If you are talking about general, overall coverage for the entire United States coinage series, the Eliasberg sales are hard to beat. The United States Gold Coin Collection sale, which was held in 1982 and did not have Eliasberg's name on it included the most complete date and mint collection ever assembled. The only sad part was that the catalog was a rush job. The family member who made the consignment had some odd ideas about astrology and the timing of the sale. That forced Bowers & Ruddy Galleries to do less than their normally coverage strong of the coin descriptions.
The later Eliasberg sales, which were held in the mid 1990s, were cataloged at more reasonable pace. That collection was also unprecedented in its completeness. Just about everything listed in The Red Book was represented. The Garrett sales were also well cataloged, but that collection, as large as it was, did not compare with Eliasberg for completeness.
I was not that impressed by the Pogue catalog as a reference source. Yes, Pogue has wonderful coins in high grade, but its scope is not on a par with Eliasberg or perhaps even Garrett. Maybe subsequent sales will prove me wrong, but if I had to choose between owning the Garrett and Eliasberg catalogs or the Pogue catalogs, I'd go with the first two.
Incidentally I have the hardcover editions of the Eliasberg and Garrett sales in my library.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
Where does the James E. Dice & M. Lamar Hicks Stack's July 28, 2008 fall into the list when it comes to Hard Times and Merchant Tokens? At the guidance of a forum member, I acquired one when it was on eBay not long ago and it also has the realized prices with it!
"If it's not fun, it's not worth it." - KeyMan64 Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
no clue for the rest of you, but the answer is easier for me:
Chronologically:
- RARCOA 1977 CSNS Sale (Stew Witham Half Dimes) - Bowers and Merena November 2002 Russell J Logan (Russ Logan Half Dimes) - Heritage 2006 Jules Reiver (Jules Reiver Half Dimes) - Coins+ Brad Karoleff 2006 Russell Logan Duplicates Sale (Russ Logan Half Dimes) - The W David Perkins Extraordinary Half Dime catalogs of 2014-2015 (Various consignors' Half Dimes, now spread over three catalogs)
Of the catalogs I own, the five that I believe are the most essential would be Ford, Norweb, Garrett, Pittman, and Newman. Of course, this list is skewed in favor of Colonials and Early American type, given my interest in that area. Interestingly, although the list fits the criteria for this thread, the actual number of catalogs from these sales number over 35 (mostly Ford)!
Jesse
Collector of Early American Coinage and Related Literature Member - EAC, JRCS, C4, FUN
"Where does the James E. Dice & M. Lamar Hicks Stack's July 28, 2008 fall into the list when it comes to Hard Times and Merchant Tokens?" At the top of the list, in my opinion.
For my tastes, the 'essential' five auction catalogs are: Ford (24 vols., Stack's) Ted Naftzger (3 vols. for copper, Goldbergs) Dan Holmes (4 vols., Goldbergs) Norweb (3 vols., Bowers & Merena) Robinson Brown (3 different sales of large cents, all Superior)
Member: EAC, NBS, C4, CWTS, ANA
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
Stack's series of the John Ford Sales - John J. Ford’s collection contained over 11,000 coins, tokens, medals and other numismatic items covering all aspects of American numismatics - except regularly issued federal US coinage!
Stack's sale of the John L. Roper, 2nd Collection - John L. Roper, 2nd, was "a prominent Virginia industrialist and public figure". He assembled one of the finest collections of colonial era coins ever to come to public auction. The coins were sold by Stack's in December 1983.
Bowers and Ruddy's series of Garrett Collection sales
Bower's and Merena's Eliasberg Collection Sales
Bowers and Merena's series of Norweb Collection sales
Comments
*Eliasberg
Garrett
*James Stack
*Norweb
Newman
*Pittman
*Gardner
Apostrophe series from'79-'90
James Pryor
Ford (for Americana and colonial bugs only) - it's not essential for me though.
The gold collectors would see it differently with Bass, Bareford, Duckor, etc.
The later Eliasberg sales, which were held in the mid 1990s, were cataloged at more reasonable pace. That collection was also unprecedented in its completeness. Just about everything listed in The Red Book was represented. The Garrett sales were also well cataloged, but that collection, as large as it was, did not compare with Eliasberg for completeness.
I was not that impressed by the Pogue catalog as a reference source. Yes, Pogue has wonderful coins in high grade, but its scope is not on a par with Eliasberg or perhaps even Garrett. Maybe subsequent sales will prove me wrong, but if I had to choose between owning the Garrett and Eliasberg catalogs or the Pogue catalogs, I'd go with the first two.
Incidentally I have the hardcover editions of the Eliasberg and Garrett sales in my library.
At the guidance of a forum member, I acquired one when it was on eBay not long ago and it also has the realized prices with it!
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Chronologically:
- RARCOA 1977 CSNS Sale (Stew Witham Half Dimes)
- Bowers and Merena November 2002 Russell J Logan (Russ Logan Half Dimes)
- Heritage 2006 Jules Reiver (Jules Reiver Half Dimes)
- Coins+ Brad Karoleff 2006 Russell Logan Duplicates Sale (Russ Logan Half Dimes)
- The W David Perkins Extraordinary Half Dime catalogs of 2014-2015 (Various consignors' Half Dimes, now spread over three catalogs)
Eliasberg
Bass
Pittman
Norweb
Milas
Stack
Bareford
Garrett
Latin American Collection
Jesse
Member - EAC, JRCS, C4, FUN
At the top of the list, in my opinion.
For my tastes, the 'essential' five auction catalogs are:
Ford (24 vols., Stack's)
Ted Naftzger (3 vols. for copper, Goldbergs)
Dan Holmes (4 vols., Goldbergs)
Norweb (3 vols., Bowers & Merena)
Robinson Brown (3 different sales of large cents, all Superior)
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
- John J. Ford’s collection contained over 11,000 coins, tokens, medals and other numismatic items covering all aspects of American numismatics - except regularly issued federal US coinage!
Stack's sale of the John L. Roper, 2nd Collection
- John L. Roper, 2nd, was "a prominent Virginia industrialist and public figure". He assembled one of the finest collections of colonial era coins ever to come to public auction. The coins were sold by Stack's in December 1983.
Bowers and Ruddy's series of Garrett Collection sales
Bower's and Merena's Eliasberg Collection Sales
Bowers and Merena's series of Norweb Collection sales