Benson Pedigree Help

Proofmorgan · May 17, 2021 7:48AM

I have some of the early gold $5s dating back to the Benson sale with Goldberg in 2002-2003. From my understanding the collection was put together via father and son until stopped in 1950 and then left in a SDB until the Goldberg sales.

Any tips on how I might find the sales or origin of these coins pre-Benson? Pre-1950 literature is limited and I'm guessing plates even more difficult to come by in those catalogs. Would Goldberg have any information or even be willing to help? I did email them to see if they could sell me extra copies of the Benson catalogs if they had them, but they never even responded to that request.

Thanks for any insight.

Zoins · May 17, 2021 7:59AM

Here's some info on Benson:

https://www.ngccoin.com/boards/blogs/entry/9969-silver-roosevelt-dimes-with-pedigrees/

Mr. Smith Guesser wrote:

Silver Roosevelt dimes with the Benson name attached are certified by PCGS. There is not a lot of information to be found online about the Benson name. And, in addition to the limited information, there is more than one "Benson" in numismatics, which makes things a bit confusing.

A New York Times article, published January 31, 1909, describes an upcoming Sotheby's auction for ancient Greek coins, which belonged to a late Mr. Frank Sherman Benson¹. (The poetry guy from my last journal.)

This Mr. Benson was an active member of the American Numismatic Society (not to be confused with the American Numismatic Association) who frequently gave talks and wrote for the American Journal of Numismatics. But this is not the Benson to whom I am referring.

The New York Times article talks about coins owned by "the late Frank S. Benson". And that was 1909, so there's no way Frank S. Benson could have ever owned any Roosevelt dimes. At that time, FDR was only 27, working as a lawyer, and wouldn't become a New York Senator until two years later.

After a bit of interest research, I learned that a large collection of 20th U.S. coins with the name "Benson" attached was auctioned off by Goldberg Coins and Collectibles between 2001 and 2003. The coins in this auction were noted for their fine toning.

I wrote to Ira Goldberg of Goldberg Coins & Collectibles to inquire about the Benson name. Mr Goldberg tells me, "Yes, the Benson collection was a very important collection for us to handle at auction. The term 'Benson toning' has become synonymous with beautiful natural toning."

I thought that the Roosevelt dimes may have been assembled by a later relative of Frank S. Benson. But Mr. Goldberg tells me that these Benson coins have nothing to do with Frank S. Benson at all. The Roosevelts with the Benson name were previously owned by a living collector, who wishes to remain anonymous.

So after all that, I still don't have any information about the original owner of these Benson dimes. And after I learned that he wants to remain anonymous, I abandoned any further research into him.

Nevertheless, in my experience, Roosevelt dimes with the Benson name attached are much nicer than those attached to other pedigrees. However, most of the Roosevelt dimes that I have handled lacked the "Benson toning" that was associated with the original collection. Still, the Roosevelts that I've owned with no toning are beautiful, bright white coins with excellent luster.

But perhaps the most interesting thing that I've found on Benson Roosevelts are undesignated RPMs; specifically on 1947 S dimes.

I have owned a total of six 1947 S Roosevelts with the Benson pedigree. Of these, I found two S/S RPMs, both listed in the CherryPickers' guide under FS-503 #2. But, again, neither was designated on the slab. This suggests to me that there could be more out there with the same RPM waiting to be discovered. I'm always on the lookout for more.

Despite being quite nice coins, Benson dimes command little to no premium. However, Roosevelts with the Benson pedigree are only somewhat available. In the past three months, there have been less than 10 sold on eBay.

But if you ever come across one, and are interested in Roosevelt dimes, Benson is one of the names that you really might want to check out. They're really nice coins and you have a decent chance of finding an RPM.

WinLoseWin · May 18, 2021 1:38PM

@Proofmorgan said:
I have some of the early gold $5s dating back to the Benson sale with Goldberg in 2002-2003. From my understanding the collection was put together via father and son until stopped in 1950 and then left in a SDB until the Goldberg sales.

Any tips on how I might find the sales or origin of these coins pre-Benson? Pre-1950 literature is limited and I'm guessing plates even more difficult to come by in those catalogs. Would Goldberg have any information or even be willing to help? I did email them to see if they could sell me extra copies of the Benson catalogs if they had them, but they never even responded to that request.

Thanks for any insight.

@Proofmorgan , below are links to all the Goldberg auctions on their website including links to each of the three Benson sales I am aware of. Their "View online catalog" is not the same as looking at a catalog or its PDF as it does not include any intro info that would explain the collection's history. I think I have a copy of the first sale, but not the other two. Would have to dig it out to see if it had a useful intro.

Also, it looks like these were multi-consignor auctions and not every coin is from the Benson collection (probably most are not unless identified as ex-Benson in the lot description, not sure if all are even identified). Ex-Benson auction sale does not necessarily mean it came from the Benson collection.

The Newman Numismatic Portal list the catalogs but does not have them scanned. It just links back a page at the Goldberg website that then has a link to their online list of auctions (linked below) and not directly to a particular sale in the ones I checked.

Also, there is a link to some early Half Eagles that are noted as ex-Benson collection from Benson auction Part III February 24-25, 2003. These have some info with each lot on when and where acquired listed among lots from other consignors.
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All Goldberg auctions on one page. :

images.goldbergauctions.com/php/auctions.php

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Benson Part I February 16-20, 2001:

images.goldbergauctions.com/php/toc_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=8

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Benson Part II February 18-19, 2002:

images.goldbergauctions.com/php/toc_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=13

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Benson Part III February 24-25, 2003:

http://images.goldbergauctions.com/php/toc_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=17

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Benson early Half Eagles that are noted as ex-Benson collection from Benson auction Part III February 24-25, 2003. Not sure if these are the only ones or if the other two sales had any. If listed as ex-Benson in the lot, any prior history known by Goldberg's is likely listed there with the lot. :

images.goldbergauctions.com/php/chap_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=17&chapter=72&page=1

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yosclimber · May 18, 2021 2:50PM

Goldberg auctions have excellent catalogs and photos online.
The last link in @WinLoseWin 's post above has all the answers!

Each of the Benson collection coins shows when and from whom it was purchased and the original price.
And there are plates for everything, so you can identify if your coins are from the Benson collection or from other lots in that sale.
Most of the Benson collection coins on that first chapter are shown as purchased from dealers like Ira S. Reed, but one is sourced to an Ira S. Reed December 2, 1944 auction lot 1078.

You can view those older auction catalogs on the Newman Numismatic Portal; they are organized by auction company name:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctioncompanies
The above lot 1078 is on page 38.
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=511551&AuctionId=520958
All the lot description says is "1078. 1813 Extra Fine."
And the collection was from Frank M. Selmier of North Vernon, Indiana.
https://ia601001.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/26/items/saleno34publicau00reed/saleno34publicau00reed_jp2.zip&file=saleno34publicau00reed_jp2/saleno34publicau00reed_0040.jp2&id=saleno34publicau00reed&scale=4&rotate=0

Coinosaurus · May 18, 2021 5:39PM

Thanks, Clint.

Reed in turn could have been buying out of Stack's, so it might be useful to page through Stack's sales for that period.

Proofmorgan · May 18, 2021 8:48PM

Thank you very much. That is very helpful. Unfortunately the pieces I have are not those noted as Benson, but are from the sale. So I’ll have to do some other research To see if I can plate match the coins. They are mid MS so they won’t be the hardest to locate, but the change in grading standards could make them old AUs, who knows. It’s all in good fun and exciting to play detective.

Benson Pedigree Help

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