Thank you roadrunner! ... and a word about Dave Akers
Sunnywood
Posts: 2,683 ✭
Following my post about the 1901-S quarter on the "Gardner acquisition" thread, roadrunner posted more detailed information about the provenance of the coin, Col. Jessup PM'd me with even more details, and TahoeDale also shared a story of having been offered the coin during the 1990's. I'm a huge fan of knowing a coin's pedigree and story, especially if the coin was included in great collections, or catalogued with nice thorough descriptions.
roadrunner is always great about sharing his tremendous knowledge about coins, but he really thrilled me this time by sending me a copy of the Paramount Rare Coin List #11, in which David Akers and Raymond Merena catalogued and offered this particular 1901-S quarter for sale. Akers had bought the coin directly out of the James A. Stack Collection (Stack's, March 1975). Shortly thereafter, he offered the coin for sale in his Paramount Rare Coin List #11, complete with a photo and superlative description.
Back in 1975, when I was a young teen, I saw the ads for Paramount in the coin publications of the day. Paramount was way out of my league! I didn't even have the nerve to send away for one of those lists, but I should have. I would have learned so much by reading Dave Akers descriptions of the coins. Finally, almost 40 years later, I have one of those lists, thanks to roadrunner! And what a selection ... these were coins offered from inventory! No dealer of today has inventory like this, with dozens of rarities offered for sale.
Coming back to the hobby after 5-6 years, I am saddened to learn that Dave Akers passed away in 2012. My conversations with him were wonderful. Of course I only showed him my best coins, but he seemed to know EVERY coin I showed him, where it had come from, what its story was, who had owned it. His knowledge was nothing short of incredible, and it was all freely shared in his gentlemanly soft-spoken manner ... he will be missed.
How great is it, though, that veteran numismatist roadrunner just came out of the blue with this wonderful treat, sending me this vintage Akers publication with my new prize coin listed ... I will post pictures and more info when I can.
Thank you roadrunner !!
Best,
Sunnywood
roadrunner is always great about sharing his tremendous knowledge about coins, but he really thrilled me this time by sending me a copy of the Paramount Rare Coin List #11, in which David Akers and Raymond Merena catalogued and offered this particular 1901-S quarter for sale. Akers had bought the coin directly out of the James A. Stack Collection (Stack's, March 1975). Shortly thereafter, he offered the coin for sale in his Paramount Rare Coin List #11, complete with a photo and superlative description.
Back in 1975, when I was a young teen, I saw the ads for Paramount in the coin publications of the day. Paramount was way out of my league! I didn't even have the nerve to send away for one of those lists, but I should have. I would have learned so much by reading Dave Akers descriptions of the coins. Finally, almost 40 years later, I have one of those lists, thanks to roadrunner! And what a selection ... these were coins offered from inventory! No dealer of today has inventory like this, with dozens of rarities offered for sale.
Coming back to the hobby after 5-6 years, I am saddened to learn that Dave Akers passed away in 2012. My conversations with him were wonderful. Of course I only showed him my best coins, but he seemed to know EVERY coin I showed him, where it had come from, what its story was, who had owned it. His knowledge was nothing short of incredible, and it was all freely shared in his gentlemanly soft-spoken manner ... he will be missed.
How great is it, though, that veteran numismatist roadrunner just came out of the blue with this wonderful treat, sending me this vintage Akers publication with my new prize coin listed ... I will post pictures and more info when I can.
Thank you roadrunner !!
Best,
Sunnywood
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Comments
Roadrunner's a good guy. Haven't seen him in a few years but I still have the 1840 rev '39 seated half he traded me some years back... absolutely a rock solid 65 with no rub of any kind and original surfaces. He knows his stuff.
Too bad the James A. Stack catalogue from '75 didn't have the kind of color images we have today. Nonetheless it is one of the few I still bring out from time to time. I think roadrunner has it memorized
definitely one of the stars of this board and I find his candor very refreshing.
Joseph J. Singleton - First Superintendent of the U.S. Branch Mint in Dahlonega Georgia
Findley Ridge Collection
About Findley Ridge
Impeccable taste in coins.
I miss him.
A movie could be made about his life (and it would appeal to non-numismatists).
Jhdfla, I did have the James Stacks catalog memorized for quite some time there, right down to who bought each non-common seated quarter lot out of the sale. And that was probably the case because I came out of that sale empty-handed, mainly because of my massive inexperience. It was probably the biggest regret of my collecting career. So many great unc and circ coins to choose from and I didn't buy a thing. And I spent a lot of years looking back on that catalog thinking what could/should have been had I been a little bit smarter. The guys that bought the coins were etched in my mind. My James Stack catalog got water damaged years back and most of the personal info is now unreadable. But TDN came to the rescue and sent me a mint catalog to replace it. Interesting that those James Stack catalog pics might not have been good enough on their own to attribute Sunnywood's quarters. But the mini-photos in the Paramount Journal were just good enough to do it. Also can't forget that during the summer Apostrophe auctions from 1979-1990 it was Paramount who typically had the finest 18th and 19th century type coins in their respective sections.
I didn't know who Dave Akers was back in 1975 but I knew enough to know Paramount International Coin must have been some super sharp guys to buy those Stack's quarters and basically flip them around within a few months to a year and double their money. I owed those guys another attaboy in 1976 when I was buying a choice BU 1916-s $10 Indian from my local coin shop....though priced as an AU because of them not understanding strike weaknesses on the eagle's shoulder. I thought I had pulled a winner out on that one. Until I was reading the Paramount Journal that same week and they had an article on counterfeit 1916-s $10 Indians of all things! That article was probably written by Dave Akers. My coin had the exact same tooling marks as the fake specimen in their journal. What were the odds? I promptly returned the coin to my local shop and showed them the accompanying article. Dave Akers saved me some cash on that one. That was the only time I've ever gone home with a fake gold coin in my pocket. Learned my lesson early on thanks to PIC.
I am glad Sunnywood is back although a number of us certainly missed out on a few Gardner coins because of him!
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
<< <i>Having Sunnywood back gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Now someone please send SaintGuru a HOF to get him back in the game!
<< <i>I don't like to see pedigrees "lost" when they are important ones. >>
While I agree completely, I think it is important (to me anyway) to know where a coin I purchased came from. It may not be an important rarity (I'm pretty sure I've never owned any "important" coins) but it is kind of cool to know it's history....of course most of the time I have no clue but still...if I find it on the Heritage archive at least that is something...
jom
Thanks TDN and Broadstruck !!
Here are some images from the Paramount Catalog:
Sunnywood's Rainbow-Toned Morgans (Retired)
Sunnywood's Barber Quarters (Retired)
Was the word "toning" used in catalogs very often during this era (40 years ago or more)?
I ask because I have seen the myth occasionally spouted here that the word's usage is strictly a modern phenomenon.
MJ
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Even with the B&W matrix dot printed image the description alone got me numismatically aroused
Thanks for taking the time to share and thanks to all parties involved. I enjoy reading a post like this here on the forums.
Mike
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
<< <i>Even with the B&W matrix dot printed image the description alone got me numismatically aroused
I like the price too.
jom
<< <i>
<< <i>Even with the B&W matrix dot printed image the description alone got me numismatically aroused
I like the price too.
jom >>
Youth is wasted on the young!
K
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
<< <i>... As far as the '01-S Quarter goes, it's a wonderful piece, Sunnywood, and so cool to have the Akers catalog description. A great pedigree to marvel at. That price was strong in '75 but look at how it's done in the meantime! >>
For long term comparisons on how the greatest quarters and halves have done over the past 20, 30, 40 yrs, etc. I've used coins from the James A. Stack 1975 sale. The gem 1901-s is up around 47X since then. The monster
toner 1904-0 quarter actually did a tad better at 48X. When the 1867-s 25c last sold it did 41X in 2004. This time around it could do 60X the 1975 price. I've always generally used a 40X to 50X factor for the best coins in this
set. Unfortunately, that doesn't work with big time rarities like the gem 73-cc NA quarters. Even the gem 1871-cc 25c "only" managed a 33X increase from 1975 to 2014. You'd think that since it brought nearly 2X the price of
the 1901-s back in 1975 it would do something similar today.
In looking at those 1975-1976 Paramount journals again I didn't recall that Akers Barber quarter newps from the Stack sale sat in inventory for 18 months or more before they finally sold. Even back then nearly $10K for a 1901-s
25c was serious bucks. Their gem 1865-s 25c from the Stack sale made it out the door first. Jim Halperin was a big fan of rare date choice/gem seated back in that era. He picked up a number of killer seated quarters for his
Rare Coin Fund I in early 1977. So if anything good was still lingering on the market by then around the $2K to $5K sweet spot, he tried to get them into his investment fund. Those were all sold into the peak of the market in spring 1980.