Richmond III: They saved the best for last?
RYK
Posts: 35,797 ✭✭✭✭✭
I am more excited about the Richmond III sale than I have been about any other collections for auction in recent memory. Perhaps it is my closet interest in seated coins. Perhaps it is the excellent production of the catalog. Perhaps it's the cool coins. Likely, it is all of the above.
Richmond I: Despite my interest in rare date gold, the sale did not do much for me overall. I did end up purchasing two coins: one with a dealer bidding on my behalf and the other from the dealer's inventory immediately after the sale. Both are excellent coins, and there were many other high quality ones, as well. The collector filled in a lot of the uninteresting dates with lackluster coins, and I think it diluted the quality of the overall offering.
Richmond II: I have no interest in Morgan dollars and only passing interest in Merc dimes, Buff nickels, and early cents. I spent less than ten minutes browsing the catalog.
Richmond III: I get the feeling that the collector really liked seated coins, perhaps more than the other series sold to date. Many were from the Pittman and Eliasberg sales, and unlike the coronet gold of the same era in Richmond I, the quality of the coins is more consistent throughout. The variety of possible looks that you get from early silver is more visually attractive in the catalog than the relative monotony of one gold coin after another (did I just type that?). I also think that DLRC continued to develop in writing copy for the auction (which is different than for inventory), and the overall production shows substantial improvement from the Richmond I catalog. It is my opinion that they saved the best of the Richmond collection for last, and DLRC has matured considerably as a numismatic auction force in the process. Kudos to the collector and to DLRC.
Richmond I: Despite my interest in rare date gold, the sale did not do much for me overall. I did end up purchasing two coins: one with a dealer bidding on my behalf and the other from the dealer's inventory immediately after the sale. Both are excellent coins, and there were many other high quality ones, as well. The collector filled in a lot of the uninteresting dates with lackluster coins, and I think it diluted the quality of the overall offering.
Richmond II: I have no interest in Morgan dollars and only passing interest in Merc dimes, Buff nickels, and early cents. I spent less than ten minutes browsing the catalog.
Richmond III: I get the feeling that the collector really liked seated coins, perhaps more than the other series sold to date. Many were from the Pittman and Eliasberg sales, and unlike the coronet gold of the same era in Richmond I, the quality of the coins is more consistent throughout. The variety of possible looks that you get from early silver is more visually attractive in the catalog than the relative monotony of one gold coin after another (did I just type that?). I also think that DLRC continued to develop in writing copy for the auction (which is different than for inventory), and the overall production shows substantial improvement from the Richmond I catalog. It is my opinion that they saved the best of the Richmond collection for last, and DLRC has matured considerably as a numismatic auction force in the process. Kudos to the collector and to DLRC.
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Comments
you can say that again...this is the best catalog of the three.
I can't get over the quality of the seated quarters, so many pop one's. I have been pouring over this catalog for hours, just reading the descriptions.
When the Daggett-Lawrence specimen of the 1894-S dime sold a couple of years ago, it disappeared with little or no fan-fare. I have a color photo of this coin framed in my den. What a sweet coin. I believe they say its the finest known.
As my Barber sets are AU 55-58, the coins offered in this Richmond 111 catalog are too nice to be included in my sets - but I am so tempted to bid on a few things...
The guys at DLRC have done a first rate job on their first important consignment's catalog ! Congratulations to them and to the consignor of this amazingly beautiful collection.
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Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
MFH, I have not even looked at the Barbers yet, but they look quite nice as well. How do the Barbers compare to the recently sold Hugon collection?
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
I still think often of a time when I was a little kid and my dad sat at the kitchen table around 1978 and tried to convince my mother to let him buy what I now believe is the Ice Cream Specimen 1894-S dime. He said it was AG or G and that Bobby Hughes wanted $15,000 for it. Well, my mother blew a gasket (that was more than his salary that year as a high school teacher). Ever since then, I aspired that I would bring one home to dad. I was fortunate to do that twice before he passed. This (Richmond) coin is the king. It is a consensus 66 at both PCGS and NGC, and it is flawless. Anyway, I am terribly biased but I have now handled two of the top 3 graded. The third is the Eliasberg coin (NGC Pr 65) which I was told has since been dipped (a shocking thing to do) and may be permanently off the market.
As far as cataloging is concerned, I actually wrote about 1/2 of the catalog myself, by necessity. We prepared the copy in Nov/December at a time when all the other auction houses were using every bit of numismatic cataloging talent in the known universe to prepare their FUN Show sales. It was quite arduous and I have a new found respect for those who perform that job. (Jim Matthews was a god-send for me as he cataloged a ton of coins at the last minute, and the folks at Stacks graciously stepped in and helped me with many of the rarities.)
Sorry to be so long-winded... Thanks again for your support.
Sincerely,
John
Truer words have never been spoken.