Early silver dollars from the Solomon collection

lkeigwin

Might as well show these by denomination. I put up a link for the quarters. Here are some dollars.
Lance.

Lakesammman

Tell us the story behind them.

JupitarCoins

Spectacular!!

lkeigwin

<< <i>Tell us the story behind them. >>

Roger Solomon was a longtime collector of bust silver. He had a great eye and a wonderful set. Sadly, he died earlier this year and his friend and mentor, Sheridan Downey, was asked to handle the estate sale.

Sheridan did an auction of the 50 top rarities at the Chicago ANA. You can see them here, if interested. I was grateful to have them all in my possession for a couple of days, to shoot them.

The rest of Roger's set is now being sold outside of auction. These dollars were among a few dozen I had last weekend.

There are a few other threads I posted, on the quarters, halves, and dimes & half dimes.

It was great to have all the time I wanted with them. Alone. I felt like they were mine for a little while.
Lance.

Barndog

This comes from Sheridan Downey's website:

THE SOLOMON COLLECTION
The collecting community lost a great friend this past April with the passing of Roger Solomon. Roger succumbed to a rare form of skin cancer that was diagnosed just a few weeks earlier. Roger was hoping to arrange and participate in the sale of his collection this August, during the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, IL, not far from his home. Sadly, he was not allowed enough time to share and enjoy the event.

The Solomon Collection is known and revered by many, especially his Bust Half Nut Club colleagues. For two decades Roger regularly attended major coin shows and auctions. Since 1990 we saw him at virtually every FUN Show, ANA Convention and Central States Show. He usually found time to visit one or two of the tri-annual Baltimore shows as well as those within hailing distance of Chicago. Roger’s interest in coins began in his youth. He searched pocket change and brought rolls of coins home from the bank.

Roger’s youthful interest in numismatics spawned the seed of a great collector. By 1990 he was focused on early U.S. coins, particularly Bust Half-Dollars. He brought a keen eye to the bourse floor. Roger fancied attractively toned coins with exceptional luster and good strikes. When he found a coin that met his standards - in the mold of all who assemble important collections - Roger did not hesitate. If he needed to “stretch” for the right coin, he did. It is safe to say that Roger’s favorite grade was “AU 58.” But any coin with the right look, be it AU 50 or MS 63, was a candidate for his cabinet. In recent years a few “MS 64s” slipped into the Solomon Collection.

When I met Roger his collecting interest was centered on Red Book varieties of bust half-dollars. But he soon developed a wandering eye, glancing at, coveting and then embracing other denominations that were struck by the screw press. The Solomon Collection consists of 203 coins. There is a small but notable run of half-dimes, 1795 through 1805. The dimes, forty-one coins in all, 1796-1837, are simply fabulous with many distinguished pedigrees. The twenty-one quarters, 1796-1836, are highlighted by an AU example of the rare 1804. There are 118 half-dollars from 1801 through 1836, the cream of the Solomon Collection. For 20+ years Roger was front and center whenever there was an important offering of bust halves. Robinson Brown, Gehring Prouty, Tom Palmer, David Quellar and Charlton Meyer are but a few of the names we find in listing the provenance of Roger’s half-dollars. Finally, there are 16 Bust Dollars, 1795-1803. The grades range from AU to AU 58. What a group!


THE AUCTION
I selected 50 coins from the Solomon Collection for this Sale. The #1 criterion, by a large margin, was Eye Appeal. These are the coins most coveted by collectors and most difficult to value. An auction provides contenders with a level playing field, the highest bidders harvesting the cream of the crop. Two other factors entered the decision process: rarity and breadth of interest. An unusually rare coin or one that is on countless want lists is a coin that deserves the competition inherent to an auction.

BIDDING TIPS
My advice in any auction is to preview the lots in person or by agent. Photos are better than ever but there is no substitute for rolling a coin under your light, in your home or your office to examine color and surfaces. If you cannot make it to Rosemont and do not have a colleague who can examine lots for you then please consider previewing lots by overnight mail. Select the lots of most interest. Then call me. I will happily ship your favorites via U.S. Express Mail or Federal Express for next day viewing. You pay the postage, typically $55 to $70 roundtrip. I pick up the insurance. All coins must be back to me before August 12, 2011. I leave that day for Chicago.

Savvy bidders know how to use the Maximum Expenditure and One-Lot-Only options available in my auctions. Take a moment to read paragraphs 7 and 8 of the Terms of Sale. Mail Bid Sales have one huge advantage over floor auctions. How many times have you focused on 4 or 5 coins in an auction but could afford only 1 or 2 of them? What if your favorite coin is the last one in the sale and your next choice is early in the sale? With proper use of the two mentioned options you may have your cake and eat it too! This is possible only in a mail bid sale, where bidding on all lots closes at the same moment.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Roger’s lovely wife Jeri, also a coin collector, has undying thanks for allowing me the enjoyment of examining, researching, cataloguing and finding homes for Roger’s wonderful coins. My newest “best friend” is Lance Keigwin. Lance, who has a superb set of capped bust halves, did the photography for all 50 lots in the sale. The photos are magnificent. I suggest you view them on my web site. Color and detail is lost to the printed page. My old friends Jim Matthews, Steve Tompkins and David Perkins were of inestimable help in cataloging the Solomon Collection. Thank you one and all!

Enjoy the sale!


http://www.sheridanscoins.com/index.php

Lakesammman

Thanks for the story.

You could do a lot worse than having Sheridan for a new best friend.

Eagleguy

JH