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Numismatic History – Henry C. Miller
MidLifeCrisis
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Henry Clay Miller was born in Philadelphia on May 19, 1844, and died February 6, 1920. Miller never married. He devoted much of his time and energy to myriad projects including the study of mining in the Rocky Mountains. He graduated from Williams College in 1867 and achieved success as a public school teacher, principal and administrator in New Jersey and New York. He was later employed with Goodbody & Co., brokers, in New York City.
In numismatics, he was best known for his pioneering effort in the field of Connecticut coppers, and his attribution numbers are still in use today. Miller wrote The State Coinage of Connecticut, published in 1919 by the ANS.
Miller contributed coins from his collection to four auctions spread out over many years. A portion of his collection was sold by Lyman Low on June 15, 1897. Another sale by Thomas Elder on April 13-14, 1917 contained 54 varieties of 1794 large cents and realized more than $8,000.00, a huge sum for the time.
Yet another sale by Thomas Elder of Miller’s coins occurred May 26-29, 1920. This sale was strong in English and Roman coins, as well as Miller’s collection of American colonial coinage, including his Connecticut coppers.
As a side note, Thomas Elder sold an impressive 292 sales between 1903 and 1940, including the collections of Peter Gschwend, William H. Woodin, William Summer Appleton, and Henry Miller. Elder's catalogues tended to be well researched and comprehensive for their time, though not always 100% accurate. The catalogues were also diverse in content, ranging from ancients to Americana to colonials.
In the January and February 1935 issues of Hobbies magazine, Elder told a story about two 1796 half cents, described as “Proof” (no Proofs were ever made, but the coins must have been nice!) found by Henry Miller:
<< <i>(Miller) had made several trips to Europe and was well enough posted on rare American coins to find some gems in that line over there before the American dealers searched there so extensively for our own coinage. Mr. Miller collected Anglo-Saxon also, rare American colonials, and Roman coins. I’ll tell you more of Miller, his collections, and his finding a pair of Proof 1796 U.S. half cents in London.…
His fat and rotund figure suggested an amicable judge, rather than the coin collector as usually pictured. I had corresponded with him from Pittsburgh [where Elder lived until the early 1900s, before moving to New York City] and met him one day in his apartment in New York, where he showed me some duplicates which he had picked up in an English sale, for which there was at the time a market in the U.S. Lyman H. Low was at the peak of his prosperity at the time, with no competitor in New York City. Mr. Miller gave him small consignments from time to time, and he seemed pleased with the results. A little later he transferred his sale trade to me and never sold coins through anybody else afterwards. He sold out his fine cent collection and some other items in 1916, I think it was, and we got fine results for him. Sometime prior to that, he had secured a pair of Proof 1796 half cents from a dealer in London for something less than $50 for the two. As he collected no half cents, he turned them over to me, and in a sale on East 23rd Street we got $300 for one of the half cents, which to that time seemed a world’s record. In the cent sale just mentioned, however the second half cent made the great record of over $700, going into the cabinet of a leading Detroit collector [Howard R. Newcomb], now retired.…
As Mr. Miller was born in 1844, he would be, if living today, 90 years old. He was graduated from Williams College in 1867. Just prior to his death in 1920, he told his sister, Miss Emma Miller, to take his collection to me in case anything befell him. Miss Miller informed me that he had a predilection for candy, which contributed to his end. >>
Although I've posted this coin on the forum before, here is a coin from my collection that was part of Thomas Elder's May, 1920 sale of the Miller collection. It was plated in that catalog and was described as "Uncirculated, partly red, and a rare state as such."
(1694) Elephant Token, Hodder 2-B variety, Thick Planchet, with an estimated surviving population of 500-999 pieces. PCGS MS-63 BN
Sources:
1. COINLINK Coin Collecting News (http://www.coinlink.com/News/auction-news/choice-mint-state-1796-half-cent-in-stacks-sale/#more-1310 and http://www.coinlink.com/News/us-coins/colonial-coins-the-connecticut-coppers/)
2. http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article1219.chtml
3. http://www.1794largecents.com/1794/bios.htm
4. http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=460&hdnJumpToLot=1&Lot_No=2053
5. American Numismatic Biographies, by Pete Smith, 2010 (http://www.coinbooks.org/resources/anb_2010.pdf)
In numismatics, he was best known for his pioneering effort in the field of Connecticut coppers, and his attribution numbers are still in use today. Miller wrote The State Coinage of Connecticut, published in 1919 by the ANS.
Miller contributed coins from his collection to four auctions spread out over many years. A portion of his collection was sold by Lyman Low on June 15, 1897. Another sale by Thomas Elder on April 13-14, 1917 contained 54 varieties of 1794 large cents and realized more than $8,000.00, a huge sum for the time.
Yet another sale by Thomas Elder of Miller’s coins occurred May 26-29, 1920. This sale was strong in English and Roman coins, as well as Miller’s collection of American colonial coinage, including his Connecticut coppers.
As a side note, Thomas Elder sold an impressive 292 sales between 1903 and 1940, including the collections of Peter Gschwend, William H. Woodin, William Summer Appleton, and Henry Miller. Elder's catalogues tended to be well researched and comprehensive for their time, though not always 100% accurate. The catalogues were also diverse in content, ranging from ancients to Americana to colonials.
In the January and February 1935 issues of Hobbies magazine, Elder told a story about two 1796 half cents, described as “Proof” (no Proofs were ever made, but the coins must have been nice!) found by Henry Miller:
<< <i>(Miller) had made several trips to Europe and was well enough posted on rare American coins to find some gems in that line over there before the American dealers searched there so extensively for our own coinage. Mr. Miller collected Anglo-Saxon also, rare American colonials, and Roman coins. I’ll tell you more of Miller, his collections, and his finding a pair of Proof 1796 U.S. half cents in London.…
His fat and rotund figure suggested an amicable judge, rather than the coin collector as usually pictured. I had corresponded with him from Pittsburgh [where Elder lived until the early 1900s, before moving to New York City] and met him one day in his apartment in New York, where he showed me some duplicates which he had picked up in an English sale, for which there was at the time a market in the U.S. Lyman H. Low was at the peak of his prosperity at the time, with no competitor in New York City. Mr. Miller gave him small consignments from time to time, and he seemed pleased with the results. A little later he transferred his sale trade to me and never sold coins through anybody else afterwards. He sold out his fine cent collection and some other items in 1916, I think it was, and we got fine results for him. Sometime prior to that, he had secured a pair of Proof 1796 half cents from a dealer in London for something less than $50 for the two. As he collected no half cents, he turned them over to me, and in a sale on East 23rd Street we got $300 for one of the half cents, which to that time seemed a world’s record. In the cent sale just mentioned, however the second half cent made the great record of over $700, going into the cabinet of a leading Detroit collector [Howard R. Newcomb], now retired.…
As Mr. Miller was born in 1844, he would be, if living today, 90 years old. He was graduated from Williams College in 1867. Just prior to his death in 1920, he told his sister, Miss Emma Miller, to take his collection to me in case anything befell him. Miss Miller informed me that he had a predilection for candy, which contributed to his end. >>
Although I've posted this coin on the forum before, here is a coin from my collection that was part of Thomas Elder's May, 1920 sale of the Miller collection. It was plated in that catalog and was described as "Uncirculated, partly red, and a rare state as such."
(1694) Elephant Token, Hodder 2-B variety, Thick Planchet, with an estimated surviving population of 500-999 pieces. PCGS MS-63 BN
Sources:
1. COINLINK Coin Collecting News (http://www.coinlink.com/News/auction-news/choice-mint-state-1796-half-cent-in-stacks-sale/#more-1310 and http://www.coinlink.com/News/us-coins/colonial-coins-the-connecticut-coppers/)
2. http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article1219.chtml
3. http://www.1794largecents.com/1794/bios.htm
4. http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=460&hdnJumpToLot=1&Lot_No=2053
5. American Numismatic Biographies, by Pete Smith, 2010 (http://www.coinbooks.org/resources/anb_2010.pdf)
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Comments
<< <i>Thanks for the history lesson. Great read! >>
Thanks! I've always been interested in the people and history of our hobby - on both the collector and dealer sides of the coin.
<< <i>Great playwright, too!.....or, maybe that was a different one… I’ll go ask Marilyn. >>
Umm...yes.
And sold by my main man, Thomas L. Elder himself!!!
TD
Remarkably Large and Complete Collection of U.S. Cents and Half Cents April 1917 Thomas Elder
According to Davis' American Numismatic Literature (an annotated survey of auction sales 1980-1991) the 1917 catalog sold
from between $700 and $1,100 in the mid-1980s.
Catalogue of the Splendid Rare Coin Collection of the Late Henry C. Miller May 1920 Thomas Elder
The 1920 catalog contained 28 full-tone photographic plates...according to Davis' American Numismatic Literature
the 1920 catalog sold for as much as $2,800 in the late 1980s.
Of the 20+ Elder catalogs listed in the Davis book only the two Miller sales contain Splendid.
I've wanted to buy a copy of the Miller catalogs for a long time...not an original, but a reprint or photocopy or something to use for reference.
Denga
www.brunkauctions.com
State Coinages of New England, including Miller on Connecticut coppers. Now you can have the great fun in attributing the 1787's!
Ed. S.
(EJS)
<< <i>Let's hope this works.
State Coinages of New England, including Miller on Connecticut coppers. Now you can have the great fun in attributing the 1787's! >>
Thanks for the link! It worked and I downloaded the entire PDF document.
Looking at the bottom of the list there's a few coin issues shown for a price comparison such as a 1856 FEC in Unc, 1796 $2 1/2, and 1849 $5 Mormon, patterns, and proof issues. Unknown to many Hard Times Tokens were the most popular US series collected from 1910 throughout the remainder of the teens which yielded some magnificent collections such as Miller's sold at auction by Elder, Raymond, and others during this era.