Eliasberg's Gold...

OneCent

I read the story about the auction of Eliasberg's gold collection in 1982 in the March 2010 Numismatist. I guess it doesn't get anymore impressive than having one of every Federal issue US gold coin. It appears that his heirs may have been better served from a profit maximization perspective if they had waited until the coin market was more lively than what was being experienced in 1982. I read that the coin market during that period was "on life support" and that may have been an optimistic view. The prices realized from his unique collection of US gold is not of great interest to me. What does interest me is HOW Eliasberg managed to acquire one of each of the US gold coins ever minted? I know nothing about the man, although I would like to learn more. I presume he was very wealthy and that certainly would be a requirement, I think, to putting together the collection that he did. But even presuming significant wealth, some of these gold pieces were incredbily rare. Even given the wealth, just finding the pieces would have been an extreme challenge. How did Eliasberg do it? Anyone have some insight?

MidLifeCrisis

I can't speak specifically about the gold coins, but Eliasberg acquired his complete collection by buying the almost complete collection of another collector and adding to it. Here is some information from an article on PCGS.com -

Louis Eliasberg (1896-1976) was a Baltimore financier who avidly collected coins from 1925 until 1976. His goal was to assemble a complete collection of United States regular issue coins. He accomplished this monumental feat by 1950, by purchasing the last gold coin he needed (1841 $2 1/2) in 1949 and the last silver coin he needed (1873-CC no arrows dime) in 1950. From 1950 until his death in 1976, he concentrated on keeping his collection current, adding a few better condition pieces, and sharing his collection with the numismatic community through various exhibitions. He was even featured in an article in LIFE magazine.

Louis Eliasberg accomplished what no one had accomplished before or since. He built a collection of regular issue United States coins comprising all then-known dates and mint marks. He is the only person to ever build a complete set of U.S. coins. He avidly sought every single coin he needed to accomplish his goal, in the process purchasing coins from most of the major dealers of his day.

Eliasberg's largest and most important purchase occurred in 1942 when he purchased the Clapp Estate Collection through Stack's for $100,000. The Clapp Collection had been built first by J.M. Clapp from the 1880s through his death in 1906, and then his son John H. Clapp from 1906 on. The Clapp Collection was not only nearly complete, it contained coins of extraordinary quality, including spectacular quality coins that J.M. Clapp had acquired directly from each of the Mints in the year of issue from 1892 to 1906. Louis Eliasberg added the Clapp Collection to his, then expanded it and added the great ultra rarities.

speety

Bingo, the Clapp collection was the basis for the Eliasberg set.