Appreciating Thomas Harrison Garrett and John Work Garrett
The Thomas Harrison Garrett provenance is a strong one!
Post any T. Harrison Garrett pieces here.
Here's his biography from Stack's:
T. Harrison Garrett
Biographical notes relating to one of the presently offered coin's most famous owners may be of interest:
Thomas Harrison Garrett began his collecting interest as a student at Princeton in the 1860s, with a New Jersey copper being among his first acquisitions. A man from the wealthy family that controlled the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, he eagerly collected books, autographs, prints, and other items, including a double elephant folio set of Audubon prints, keeping and enjoying them at Evergreen House on North Charles Street in Baltimore. In the 1880s he was especially active, with Baltimore dentist and rare coin dealer Dr. George Massamore representing him at sales under various pseudonyms including "Hotchkiss," "South, "and "Harrison." Many collectors, particularly advanced ones, kept knowledge of their holdings and their needs a secret, thus hoping to acquire desired pieces at a lower price than would be the case if it had been known that they were missing from their cabinets. In 1885, his collection, which by that time had an 1804 dollar and the unique hallmark-on-breast 1787 Brasher doubloon, was considered to be second in importance only to that of Lorin G. Parmelee. In actuality, Garrett's collection was much broader and included world and ancient coins as well as tokens and medals, while Parmelee mainly concentrated on obtaining one of each date (but not mintmark varieties) of federal coinage. In the same year he acquired en bloc the James L. Claghorn collection of over 30,000 prints, paying the then remarkable figure of $150,000for it. Parmelee publicized and shared his holdings with others, while Garrett collected quietly. The true extent of his collection was not known to his contemporaries.
In 1888, Garrett died in a boating accident in Chesapeake Bay, thus cutting short the career of a remarkable numismatist and leaving a family to mourn his passing. His collection passed to one of his sons, Robert, who in 1919 traded it to another son, John Work Garrett. As noted above, the collection passed to The Johns Hopkins University. One of the greatest numismatic events of all time was our offering of the Garrett Collection at auction in a series of four sales from 1979 to 1981
Recently, I've started to run across more of his medals and So-Called Dollars which are all very impressive.
Here are some:
(Circa 1852-1854) Declaration of Independence Medal. Silver. 91 mm. 295.0 grams - Charles Cushing Wright - Musante GW-183, Baker-53G - PCGS SP63 TOP POP 1/0
Harrison acquired this for $36 which was then 1.74 ounces of gold.
In 2018, it sold for $40,800.
- https://www.pcgs.com/cert/35701797
- https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-BJDNZ/circa-1852-1854-declaration-of-independence-medal-silver-91-mm-2950-grams-by-charles-cushing-wright-musante-gw-183-baker-53g-s
1876 U.S. Centennial Exposition. Exposition Building Dollar—Art Gallery. Silver. 43 mm. HK-83a. Rarity-8. MS-63 (PCGS).
This one is engraved by William H. Key.
The Centennial Art Gallery was housed in the Memorial Hall, one of the few buildings designed to be permanent.
One of the Centennial's most enduring legacies was its Art Gallery, which eventually became known as Memorial Hall. The building had been constructed as a permanent structure in 1874–75 for $1,564,000, intended to house more than 4,000 works of fine and applied arts.
https://www.philamuseum.org/information/45-154-18.html
From Wikipedia:
The Art Gallery building (now known as Memorial Hall) is the only large exhibit building still standing on the exposition site
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Exposition#Memorial_Hall
1876 George Lovett's Battle Series - Silver
Comments
Based on this post, I would say his collection was very impressive.... Wow... Cheers, RickO
I thought i'd post a link to my Lovett Battle Site Visits (got seven of eight before COVID-19 hit). Wish I owned a silver Lovett set but alas someone else now has a mind-boggling silver set.
http://www.so-calleddollar.com/discussions/topic/lovetts-eight-battles-dollars/
Lots of photos on Jeff's site of the visits....
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
Nice Trade @trueblood!
The HK-83a Centennial Art Gallery in Silver was purchased by Jeff Shevlin and the headline coin in his June fixed price list, so now it is a Garrett-Shevlin piece.
The Finest Known Example of the First $10 Gold Coin
1795 Capped Bust Right Eagle. Bass Dannreuther-4. Rarity-5. 13 Leaves. PCGS MS66+ - Stenz-Garrett-Pogue-Jung-Tyrant
This is a beautiful coin that possibly survived almost 100 years in pristine condition in Germany. T. Harrison Garrett purchased this coin in 1880 from a German collector George Stenz.
Here's the provenance from CoinFacts:
this post i like
@Pioneer1 I followed the link to what you posted and it was truly interesting. Thanks VERY much for the link. I hope you get to complete your battlefield visits as soon as possible. For those who have not checked out what Pioneer1 posted, I think it's worthwhile to check it out.
Saw this one at the Pogue sale. One of most amazing U.S. coins in existence. I'd rank it in front of all the 1804 dollars and 1913 nickels (disregarding price of course). Originality is off the charts.
Why disregard price? I think that coin should easily be worth more than all the 1913 dollars and most 1804 dollars. That it isn’t just seems like a market mistake to me (although I don’t know what the last sale price was)
Here are some Garrett pieces I've owned.
1760 Voce Populi Halfpenny, 'P Before Face', AU55 [PCGS], Nelson-12 variety, considered to be Rarity-3. Ex Bowers October 1980 sale of the Garrett Collection, Part 3, lot #1280; earlier the collection of James Ellsworth; earlier Chapman's June 1914 sale of the George Parsons Collection.
1760 Voce Populi Halfpenny, 'Long Nose', AU50 [PCGS], Nelson 15 variety, the distinctive 'Long Nose' type. Ex Bowers October 1980 sale of the Garrett Collection, Part 3. lot #1278.
1796 Washington Repub. Ameri. Medal, PF64 [NGC], Baker-69, Breen-1278 variety, second obverse. Struck in Copper. Ex Bowers and Ruddy's March 1981 sale of the Garrett Collection, Part IV, lot #1759.
That 1795 is just sick! Might be one of the top three greatest rare coins in existence.
I've been fortunate enough to handle several Garrett coins, and his collection was truly one of the best overall collection I've ever seen. I think many old time dealers/collectors can attest to this (including Mr. Eureka).
The 95 eagle was added to the Tyrant collection in 2019 per the Tyrant Collection website, but this still needs to be added to CoinFacts.
http://thetyrantcollection.com/portfolio-item/1795-10-capped-bust-13-leaves-pcgs-ms-66/
Here's Oliver Jung's Registry Set description:
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/complete-u-s-type-set-1792-1964/imagegallery/142775
Tyrant's collection of $10s is incredible but the quality of the Ex. Jung/Garrett/Pogue coin really jumps out as being in a different world:
http://thetyrantcollection.com/eagles-of-the-tyrant/
http://www.so-calleddollar.com/discussions/topic/lovetts-eight-battles-dollars/
Thank you. I will get to Trenton at some point as "the win the day after Christmas was a real shot in the arm" to the Patriots.
Since a number of Garrett pieces early on in this post relate to the 1876 US Centennial Expo, a good resource for looking at medals is Ron Alber's book at:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/530604?page=0
It's a HUGE number of pages, but scroll down to the medals starting at Medal # 2820... and the pages just before ... there is a lot of good information. Of the 109 revolutionary war battles that occurred in 1776, Lovett memoralized just 8 of them (unknown selection criteria) and "his series scorecard fairly reflects the overall season for the Americans in 1776, with a score of 3 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw." Alber's book has very well written battle descriptions. It was memorable to visit the sites.
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
I still have it as my pictureofmyself coin and will keep it this way !
Great coins and medals! It's great to see this side of Harrison
I would too! Great coin!
Who now owns the 1795 $10 ex Jung/Garrett/Pogue coin?
It's now in the Tyrant Collection.
There's some speculation that the Tyrant Collection is owned by George Soros.
Uhmmm - no.
One guess down
1804 Bowed Liberty Dollar - Class III - Restrike - Double Struck - PCGS AU55 - Ex-Berg, Garrett, Sommer, Pogue
Here's the illustrious history of Harrison's Class 3 1804 dollar from the Pogue sale.
I like how the history of this piece goes back to Haseltine and Edward Cogan. I have a Cogan 1860 dealer token. It also makes me want to research O.H. Berg and Laura Sommer.
Here are the Stack's sales of this coin:
Stack's sold the 1804 dollar earlier when it was NGC PF55 with a different lot description.
It included a biography of Harrison which I included in the OP.
It also mentions our own @cardinal who can hopefully comment on the coin
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/1-1NA9O/1804-draped-bust-silver-dollar-class-iii-restrike-bb-306-second-reverse-proof-55-ngc
Here's a great medal from T. Harrison Garrett which is coming up.
Here's the provenance from Heritage:
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
Very nice coin @bidask!
Love the condition and subject!
Good to update this to mention it's been revealed that the Tyrant collection is owned by Dan O'Dowd!
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1072556/the-tyrant-revealed
This circa 1862 medal is from the Garrett Family collection sale in 1981. What are the possibilities it was purchased by Harrison?
love those consecutive certs!
always adds a special appreciation (for me) when i see a collection submitted together, still together.
<--- look what's behind the mask! - cool link 1/NO ~ 2/NNP ~ 3/NNC ~ 4/CF ~ 5/PG ~ 6/Cert ~ 7/NGC 7a/NGC pop~ 8/NGCF ~ 9/HA archives ~ 10/PM ~ 11/NM ~ 12/ANACS cert ~ 13/ANACS pop - report fakes 1/ACEF ~ report fakes/thefts 1/NCIS - Numi-Classes SS ~ Bass ~ Transcribed Docs NNP - clashed coins - error training - V V mm styles -
This one is a Civil War token struck over an 1861 Seated Liberty Quarter. Purchased by T. Harrison Garret in one of Haseltine's 19th century auctions
One of the most fascinating pieces in my collection
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
The JL Bode Birstuffer piece is a great one @DCW! Glad you were able to pick it up when the chance arose as they don't come often!
This THG piece in silver is in my collection now. Amazingly, this building from the US Centennial Exposition survives today!
Here's THG's amazing 1807 half dollar, the finest of all 1807 dollars at PCGS.
Some quotes:
And from Paramount:
Time to appreciate John Work Garret (JWG) as well! Here's one of his coins, which looks like a Trade Dollar but for use in the US!
It looks like JWG picked it up for $26 in Haseltine's sale of the Harold P. Newlin Collection in 1883. Think about what moderns from the US Mint store cost!
@Zoins JWG would have been 11 years old in 1883. That was probably purchased by T Harrison, too.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Good catch Den! The provenance available from Heritage unfortunately doesn't say if it was purchased by the Garretts in 1883, but if it was, then it was likely THG as you mention. Interestingly, no provenance is mentioned for this coin in CoinFacts. Heritage just lists the following so some investigation is needed to capture when the Garrets acquired this.
Yes, probably bequeathed to JWG from his father. Interestingly, my token above was purchased in Haseltine’s 65th sale, March 1, 1883, lot 161.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Very cool. I wonder how THG picked up my medal, as in was he walking around the US Centennial Exhibition and picked it up at a booth. The Stack's provenance in 2020 just says:
Provenance: From our sale of the Garrett Collection, March 1981, lot 2106.
Multi-generational collections are interesting to research this way.
I see the March 1981 Bowers & Ruddy auction catalog, but just can't reach it without moving a bunch of banker boxes. Anyhow here's a Hard Times Token from the Garrett auction I sold last spring which includes the catalog copies of the original correspondence between T. Harrison and Lyman Low. Garrett never did anything with HTT's beyond just purchase this group lot from Low. Over the last 18 years of collecting HTT's I've handled 8 from the 1883 lot of 73.
Wow! That's a lot of great info @Broadstruck! I love the historical documents. It would be interesting to see how many HTTs can be traced to Garrett and Low today.
Here's a nice coin that that was acquired by THG. Heritage lists Harrison, Robert and John Work as part of the provenance chain.
1856 Three Dollar - PCGS PR65+ DCAM - Ex. T. Harrison Garrett
This Garrett coin was just picked up by @DLHansen and posted into the Hansen Watch thread by @Currin:
1901 Liberty Head Double Eagle, PR66CAM
PCGS POP 3/2
Certification #45169105, PCGS #89117
PCGS Value Guide: $300,000 / Unknown
Ex: Garrett Collection
This Garrett coin just popped up:
1868 Indian Cent in Aluminum - Judd-612 - PCGS PR65+ Cameo - Ex. Sampson, Garrett, Simpson
Heritage mentions "H.G. Samson (2/1882)" but it seems likely that this is H.G. Sampson.
Here's another Thomas Harrison Garret coin in aluminum.
Currently, the insert only notes Harry W. Bass, Jr., and it isn't listed in the CoinFacts census.
https://www.pcgs.com/cert/46094786
The pedigree is listed as follows by Heritage: