My bookcase is full -- which recent auction catalogs should I keep?

jonathanb

My bookcase is full, and I think it's time to weed out some of the deadwood by tossing some "run of the mill" auction catalogs.

I'm definitely keeping all of the Ford catalogs. What else should I keep?

For example, I have The George "Buddy" Byers Collection of U.S. Half Dollars, which Stacks auctioned a year ago. I don't know much of anything about half dollars, but I figure if I ever get interested, that would be a good one to have on hand.

What other recent auction catalogs should I make of point of hanging onto? I'm particularly interested ni hearing about catalogs that had excellent reference collections within a larger sale, since those are the ones I'm likely to miss.

Thanks!

Barndog

no doubt: keep all the Reiver stuff.

RYK

<< <i>no doubt: keep all the Reiver stuff. >>



I sold the Reiver stuff.

I have kept (and plan to keep) the Arconti Collection of large cent errors, Jay Roe Calgold, Duke's Creek and Green Pond Dahlonega, Rasmussen large cents, Bruce Sher collection, Russ' Hairy Head Halves collection ( ), Jim Gray seated, Richmond Collection (though I do not know why), all of the ANR catalogs because they were so well-done, Eliasberg world gold, and a few others. One of my upcoming projects will be to go through all of the catalogs and toss most and keep the essentials above, plus the ones that I purchased (Norweb, Eliasberg, Bass, Dallas Bank, North Georgia, Milas, etc.).

Barndog

I bought the deluxe edition of the Reiver auction!

Aegis3

Me, I would keep the Ford sales, Stack's Americana auctions, the Norweb Washingtonia auction, probably Heritage's exonumia auctions, and any important single-consignor auctions. Also any PCAC auctions, and probably auctions you've purchased significant coins from.

(BTW, if you're planning on getting rid of any PCAC sales, I certainly wouldn't mind adding to my presently small set.)

MrHalfDime

It is impossible to recommend to another collector which auction catalogs to keep unless you know that collector's core interests. Look at the responses to this inquiry, and not too surprisingly everyone recommends keeping the catalogs of major collections of their favorite series. Without knowing your specific interests, it is impossible to recommend.

As Barndog pointed out, the Jules Reiver/ Heritage auction sale is the definitive reference on all early Federal silver and copper, as he had virtually all of the die marriages for all denominations - over 2000 die marriages were represented in his collection. That will likely never be accomplished again. The William A. Harmon/ Heritage auction sale was as complete in United States half dimes from 1792 to 1873 as any other, and serves as a reference for the entire denomination, all series. The Jim Gray sale was absolutely complete, in all denominations, for the entire Liberty Seated series, including the unique 1870-S half dime and the 1873-CC No Arrows dime; it is the complete text book for the Liberty seated series. There are several others worthy of mention, but if they didn't contain half dimes I'm afraid I don't know what they are.

Cladiator

Get another bookcase.

roadrunner

While Reiver has all the die marriages, it doesn't always explain them in enough detail to use it as a true reference.

I have about 50-70 lbs of extra auction catalogues waiting to be given away at the next coin show I can drag them to. No discrimination: Heritage, B&M, ANR, Stacks, Goldbergs....they all go.
But Ford I'm keeping.

roadrunner

keets

i think you'll regret dumping anything you get rid of. find an obscure spot in the house and store them.

jonathanb

I don't have all of those catalogs to start with, but I'll make sure to keep the ones that I do have. Thanks for the pointers!

jonathan