Has anyone ever delved into the funky "distribution channels" for early commemoratives and

Longacre

I have been reading the QDB Redbook about Commemoratives, and he touches upon the various distribution channels for the early commemoratives. In some series, a particular person was the main distributor, in other instances, banks were involved, etc. For the 1904-1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition gold dollars, QDB writes,

"The firm of D.M. Averill & Company, 331 Morrison Street, Portland was involved in the distribution, possibly in connection with [Farran] Zerbe, although the details are not known."

Has anyone ever delved into all of the tricky interrelationships between the early commemorative promoters and the various distribution channels that were used to sell them? QDB seems to imply that Zerbe had some relationship with D.M. Averill, but the intrigue stops there. I think it would be interesting to "follow the cash" and see who was really benefitting when these early commemorative programs were in full force. Has anyone ever looked at things from this perspective? Where would one begin to research something like this? Would there be any interest, or is it a too esoteric topic?

DaveG

I think it's commonly believed that the promoters were the ones who benefitted from the classic commem programs.

I also recall that at least one of the commem "encyclopedias" of the past decade discussed why the commems were issued (sometimes for rather suspect reasons) and who the promoters were.

TomB

The book An Inside View of the Coin Hobby in the 1930s: The Walter P. Nichols File is the collected correspondence of Walter Nichols who was a mid-leve ANA official and dealer in the 1930s. He was also a prime mover in the passage and distribution of the York commem and his letters show a relationship with many other distributors of commems and how they treated one another and moved their coinage.

RegistryCoin

There are some extremely entertaining stories concerning the distribution and promotion of the various commems. Keeping the locals and insiders happy, and maxing the take on the coins for their particular interest made for a wide variety of, shall we say, "interesting" and "imaginative" ways to distribute. The more detailed the various stories we find to read, the more fun it becomes to collect classic commems, and there are some great stories, at least 144 of them, and there are many commem reference books containing these discussions. Look particularly for the smaller, shorter, older, more specific books and papers for the more esoteric (accurate?) stories.

Learning about the distribution of commems is not just fun.

The study will also provide considerable insight into each issue's condition, "look", grade range, toning, etc.

LeeG

Alot of Politics were involved in the distribution of quite a few of the Classic Commem's. I've touched on some of this in my series:


History Lessons

RWB

As TomB mentioned the Walter Nickols material is a prime, and often overlooked, source of inside information. Another set of sources are the official files of sponsoring organizations. Most of these are buried in state and local archives (or local libraries) and extremely difficult and time consuming to get to. (Although local historians are eager to help with research – so much of their time is spent with routine matters that “real research” is a treat.) Mint archives are spotty although there are occasional letters revealing complaints and other problems. (Such as: Zerbe’s mess of the PPIE commemorative and medal sales.) Lastly the Commission of Fine Arts microfilm minutes (in NARA-DC) sometimes includes commentary about potential distributors and also about the qualifications/lack of qualifications of some of the artists.

Beyond a Congressman doing someone a favor by introducing legislation, most of the politics was local. The profit margin was fairly small, in part because the mint charged face value for the coins plus the cost of dies (at approx $25/die). Add in advertising, order fulfillment and postage, and you can begin to see why some distributors cooked up elaborate “Sold Out” schemes to increase their ROI.