James Stack Collection

cccoins

I ran across a coin that is likely undocumented as part of the James Stack dime collection. Is there a definitive list of coins from the collection, and more importantly, where they were sourced from?

Thanks!

PreTurb

It was probably in one of Stack's James Stack auctions in the early 1990's: brycebooks.squarespace.com/storage/Coin-Auction-Catalogs.htm

OGDan

The James Stack collection is an underrated group that contained many really fabulous coins. I've noticed a bunch of them are not attributed, in fact I picked up one of the most beautiful proof trade dollars from this set in a regular holder with no mention of the pedigree.

CaptainBlunt

Stack had an incredible collection. If my memory serves me correctly he owned the only MS 1870-S Seated dollar. He also had a beautiful 1871CC Seated dollar that was MS 64.

Eldorado9

One of the greatest US collectors of all time. In 1995 two catalogs were published by Stacks of NY, (no relation) and they are chock full of incredible rarities. Some of his collection, half dollars, etc. was sold 20 years earlier in 1975 by his heirs. Stack passed away in 1951.

Eldorado9

His 1870-s Seated Dollar, one of 9? known to exist fetched $462,000.00 in 1995!

Nic

Many of his coins were sold directly and never at auction. Fabulous collection.

Inspired70

I loved his coins. I don’t think they were attributed to his collection since he died long before the “slab era” of holders and his relatives sold off his collection decades after he was gone.

cccoins

I found a dime that I recently purchased that was in the stack collection dime sale (matched the color plate). I scoured Mehl and Stack’s sales from the 1940’s to find the source of it, but no luck. I would like to see where he bought it from if possible.

yosclimber

Here's a related thread, although it does not answer your question about provenance of this particular coin.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/988150/appreciating-james-a-stack/p1

yosclimber

The January 1990 sale where most of the James A. Stack dimes were sold had 313 dime lots.
Many if not most had at least a black and white plate.
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516646
I don't see provenance for any of them listed in the catalog.
When the collection is described on page 26 it says:

When Mr. Stack began his collecting activities almost five decades ago he developed a warm friendship with Joseph and Morton Stack, the former senior partners of this firm. In the course of time the ties between the three men became closely personal as well as numismatic. Many of Mr. Stack’s choicest specimens were acquired with the help of our firm.

So it appears that they were sold directly from collections via Joseph and Morton Stack, which suggests you are not likely to find many of them in auction catalogs of the era.

Although it does state

In the 1940’s when he began to seriously concern himself with numismatics the collecting horizons were much wider than they have since become. Although he favored our firm with a major share of his acquisitions he searched the entire country for outstanding specimens. At the same time he took full advantage of the opportunities presented by the dispersal of such outstanding collections as those formed by Neil, Atwater, Dunham, Hall and Colonel Green, to name only a few.

cccoins

@yosclimber - Thank you and others for the feedback, I am fortunate that my coin has a color plate and matched the picture (it’s NOT the 1894-s dime however, but the 1874 cc right before it in the color plate section).

I talked with Rusty Goe and he gave me some direction on where to look. Interestingly enough, the dime appeared in 1990 and 2005. The 2005 auction referenced a June, 1990 sale, which was wrong. I started digging and found it in the January, 1990 stack sale.

Hopefully I can find more out soon.