How many pieces were in the Eliasberg “complete “ collection?

CaptHenway

The 1822 $5 thread got me thinking. Eliasberg’s complete collection must of necessity have included many common coins, such as a 1941 cent or a 1946 dime. How many date and mint mark combinations were there the day he completed his collection, and how many are there today?

tradedollarnut

Well, he didn’t stop on that day so you may need to be more specific

CaptHenway

Just as the count at this end keeps increasing by leaps and bounds. I am just wondering if the count had doubled or tripled or what.

ricko

Just an observation.... I have completed series of coins... However, my collection will never be complete... as I believe is the case with most coin collectors. Cheers, RickO

LanceNewmanOCC

what date are you going by? the date of his death or auction/sale of his collection.

a good place to start.

NNP Eliasberg

"Eliasberg attempted to collect an example of every coin listed in Green's Mint Record and Type Table. "

MidLifeCrisis

Looking at the Eliasberg auction catalogs...

Part 1, the May 1996 included 1,348 lots
Part 2, the April 1997 auction included 3,093 lots of coins tokens and medals. This did not include an additional 215 or so lots of world medals, world tokens, and currency of various types. The 3,093 lots of coins tokens and medals included some coins that, although of US origin, some would think should not be included in the total of US coins in his "complete" collection.

Also, some of the lots in each auction included groups of coins.

So...1,348 plus 3,093 equals 4,441 lots.

From that, I would estimate that Eliasberg had about 4,500 to 5,000 coins in his collection of US coins, tokens and medals.

tradedollarnut

You forgot the gold

CaptHenway

@MidLifeCrisis said:
Looking at the Eliasberg auction catalogs...

Part 1, the May 1996 included 1,348 lots
Part 2, the April 1997 auction included 3,093 lots of coins tokens and medals. This did not include an additional 215 or so lots of world medals, world tokens, and currency of various types. The 3,093 lots of coins tokens and medals included some coins that, although of US origin, some would think should not be included in the total of US coins in his "complete" collection.

Also, some of the lots in each auction included groups of coins.

So...1,348 plus 3,093 equals 4,441 lots.

From that, I would estimate that Eliasberg had about 4,500 to 5,000 coins in his collection of US coins, tokens and medals.

Obviously there were many common coins that were sold in bulk lots or privately as not being worth the auctioneer's time. I helped Harry X Boosel's family dispose of Harry's vast 1873 and 1973-related "stuff," making one pile they should auction and another pile we made a cash offer on. Some of the modern stuff literally went into the dollar token junk box.

MidLifeCrisis

@tradedollarnut said:
You forgot the gold

Hmmm...so I did. Unfortunately, I don't have any information about his gold collection beyond what's in the two auction catalogs I listed above.

MidLifeCrisis

So...probably no way to know for certain how many pieces were in the Eliasberg collection.

MFeld

@MidLifeCrisis said:

@tradedollarnut said:
You forgot the gold

Hmmm...so I did. Unfortunately, I don't have any information about his gold collection beyond what's in the two auction catalogs I listed above.

A website search indicated that 1074 lots were in the 1982 sale.

MidLifeCrisis

@MFeld said:
A website search indicated that 1074 lots were in the 1982 sale.

Thanks! So that brings the estimated (swag) total to 6,000 coins.

But...now I wonder if the 1982 sale consisted of a complete collection of US gold coins.

jmlanzaf

It probably goes without saying, but if you just get a copy of Greene's book you would have Eliasberg's "checklist".

Wahoo554

Another interesting question, I wonder the approximate dollar amount that Eliasberg spent on all of his combined purchases that formed his collection (not accounting for any expenses other than purchase price). I have no idea. Was it more than $500k, less than $1 million, etc.?

jmlanzaf

@Wahoo554 said:
Another interesting question, I wonder the approximate dollar amount that Eliasberg spent on all of his combined purchases that formed his collection (not accounting for any expenses other than purchase price). I have no idea. Was it more than $500k, less than $1 million, etc.?

https://www.coincollector.org/how-much-did-louis-eliasberg-spend-on-his-collection/

3keepSECRETif2rDEAD

...easy peasy...2,376,420 pieces to be exact...that’s with the pipe included

yspsales

@Wahoo554 said:
Another interesting question, I wonder the approximate dollar amount that Eliasberg spent on all of his combined purchases that formed his collection (not accounting for any expenses other than purchase price). I have no idea. Was it more than $500k, less than $1 million, etc.?

According to the link... $400K

So about $8 million in todays money?

I find it an astounding accomplishment.

But it also said Virgil Brand dropped $3M on his collection.

relicsncoins

The auction catalogue is fun to flip through.

yosclimber

The simplest answer is to use the PCGS Registry set with the combination of dates and mint marks 1792-1964,
and the answer there is 2821.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/complete-sets/master-sets/u-s-coins-complete-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1792-1964/3406

This is not exactly right, because this PCGS Registry set only includes business strikes,
and he had some coins which PCGS categorizes as proof only (1913 Liberty nickel, 1894-S dime, etc.).
And his set on the above page does not show as 100% complete because he had proofs for a few of the coins
instead of business strikes.
The second complication is which coins are defined to be patterns or not. For example the 1836 and 1838 Gobrecht dollars.
A third complication is a few coins which are not in the PCGS Registry set for some reason,
like the 1870-s half dime. It was unknown when Eliasberg was alive, so he didn't have it, but it would be
considered part of a current complete set by most people. Another coin missing from the Registry set definition
is the 1933 $20, which as you know, Eliasberg had it in 1952 but surrendered later.

This set composition has been discussed on page 2 of Currin's "Hansen watch" thread:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/12013255/#Comment_12013255

2821 is still very close. My count says there are 14 coins which should be added to make his complete set,
but subtract 1 for the 1870-S half dime that was unknown.
so:
2834 for 1792-1964.

CaptHenway

Thanks. That’s a good ballpark number.

WinLoseWin

@MidLifeCrisis said:

@MFeld said:
A website search indicated that 1074 lots were in the 1982 sale.

Thanks! So that brings the estimated (swag) total to 6,000 coins.

But...now I wonder if the 1982 sale consisted of a complete collection of US gold coins.

The 1982 US gold auction was complete for every date and mint from 1795 to 1933. There were no multi-coin lots in that auction, each lot was one coin. Patterns and territorials were not part of this sale with the exceptions of the 1907 Ultra High Relief $20; certain 1907 Indian Tens and the $4 gold issues.

It also included multiple varieties of some issues, such as the 1795 Eagle which had four different die varieties. But the gold collection did not have necessarily have all the main varieties that might make up a complete PCGS registry set. As an example, the rare 1795 9 Leaves Eagle was not in the Eliasberg collection.

Like the copper and silver sets auctioned in 1996 and 1997, Proof coins, when available were used most of the time in place of business strikes for the Philadelphia mint.

Also, the reason the auctions were so far apart is one son inherited the US gold collection and the other son got the non-US gold. Each chose to sell at a different time.

Below is a clip from the 1982 prices realized.

The catalog is online here from the NNP:

https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesgoldcoincollection1982bowe/page/n5/mode/2up

https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=510373&AuctionId=520557

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