That "Benson" fellow sure knew how to pick 'em......

dizzyfoxx

A couple from the "Benson Collection"... One may be familiar, and the other may not be....................

History/Provenance: From the Benson collection and purchased as part of a type set of Commemorative half dollars from Ira S. Reed on February 15, 1944 for $135.00.

SeattleSlammer

The more I look at that California pic, the more I can't believe I told you about that coin instead of grabbing it for myself!

poorguy

So I guess you like it?

dizzyfoxx

<< <i>So I guess you like it? >>



Let's see Brandon, how can I put this.........

Oh by the way, thanks for the amazing Cali.

CalGold

Those coins didn't look like that when Benson bought them. They toned up in his albums. And I'll bet he bought the California as BU.

CG

dizzyfoxx

<< <i>Those coins didn't look like that when Benson bought them. They toned up in his albums. And I'll bet he bought the California as BU.

CG >>



Prove it!!!

...and he could have bought the California as a pocket piece, it's got a pretty look to it.

WTCG

Most of the coins in the Benson group did not have toning when he originally aquired them. The color and toning developed over time due to the storage methods.

dizzyfoxx

<< <i>Most of the coins in the Benson group did not have toning when he originally aquired them. The color and toning developed over time due to the storage methods. >>



I know, I was just kidding around. I think it's pretty common knowledge that this was the case. Lucky for us, he put them in his storage albums when he did, and removed them when he did.

1794half1839

Benson also had some amazing looking early silver type coins, especially Bust Dimes. One of the classic collections that is not appriciated as much as Eliasberg, Norweb, Pittman, Garrett. If I remember correctly Stack's sold two parts of the collection, in the late 70's, early 90's, and either Goldberg or Superior recently sold the third part.

Those commems are awesome looking. I love both of those design types. I bet the California sold for decent money, despite its "AU58" grade.

roadrunner

It's very possible that Benson had no clue as to what he was doing.
And he may not have been able to "pick anything." He bought a lot of these coins in big lots. As I recall he bought a run of proof sets from the 19th century to 1915. Well, that took care of those holes in the albums. Paid $225 for that lot of dozens of coins! More than likely he was a value and volume buyer more concerned about price.
That nicely toned commem came out of large group he purchased as well. Seems to me he took what was available using discount logic.

Most of his nicer toned coins were obviously cleaned before they toned. So the question is did he buy them cleaned or did he clean them? Several of his early type coins exhibited no signs of cleaning and were amazingly original, but I think most showed hairlines.

In any case, he was smart to stick them into albums where the signs of the past cleanings were slowly hidden over the years. If he did pick them himself and he knew what he was doing...... then how do account for all the ones that showed some fairly strong signs of wiping and cleaning?

roadrunner

elwood

To me, the Benson Collection was the beginning of the toning craze and the large premiums being paid for color.

I remember attending the auction and the amazement (from people in the room) at what these coins were bringing.

Swampboy

I recently had a Benson cent find its way into my collection.

Here's a link to the Golberg Auction I dug up researching the Benson 'hoard'.

Benson Collection auction

roadrunner

I was more amazed at how undergraded the 19th century type coins were. PCGS was very harsh on these. And I have reasons as to why that would have been the case.

It was no surprise to me to see a PCGS 1838/1839 MS66 half dime
bring $6800 or so when it was a 68 shot coin (yeah, it did upgrade to NGC 68 and then sold for $12-13K). There were a bunch others that were stone cold upgrades in the seated series. And there were also others that were overgraded due to hairlines and those still fetched PQ or next grade money based on the toning.

roadrunner

1794half1839

In regards to coins that must have been carefully selected, I love the Vermeule Collection sold by Stack's in 2001. He had an amazing 1807 O-112, which was called superb. It was a great looking coin, and his proof seated material was breath taking.

oldcameoproofsguy

Those are pretty darned nice!

SkyMan

Here's my lone Benson coin. Some issues with strike, but in all an attractive coin. Graded KoolAid62.




EDITED TO ADD: Nice looking commems John!!!

firstmint

It's a real shame that the auction cataloguers don't provide better information about some of their consignments, especially in light of the TPGs putting a name on the holders after the sale. So who was "Benson"?

There were coins in that first 2001 Goldberg sale that had been sold within the previous two years that weren't part of the Benson holdings. The 1827/3/2 quarter is such an example, having been offered in the September 1999 Pre- Long Beach sale by Superior. Just because they were offered in that catalogue, if requested, would they receive the Benson name on the holder as well?

Likewise, when an important coin comes onto the market for the first time, there should be a disclosure (as much as can be known) about the history of that piece.

The recent high grade 1793 S-11 Wreath Cent in the March 2008 Goldberg sale mentions that this piece belonged to a British sailor who brought it back from America in his "naval kit" during the War of 1812 - yeah, right.

If you believe that story - all I can say is "too bad, so sad".

While this post refers to the Goldbergs and their cataloguing, I would like to point out that they are not alone in this practice.

Ronyahski

There is a writeup of Dr. Benson in the Goldberg cataloques of his collection. To excerpt the cataloques, Dr. Benson starting collecting in 1939 as a Boy Scout, in Philadelphia. His father was also a doctor and collected with him. His father's patients included Ira Reid, a noted numismatist of the time, and Rae Biester, first female Director of the Mint. Reid interested them with 19th century Proof sets, et. al., while Beister allowed them to purchase first strikes from the mint in the 1940s. They continued to collect until 1950, when the younger Benson went to medical school.

The collection sat in Wayte Raymond holders in a safe deposit box, untouched, for over 50 years.

I believe that at least one of the larger collections that Benson acquired, in 1944, accounts for many of the coins that were cleaned. They have the look of a cleaning with baking soda, a more popular method years ago. The wonderfully toned 1796 Draped Bust Quarter that appears on the front cover of the Benson II catalogue has a very chromy look to it, likely a result of a baking soda cleaning.

The fact that some of his coins did show evidence of older cleaning, and thus hairlines as well, shouldn't detract from the fact that he had some simply astounding toned coins in his collection. His collection was sent in only once to PCGS for grading, which accounts for the fact that, as some have pointed out, there were many coins in the collection that were simply undergraded.