eliasberg. He had the Unique 1873-CC NA Dime in Gem.
Although I prefer Garrett overall, there are some coins that I’d prefer with a Clapp-Eliasberg provenance. Again, assuming the coins are identical. Ultimately, the call would be based on the overall excellence of that part of the collection.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
A coin from the Realone collection would float my boat.
Garrett overall, Eliasberg did have some hole fillers...I don't believe Garrett did. On a specific coin, could be either.
Eliasberg had it all over Garrett? His collection was complete with many great coins. Garret got a lot of press because the family had a lot of good coins, and the coins were sold at the peak of a strong market.
Eliasberg had better coins.
Garrett blows Eliasberg away on Colonials, Pioneer Gold, Patterns, Historical Medals, World Coins (except Latin American gold) and Ancients. Clapp-Eliasberg blows Garrett away on US coins from 1793 on.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I confess ignorance. Those areas interest me, but those areas are not the be all and end all for me. The prices at the Garrett sales were so high, at the time, that it didn’t matter what they had. I could not come close to buying any of it. For me, when I was in my 20s, Garrett was a game for people who would pay any price for a souvenir. I had to save for a few months to have $1,500 to spend.
That auction turned me off completely. I really disliked the results of the Garrett sales because it told me, “Forget it kid!” Many of the people who bought stuff at the Garrett sales lost money unless they held the item for years.
I had an 1802, New Reverse half cent that was Ex Garrett. I bought it in the secondary market and sold it for a profit a couple decades later, but it took that long.
.> @BillJones said:
I missed the March 1976 Garrett sale. I was 15 at the time, and would not attend my first Stack's auction until their ANA sale that summer. I also missed 3 of the four 1979-81 sales, attending only the March 1980 sale. Fortunately, I didn't buy anything, because the market collapsed a month later.
Anyway, its interesting how the sales turned you off and completely turned me on. For me, the inspiration to one day own museum-worthy coins like Garrett's vastly overpowered any sense of intimidation I might have felt from the heavyweights that surrounded me. And the same remains true today.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Garrett by a nose
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Looks like you started this nonsense Realone.
I'm going to start a new thread, "What is more important to you provenance or pedigree"?
Did he have an 1870-S Half Dime? If not, he did have a complete collection of US coins.
Also, I read many years ago his collection was missing a business strike 3 cent nickel. The coin he had for that date was actually a pattern. Does anyone here know the specifics of this?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Agree.
If guess if one is a completest then Eliasberg is your man. If you are taking about sheer number of great coins I’m taking Garrett. I’m not a set collector so I’m on Garrett.
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Thread Revival
I just started a thread on the Garrett medals and So-Called Dollars as I've started to run across more and they are very impressive.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1047274/t-harrison-garretts-so-called-dollars-and-medals/p1?new=1
Eliasberg had the great set of Lincoln gold medals.
Still learning for both.