E. Pluribus Unum Collection - Baker Redux?

Zoins

Did anyone follow the E. Pluruibus Unum sale on Stack's? It looks like most of the collection was assembled in the 70s and 80s. Does anyone know who was behind this collection and collecting these pieces?

To me this, was an amazing collection and an amazing sale. Pieces in this collection have been off the market for decades. It's great that all the pieces were slabbed by PCGS with TrueViews. I just wished they were provenanced to the E. Pluribus Unum collection.

Like the Baker / Historical Society of PA sale, I was able to pick up a few pieces.

Here are some notable pieces to me:

Circa 1860 U.S. Mint Washington Cabinet Medal. Musante GW-241, Baker-326, Julian MT-23. Silver. Plain edge. SP-65 (PCGS)

This is a beautiful piece and one of the highlights of the collection for me, but I passed because it wasn't a core focus of mine like the ones below.

1876 Declaration of Independence medal by George Lovett and Abraham Demarest. Musante GW-830, Baker-388, var., HK-75a. Silver. Plain edge. PCGS MS64 POP 0/1/0 - Ex. Stanley DeForest Scott

This is my big pickup of the auction. It's a silver 42mm So-Called Dollar. I only know of one other one and it's in very strong hands. This one last sold in 1975 in the Stanley DeForest Scott collection so it's taken 45 years to come back to the market!

1832 Philadelphia Civic Procession Medal - Original - Silver, Plain edge - Musante GW-130, Baker-160. Silver - PCGS MS64 POP 3/1/0 - Ex Catherine E. Bullowa (d)

This was my second highly desired piece of the auction and I was lucky to win this. This one is from Catherine E. Bullowa back in 1984 so off the market for 36 years!

While many pieces were strong, I was able to pick up this one at less than half the price of the William Sphon Baker PCGS AU58 example:

ricko

@Zoins .... Very impressive medals ... especially that first one... Cheers, RickO

pursuitofliberty

@Zions Lovely pickups. Patience and persistence paid off in spades for you I think. The three you grabbed are splendid examples!!

Pioneer1

I agree this auction had some amazing pieces... including the SCDs and 1876 Lovett Battle pieces. Lots of strong bids / prices. Congrats on the 1876 silver... !

Zoins

@ricko said:
@Zoins .... Very impressive medals ... especially that first one... Cheers, RickO

That's great praise from you @ricko! I love it too!

Zoins

@pursuitofliberty said:
@Zions Lovely pickups. Patience and persistence paid off in spades for you I think. The three you grabbed are splendid examples!!

I have to be pretty picky, but it's worked out so far! I'm the first four, I just picked up the middle two. I was actually the underbidder on the last one in the Baker sale but I'm glad I missed it now given the specimen I have now is nicer. The Baker specimen actually looks AU55-ish to me.

I picked up the following in the Baker sale and how have a small but growing collection of these. Given that there are "first" and "second" restrikes of the Civic Procession pieces, and this following Ex-Baker piece is a Montroville Dickeson piece, I wonder if either the first and/or second restrikes were done by Dickeson?

Here's the bronze and brass I picked up from E. Pluribus Unum with the silver:

Zoins

@Pioneer1 said:
I agree this auction had some amazing pieces... including the SCDs and 1876 Lovett Battle pieces. Lots of strong bids / prices. Congrats on the 1876 silver... !

The Battle Series were amazing specimens including the Garrett silver set, and full sets in white metal and bronzed white metal, with an original case with the white metal pieces.

I was really happy to get the Lovett-Demarest HK-75a. I also have HK-79a and I've been wondering if I'm the only person to have both? Baker didn't have either one. I've only run across one other specimen of HK-75a and one other of HK-79a.

cardinal

I agree, that collection was eye opening!

I got this one from the Collection:

Zoins

Amazing @cardinal! That is a beautiful medal and great addition. I've thought about collecting this type for for some time but haven't gotten around to yet. Congrats to picking up a gorgeous specimen!

For comparison, here's the Baker gilt specimen. This and the original silver Civic Procession medal above show that as amazing as the Baker collection is, E. Pluribus Unum can give it a run for its money!

Of note, the Baker specimen is noted as gilt white metal while yours is gilt bronze which may account for the difference.

The only other two Gilt specimens I've run across are the Tom Jankovsky and John Charles Woodbury specimens.

johnny9434

Nice stuff there I like

Zoins

Here are two restrikes I bid on but wasn't able to win. I like both of these types but they aren't core to my collection yet. Neither of these have a provenance listed before E. Pluribus Unum. I wonder if they can be tracked via other auction records?

Zoins

Here's another fitting comparison of the EPU and Baker collections as these are the only two CoinFacts specimens of the 1878 Valley Forge So-Called Dollar, HK-136.

The EPU specimen is the top specimen at PCGS MS65 and the Baker specimen is the bottom one at PCGS MS64. The EPU specimen sold for $5,040.00 while the Baker specimen sold for $$5,760.00.

Zoins

Here are two articles from Stack's on this auction:

E Pluribus Unum Collection Pt 2 Realizes $1.1 Million+ at Stack’s Bowers Nov. 2020 Auction

Built over more than half a century, the E Pluribus Unum Collection is replete with coins and medals of superb rarity and quality, many with pedigrees dating as far back as the 19th century. Sales from this collection commenced in the Stack’s Bowers Galleries November 2019 Auction with the record-setting $1.5 million sale of New Jersey coppers, an offering that included a remarkable eight coins from the Maris plate.

Building upon this momentum, Part 2 of the E Pluribus Unum Collection was among the most anticipated specialized offerings in the firm’s November 2020 Auction, hosted at the Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach, California. This second selection offered nearly 500 lots focused on 17th- and 18th-century colonial types, including over 200 Washington pieces. Of special note were nearly 40 Machin’s Mills halfpence by die marriage, more than 60 Connecticut coppers, and dozens of numismatic delicacies featuring multiple strikes, brockages, and high-quality overstrikes.

Winning bids for the E Pluribus Unum Collection, Part 2 totaled more than $1.1 million USD, emphasizing remarkable strength among these more specialized categories.

Nearly $20 Million in United States Coins and Paper Money Sold in Stack’s Bowers Nov. 2020 Auction

Part 2 of the E Pluribus Unum Collection was among the most anticipated specialized offerings in the Stack’s Bowers Galleries sale, drawing momentum from the record-setting November 2019 auction of New Jersey coppers from this collection.

The nearly 500 pieces in Part 2 focused on a variety of 17th- and 18th-century types, along with over 200 Washington pieces. The top price, $66,000, was earned by the finest known 1786 Scholar’s Head Connecticut Copper graded AU-53 by PCGS. An incredible selection of Machin’s Mills halfpence was highlighted by the MS-63 BN (PCGS) 1787 Vlack 17-87A that sold for $21,600, which is also the sole finest graded for the type by PCGS.

The Washington pieces offered a tour through the most iconic issues of the series, including an MS-63 (PCGS) Funeral Medal in white metal that sold for $12,600, a magnificent SP-65 (PCGS) U.S. Mint Cabinet medal in silver that earned $9,000 and a historic MS-62 (PCGS) fire-gilt 1805 Eccleston Medal with secret marks that brought $7,500.

Winning bids for the November 2020 offerings from the E Pluribus Unum Collection totaled over $1.1 million, emphasizing remarkable market strength among these more specialized categories.

Here are the two other Washington medals mentioned by Stack's:

Prized and Historic Funeral Urn Medal
Circa 1800 Washington Funeral Medal. Funeral Urn. Musante GW-70 (Dies 1-B), Baker-166C. White Metal. PCGS MS63

• https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-OPMS8/circa-1800-washington-funeral-medal-funeral-urn-musante-gw-70-dies-1-b-baker-166c-white-metal-ms-63-pcgs?utm_source=coinweek
• https://www.pcgs.com/cert/40395724

Magnificent Fire Gilt Eccleston Medal With Secret Marks
1805 Eccleston Medal. Musante GW-88, Baker-85A. Copper, Fire Gilt. Plain edge. PCGS MS62

• https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-OPKVP/1805-eccleston-medal-musante-gw-88-baker-85a-copper-fire-gilt-plain-edge-ms-62-pcgs?utm_source=coinweek
• https://www.pcgs.com/cert/40401207

Zoins

George Washington, the Cincinnatus of America - Musante GW-437 Baker-227 - Silver

This is another comparison of pieces in the E. Pluribus Unum and Baker collections.

• The E. Pluribus Unum is PCGS MS66 - https://www.pcgs.com/cert/40362114
• The Baker Specimen is PCGS MS65 - https://www.pcgs.com/cert/37116076

DCW

I wonder if there were any pieces in the E Pluribus Unum collection that were previously in the Baker Collection sold last year? Was this collector still adding to his set or was he preparing to sell?🤔

Zoins

@DCW said:
I wonder if there were any pieces in the E Pluribus Unum collection that were previously in the Baker Collection sold last year? Was this collector still adding to his set or was he preparing to sell?🤔

It seems like the E. Pluribus Unum collection was mostly built in the 70s and 80s. Didn't see any pieces with a later history.

DCW

@Zoins said:

It seems like the E. Pluribus Unum collection was mostly built in the 70s and 80s. Didn't see any pieces with a later history.

Well, I know of one that was added in 2008:
Non Vi Virtute Vici by Joseph Merriam. Musante GW-Unlisted, Baker-13K, Kenney-2. Silver. Plain edge. PCGS MS63
I was able to add this one to my own collection. It is a one that I've been looking many years to track down

Zoins

@DCW said:

@Zoins said:

It seems like the E. Pluribus Unum collection was mostly built in the 70s and 80s. Didn't see any pieces with a later history.

Well, I know of one that was added in 2008:
Non Vi Virtute Vici by Joseph Merriam. Musante GW-Unlisted, Baker-13K, Kenney-2. Silver. Plain edge. PCGS MS63

Good to know! My pickups were added in 1975 and 1984!

I didn't see any pieces with the Baker provenance. It's interesting that there were many of the same pieces in both collections so it's been great to compare.

It would be quite a task to go through every piece in the collection but if anyone knows of a piece acquired later than 2008, please post

Zoins

Here's another interesting E. Pluribus Unum and Baker pair. It's a George Washington Spiel Marke token, cataloged as Mustane GW-413, Baker-607 and Baker 606. It looks like work done by Ludwig Christian Lauer.

It says "In Unitate Fortitudo" which is Latin for "Strength in Unity".

I picked up this EPU specimen struck with shattered dies. The obverse is very proof-like. It's also overstruck another piece as you see the remnant of an "O" by the "G" in George and also what looks to be a wing in the field left of Washington's face. Stack's indicate this is Baker 607.

Here's the Baker specimen. I wasn't able to get this one as my attentions were focused elsewhere at the time. Stacks' indicates this is Baker 606. This one is from better, different dies than above. The eagle's breast looks not fully struck.