The allure of reading past auction catalogs

DCW

Anybody else get a kick out of reading auction catalogs from the past? Full of research and historical info! I almost enjoy it more than getting something current with the pieces still available.
There's something about seeing a piece in one's own holdings, photographed years back and part of a big collection. Especially when you know the collector only sought out the best. In this instance, I think it's worth getting the provenance put on the label. Or at least documenting it with notes on your collection.
This came in the mail yesterday: Sotheby's 1999 auction of the Captain Andrew Zabriskie Collection of Lincolniana.

Zabriskie put together an amazing collection of Lincoln tokens, medals, and campaign collectibles from the time they were issued. And it remained tucked away for 100 years after his death. Some of this stuff was never seen before.
Really enjoying the read! And I've found a few of my tokens that I never knew were a part of his holdings.

topstuf

How about price guides?

golden

I like to look at auction catalog from sales 30 years ago that I attended. It is nice to read the descriptions of the coins that I bought ,and still have ,and to see the ones that I should have bought.

PreTurb

This is one of my favorites...

ricko

I can see the attraction and certainly contributes to one's depth of knowledge. Myself, I just do not have the time....Cheers, RickO

Unknown

This content has been removed.

MrHalfDime

Like many numismatists, my numismatic library contains many older auction catalogs, and in my case, these tend to have a strong emphasis on significant half dime collections from the twentieth and late nineteenth centuries. When researching half dime varieties, many researchers study only the accepted reference books on the series, but in doing so, much can be missed by utilizing this selective and limited method. A study of older auction catalogs of great collections from the past can often yield important information about significant varieties, die marriages, and die states that does not appear in the standard references. Some of the catalogers writing descriptions in many of these older auctions were incredibly detailed in their descriptions, often revealing gems that were unpublished anywhere else. Many of the auction catalogs from New Netherlands Coin Co. are particularly noted for this.

Walkerfan

Yes, I agree with you and I've done this many times. I love seeing the old pictures of coins (many no longer available) and comparing old prices with current ones.