Amusing lot description from the upcoming Charles Davis auction...

MrEureka

728 LUDLOW, ROBERTS & WELLER: Birmingham, November 29, 1886, Catalogue of a Portion of the Very Valuable Collection of Greek, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Scotch and English Coins Formed by E. Shorthouse, Esq., Member of the London Numismatic Society:–Embracing Many Rare Coins and Pattern Pieces, Which Have Not Been Offered to Public Competition for Some Years, vi, (2), 63 pages, 901 lots, original front paper wrapper bound
into quarter calf with marbled paper sides. Fine. (250.00) While American coins are not featured in this sale, the final five pages (Manville: “a rambling but entertaining postscript) are addressed specifically to American coin collectors and include a description of a rare Lord Baltimore groat stolen from an English gentleman’s coin cabinet (presumably from Shorthouse himself, as information about the thief is to be addressed to him) as well as thoughts on the American coin collecting scene in England. “American coins, compared with those of other nations, appear to the writer to be unquestionably the most uninteresting series in the world. No portraits of past presidents, no historical memories awakened, nothing but rows of coins almost exactly alike save an interminable row of different dates ... The everlasting eagle manipulating a claw full of spears with indifferent success, . the equally interminable Female Portrait, who no one seems to know, but who like Queen Victoria retains her youthful features as the ages roll by in a wondrous manner.” He concludes with the exhortation to American gentlemen to come to England and bring these coins back to collections where they will be better appreciated.

Sonorandesertrat

I saw that too. At least he acknowledged that there were gentlemen in America.

CascadeChris

Then why are classic American coins genrally the most popular and bring the most money at auction. If he's talking moderns, well that's another story unfortunately

MrEureka

@CascadeChris said:
Then why are classic American coins genrally the most popular and bring the most money at auction. If he's talking moderns, well that's another story unfortunately

I'd ask him, but he's probably been dead for more than a century.

CascadeChris

@MrEureka said:

@CascadeChris said:
Then why are classic American coins genrally the most popular and bring the most money at auction. If he's talking moderns, well that's another story unfortunately

I'd ask him, but he's probably been dead for more than a century.

Lol. Oops I skimmed over the top.

sellitstore

Moderns at the time would have been top grade seated coinage.

ricko

Interesting... always enjoy seeing appraisals from a perspective other than our own... and it is not without merit. Cheers, RickO

CaptHenway

Cute!

carabonnair

Another author who disses American coins, but pretty well sums up my collecting habits:

Collins Nutshell Books
Coin Collecting
By T. Hanson
1965, Collins, London and Glasgow
Chapter 4 Modern Coins
United States and Canada
As in most other series, the value of an American coin is arrived at mostly by its rarity; the condition is naturally important and so, too, is supply and demand. Sometimes one denomination is particularly popular and it is possible to obtain more than catalogue price for these specimens, whilst at a later date interest has turned to something else.
Apart from the perhaps astonishing values that are placed on some coins, the American series has little to recommend it to the numismatist. As with most other countries, the artistry in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century issues is generally poor. In the writer’s view, only the issues of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, say to 1840, are worth collecting. Unfortunately, they are the most expensive!
…
Since the collector of American coins is considerably restricted in the number of coins he can collect, he is naturally concerned with slight variations in design. These variations, or die varieties as they are called, consist of such peculiarities as the addition of another stop in the legend, part of a letter being filled up on the die, a different expression on the face of Liberty, or the date being engraved over a preceding one, etc. Whilst this may be construed as more in keeping with pure numismatics than the ignoring of such varieties, and the collecting of coins simply for the sake of it, it has perhaps been carried too far in some instances.

garrynot

I was told by a collector from Britain that anything less than 3 centuries old is considered modern there.

astrorat

Charlie is one of the brightest and least appreciated numismatists of our day, IMO. He has a wry sense of humor and a deep knowledge of numismatic literature.