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Forsythe Collection of Walking Liberty Half Dollars
Gazes
Posts: 2,315 ✭✭✭✭✭
Maybe I have missed it but I have not seen any posts regarding Gearld Forsythe's upcoming sale of his walking liberty half dollar collection. This is noteworthy because it has been the all time #1 collection since 2011. Further, it is being sold as a collection rather than by coin.
My instinct is that collection would bring more by coin---for instance some bidders (including me) might bid on a few coins if given the chance but would not be buyers of the entire collection. I'm guessing with a collection of this magnitude much thought went into how to sell it. Curious what others think.
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Comments
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Gazes,
I don’t think your comment is true as a blanket statement. With zero reserve, I would agree with you. With a reserve set, maybe not as much individually. The set has not received the min bid yet. It will be interesting to see if there are any takers at this price. If there no takers, you could get you chance at the coins individually.
My 20th Century Gold Major Design Type Set ---started : 11/17/1997 ---- completed : 1/21/2004
My prediction, which has no basis in factual knowledge, is a reprise of a previous modus operandi, though I'm not clear if they've done it in a public auction. I'm going with DLRC buying the group and pricing it internally at healthy wholesale, Dell Loy cherry-picking his upgrades, and @JBatDavidLawrence having some superb fresh inventory and plenty of hungry customers for individual items
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Elsewise, and quite a bit chancier, DLRC lays off the deal in the not unreasonable expectation that the buyer can be located and a lot price offered for the coins he wants and "needs". That amount will be considered and likely, should it be adequate, insure the remainder are an easily projectable healthy profit for the original buyer.
edited to add: it is entirely ethical for a potential after-market buyer to again attempt to use the auction company as an honest broker. thus HA's oft-mentioned Make An Offer feature. This concept works everywhere as long as the vendor to the new current owner maintains the client's confidentiality.
These likely are not ideas as brilliant as I think they are but, like @UrbanDecay04 (who reminds me of myself at his age when I was selling to the Chapman Brothers), I'm new here
Personally, I like to assemble my own set and a “ready made set” would have little appeal to me. I feel sure that the coins will sell to a dealer who will sell them individually.
You could sell it singly and then open the bidding for the entire set at one increment above the cumulative bids for the singles. This has been done before and if there is any premium for keeping the set together, that would preserve it.
Except that if you are well-heeled and like the registry game, this puts you number one immediately.
Well, that leaves me out.
I believe @Walkerfan posted this awhile back (unless I’m just recalling pm’s we had on the topic, which could be, as I’m nearly as young as @ColonelJessup, and just missed dealing with the S H and Henry Chapman).
Still, more discussion on this collection is welcome!
LOL. Yeah, me too.
It will be interesting to see if there are any takers at the reserve of $2.6 Million. It may be the finest Walker set ever assembled, but very hard to value as a set in my eyes. The Colonel's suggestion makes a lot of sense. (Colonel and Roadrunner both posting in the last week is great to see, by the way).
I note that the 18-D in PCGS 66+ CAC (not in the Forsythe collection) is already at $180K. For those keeping score at home, that's more than any 21-S has ever brought at auction and has a chance to surpass any 19-D. The record for a Walker is just over $270K with the juice.
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
I remember when Pinnacle had the 16-S (in its rattler holder) and the 18-S up for sale. The total at that time was $135K. I wanted those two coins so badly I played the lotto for several weeks until they were sold.
Then there are the GBW set coins that were rolled into the Forsythe set (19-D and 21-S, among others).
It does make sense for someone to purchase the set and then part it out. Even at $2.6M, there is likely money to be made in the resale.
It would be a good purchase for DLHansen, as his best set has only 3 top pop examples - all 1946 issues. The status of the Hansen collection is an indicator of how competitive the WLH series is.
I have again played lotto this week. Damn if I won't be able to compete (again) on those fantastic coins.
While I do like the Forsythe walker set I do have issues with it being the finest in the earlier years.
Example, on his 1918-P walker I liked breakdown’s 1918 walker much more.
2nd example; his 1921-P walker at PCGS MS-66 is not CAC stickered.
3rd example; his 1918-D is inferior to the 1918-D walker in MS-66 being auctiioned by Legend Auctions which is CAC stickered
There are other examples but too tired to continue.
Interesting. A @ColonelJessup sighting.
One question to all:
Are we sure this set is his finest or are these duplicates?
Just kidding....but wouldn't that be fun if he had a Dansco album of the real deal.
siliconvalleycoins.com
While we here on the Forum pay a great deal of attention to DLH, and while his project strengthens both its own brand and that of numismatics in general, it's easy to forget something
I can't imagine that the astute and battle-hardened Mr. Forsythe is taking this move without knowing that there are plenty of well-vetted deep-pocketed buyers for what's likely chump change at double the reserve for any whale that's shopping for a great concept item. And he also knows that @Laurie's not taking a vanity assignment that she thinks won't sell, even if they have a deal that says she gets $250K if it sells and $100K if it doesn't. Upon reconsideration, I change my prediction to "someone buying it on the phone" with a 35% chance that JB is the floor buyer. If he's not, I'd say there's barely 20% chance we'll know the identity of the ultimate buyer.
And I have a new secret strategy for Tic-Tac-Toe
Interesting reassessment.
Tangential, but related....
Inquiring minds want to know, when you finally become an octogenarian, will you still post here? And if so, less or more?
siliconvalleycoins.com
Good question. What I consider to be the "Holy Grail" 1943 is in his registry set (MS68+), but a different coin (MS68) is in the auction.
Here is the Registry Coin:
...........
As @MrEureka is running multiple betting pools on multiple possible prop bets on the alternative universes considered, I feel it would be unfair, even unethical, to reveal that information until I receive my share of the profits
Great to see The Colonel, Roadrunner, and YOU posting again.
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
Here is the coin in the auction - certainly very nice (MS68), but I can see why Forsythe kept the "Holy Grail"
Interesting @Connecticoin. Thanks for posting.
Set about ready to go off!
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
Half brought $290K without juice.
Forsythe Walker Collection passed.
A lot of the other coins are blowing past their estimates!
You could make a set of sets
Anyone know if he's still collecting coins or getting out of it? I'm curious given the high profile sales.
1913 Type 1 Buffalo went for $67,500 without the juice. That must be a record for a Type 1.
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
WOW!!
$340, 750 is a new record for any walker!!
I got blown out with my strong $6462.50 bid on the 1934-S walker in PCGS/CAC MS-66. It went for %$6756.25.
I then snuck in on the Eric Lane 1937-D walker in PCGS/CAC MS-67 walker at a very cheap $3,290.
I was told that collectors were outbidding the dealers at the Legend Auction.
Does being outbid by 4.5% qualify as being blown out?
YES!!! When my original bid was only $4500.00 !! I admit I got caught up in the bidding frenzy as I really wanted this wonderful coin until I realized I was getting stupid!
It seems like the other bidder just wanted it more and stopped only when I stopped.
If you were the underbidder, it would have been very strange, had the winning bidder not stopped, only after you had.😉
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
You haven't been watching the real estate frenzy. LOL. My aunt sold her house. She got 3 bids over the ask. She accepted the highest bid. The high bidder came back the following week and added $10,000 to her bid, just to be sure. The realtor and lawyer said it was the damnedest thing they'd ever seen.
Mark:
i realize as the underbidder, the only thing driving the price higher was my multiple competing bid against the winning bidder. However, had there been a third bidder it could have continued a bit longer. But I blinked first.
I instead ended up buying a 1937-D PCGS/CAC MS-67 Walker for $3290.00 which previously sold for
$5,170 in the August 2015 Eric Lane sale of his walking half collection.
Sounds like a good outcome for you.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
It worked ou that way but I did not know that in advance of the 1937-D bidding. .
The sale of the 1918-D half created such excitement that it carried over to the next few lots including the 1933-S and 1934-S halves which also saw very spirited bidding.
Just a few lots further on, the excitement died down (some of the floor bidders probably went to play in the casino 🙂 and the online bidders took a break to watch N Netflix? 🤓) and so I had a good outcome.
The luck of the draw.
Sometimes you win sometimes you lose.
Now onto Canadian coin lot bidding! LOL.
question;
Where was the Forsythe Walker Collection being offered?
Minimum $2.6 million bid, not including juice, IIRC.
Vegas?
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Vegas with whom?
The same auction you won the 1937-D Walker in, just 60 lots later.
https://legendauctions.hibid.com/lot/86327801/the-gerald-forsythe-walking-liberty-collection/?cpage=5&q=&ref=catalog
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
Oh geez.
It will be interesting to see what Mr. Forsythe does with his Walkers. Maybe he chooses to sell them individually or he gets an offer for the group post-auction.
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
I was going to bid but I was a little over $2 million short and I didn't have time to dig into the couch cushions
I thought the ‘35S went for a bargain basement steal.
Yes, it will be interesting. He would make more money, if he parted them out, for sure, but I can totally understand him wanting to maintain the integrity of the set. He put a lot of work into it and it is something that likely could never be duplicated. Whoever purchases it will probably part it out, anyway. Sad but true.
I was interested in the 1933 S MS 66 CAC OGH that was ex: Cajun collection. It went for $7343. It was one of the few Walkers that was sold separately from the Forsythe collection. I almost threw my hat in the ring for that piece. It was really beautiful and original looking. It would’ve been a great upgrade for my NGC 64. I really like the 64, so I would’ve kept them both.
“I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Walkerfan: I liked the 1933-S too. Good for you that you did not try to compete against me for that very nice coin.
Good for me to try not to win that coin either against the eventual winner. Same thing happened to me regarding the 1934-S walker that was slightly nicer than the 1933-S.
So my back up plan was to win the 1937-D MS-67 CAC OGH. which also sold separately from the Forsythe collection and like the 1933-S, also came from the fabulous Eric Lane (Cajun) collection.
You did very well on your purchase of the 1937-D 67 CAC OGH. Most every coin from the Cajun collection was PQ. So, you got a great coin for a great price. Congrats on slipping in under the radar.
VERY difficult to do, these days. 
“I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/