Rev. James McClure Collection sold by Heritage at Long Beach

rhedden

Heritage just finished selling off a tremendous collection amassed by Rev. Dr. James G. K. McClure, which was stored in a bank in Lake Forest, Illinois since he passed away in 1932. I find this kind of old collection to be really exciting, but I don't think it got much press on this forum, except for perhaps the discussion of the Tokens &Medals session at Long Beach. Let's hear your thoughts on this marvelous collection. Was anyone fortunate enough to win some of the lots? There is a gallery of images on the NGC website, and here is a link.

[See amwld's link in 4th post- my links were broken]

According to NGC and Heritage, the coins had not been handled by collectors and dealers in over 80 years, and many possessed thick, original patination. It was a breath of fresh air to see untouched originality in many of the lots, even if some of the coins were not attractively toned. Rev. McClure apparently acquired many coins at the time of issue, going all the way back to the 1860s. This kind of old-time collection is a vanishing phenomenon, sadly. I dread seeing some of his coins reincarnated as blast-white victims of the dip jar in the coming months, but you know people will do whatever it takes to get a grade bump and make a quick buck. That's my two cents worth, so let's hear your thoughts too.

ricko

That is amazing .... for a collection to be stored away for that long... seems no one cared at all for coins among his heirs... Cheers, RickO

rhedden

The Heritage auctioneers said that the family simply did not need the money, so they kept the coins all these years. Perhaps some of the family did appreciate the coins, and they held on to them?

amwldcoin

Your link didn't work for me so I added a link that works for me.



Jame Mclure Collection

rhedden

Thanks. My link did not work, and it still did not work after I edited it.

roadrunner

Some nice key date coins scattered in there such as XF 1870-cc and MS63 1873-cc Arr halves. Nice run of choice/gem seated proofs, especially the quarters. That 1877-s/s quarter is quite sweet...and with toning quite different than almost all the unc coins. Though the proof seated and Barber material is quite colorful....and much of it having that original hazy appearance that is so rarely seen today. A preference to Philly coins with some O mints too. Didn't see very many 19th century seated S mints.



The 18th/19th century collection is mostly circs but has a significant number of unc coins throughout. I briefly glanced at that SLQ's and saw a number of coins that look cleaned or dipped bright white. Figured they'd all be toned. Wonder how they were stored for so many choice/gem uncs to stay 90-98% white? It does show that even 80 years or more ago collectors didn't mind their key dates being cleaned. The 1920-s MS67 SLQ was interesting in that it looks 98% blast white without even a tad of high point knee/leg friction. The head is 2/3-3/4 full with a strong shield. I'd like to hear the story of how the owner found that one. The 1920 and 1921 PDS Walkers are all superb. He seemed to have a "thing" about the early 1920's silver coinage. Even the 1920-1924 Mercs. Lincs, and Buffs are pretty neat.



Nice run of proof Morgans with a run of CC's in circ. And somehow they decided to toss an MS65 1895-0 and MS67 1900-s Morgans as well. Also superb gem Barber halves of 1897-s, 1896-0, and 1904-0 just hanging out among the proofs and lower grade circs better dates. And a couple hundred CW tokens with most of them in choice/gem unc. The dozens of superb 66/67 RB 1863's is mind boggling to me. I like it.



Date and type collectors should have taken notice....cherry pickers too.



LINK

Gazes

Anyone know how much the sale of this collection raised?

rhedden

Nice run of choice/gem seated proofs, especially the quarters.

I did manage to win two of the proof Seated quarters without paying too much. Some of the Seated proofs were actually undergraded by NGC and sold for "silly" money, though we will see how silly the buyers were when they upgrade. Check out the proof Seated dollars in the 1860s and the proof 20c pieces in particular. Someone really wanted those toned coins badly. This collection doesn't appear to be optimistically graded, like what happened when NGC graded the Jules Reiver collection. I really regret passing on a few proof Seated dimes. I hope some of the proof Seated material will reappear as auction retreads in the coming year so I can bid on them without the "fresh material" factor in play. They tend to go for less once they (presumably) fail to upgrade a few times.

One thing I noticed is that not all of the coins made it to the auction. Some of the coins in the NGC gallery disappeared before the auction, especially the lower priced items. There were a few I would have liked to bid on.

CoinPhysicist

I know it's a very late bump to this thread... but figured I would say that I was fortune enough to pick up one of his 18th century silver pieces and that I hope that it will sit in my collection as long as it sat it in his safe deposit box ))). I could stare at it all day. Too bad I have to work haha

joebb21

Originally posted by: rhedden
Heritage just finished selling off a tremendous collection amassed by Rev. Dr. James G. K. McClure, which was stored in a bank in Lake Forest, Illinois since he passed away in 1932. I find this kind of old collection to be really exciting, but I don't think it got much press on this forum, except for perhaps the discussion of the Tokens &Medals session at Long Beach. Let's hear your thoughts on this marvelous collection. Was anyone fortunate enough to win some of the lots? There is a gallery of images on the NGC website, and here is a link.

[See amwld's link in 4th post- my links were broken]

According to NGC and Heritage, the coins had not been handled by collectors and dealers in over 80 years, and many possessed thick, original patination. It was a breath of fresh air to see untouched originality in many of the lots, even if some of the coins were not attractively toned. Rev. McClure apparently acquired many coins at the time of issue, going all the way back to the 1860s. This kind of old-time collection is a vanishing phenomenon, sadly. I dread seeing some of his coins reincarnated as blast-white victims of the dip jar in the coming months, but you know people will do whatever it takes to get a grade bump and make a quick buck. That's my two cents worth, so let's hear your thoughts too.

I saw most of the coins at lot viewing and I think many peoples feeling- myself included on many lots was that they were too original and not very attractive. Also, thin about the fact that amazingly the 20th century coins were all blast white...

Unknown

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jdimmick

As RR touched on, some of the early walkers were killers, the 21-s is probably the nicest I have seen. (out of my price range)

bolivarshagnasty

Any word on whether or not NGC had a hand in the 20th century stuff's conservation? Heard nothing of this sale before it happened.

tradedollarnut

I had no idea the extent of the collection. In the old days, it would have had its own catalog and we'd numismatically remember the McClure name. Instead, it got tossed in with thousands of other coins and this thread is his legacy.

SeatedToners

I've been seeing a few of these coins pop up on a few different sites. I did manage to get one and its beautifully toned

travlntiques

Sorry to resurrect such an old post, but does anyone know if he had notes on the coins in his collection? I have one of his pieces right now & was just hoping to connect some dots

pruebas

I never saw this post back then.

I picked up a few very high grade bronze US Mint medals engraved by CC Wright which have the McClure pedigree on the holder. They are gorgeous hunks of bronze!

I never heard of any collector’s notes from his collection.