@air4mdc said:
I wonder how his beer tasted. The Brand brothers brought the family recipe to Chicago from the Motherland. One of my favorite provenances, besides Col. Green. I like his story as well, the wild and crazy life he led.
Good question and great avenue for discussion!
Here's some information on Brand Brewing for further research and discussion.
@Zoins said:
An interesting thing is that it's relatively easy to associate exonumia with Virgil Brand because there are a lot of NGC slabs with his name on it.
Anyone know the background of how his name got on all those NGC slabs?
Submitter bought them in an auction and requested it?
@Zoins said:
An interesting thing is that it's relatively easy to associate exonumia with Virgil Brand because there are a lot of NGC slabs with his name on it.
Anyone know the background of how his name got on all those NGC slabs?
Submitter bought them in an auction and requested it?
Yes, @Veep answered my question above indicating that Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co. purchased much of the remainder of the collection, with a follow up by @tokenpro confirming that Bill and @tokenpro both had some pieces slabbed by NGC with Brand's provenance.
@Veepsaid:
PNG member, Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co. purchased remnants of Brand’s exonumia collection around five years ago. I think Coin World ran the story. Much of it was water damaged but there were still many nice pieces. I’m not sure if they’ve all been sold now, but it could be that he slabbed a number of them at NGC.
@tokenprosaid:
You are correct -- Bill purchased two good sized wood boxes full of miscellaneous exonumia & world coins that were the property of one of Brand's heirs. These boxes were part of the inheritance when Brand's collection was split up and had sat unopened in a cabin in Wisconsin for many years. One of the boxes contained all the remainders of the Chicago Coin Club plaquette issued for the visit of the USS Nashville in 1909(?) still in their original presentation boxes. There were many scarce pieces (especially world coins) but there was a bunch of pedestrian material as well.
Many of the other pieces were holdered by NGC with the ex-Virgil Brand notation; the raw pieces (many with minor to major storage related problems) all carried a printed card explaining where they came from and the significance of the hoard. I purchased some of the slabs from Bill at CSNS right after they came out and also purchased a 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 box full of the raw pieces (some of which I later had slabbed with the ex-Brand notation courtesy of the CCC printed card). I also have slabbed about 20 +/- pieces that came from the original Bowers auction including a handful of better Thomas Elder pieces. I would think that most of the ex-Brand holders with exonumia seen currently came from the Burd/CCC discovery.
Thank you @Zoins for passing along this information on Brand, and I like the envelopes very much. I'm over by that area of Chicago often so I'll have to take a look for the building or where it used to be if so.
@air4mdc said:
Thank you @Zoins for passing along this information on Brand, and I like the envelopes very much. I'm over by that area of Chicago often so I'll have to take a look for the building or where it used to be if so.
Thanks @air4mdc! There are many interesting collectors from yesteryear! I have a number threads on others as well, but one reason I keeping coming back go Brand is the breadth of his collection! It has everything from rare coins, including the very first US silver dollar (previously owned by @tradedollarnut and @cardinal here) to errors (owned by @FredWeinberg here), to exonumia (some owned by @THOMAS655 here) . And we wouldn't have the provenance for the exonumia if it were not for @tokenpro and Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co.! Of course, many other great forum members are now owners/caretakers of his other pieces so it's great to not only be able to dive into his collection but link them to today's collectors as well.
Here are some photos of Brand Brewing. It seems like it's easy to visit!
Although heavily altered, the Brand Brewing Company is one of Chicago’s most visible brewing remnants. Located at 2530 Elston, it is shown here in an image dating to the mid 1970s. Unfortunately, the large arch uniting the two buildings has since been removed.
Brewing at Brand began in 1899. The history of this brewery is very complex and often confused with another former brewery located across Elston which was also owned by members of the Brand family. The Brand brewery depicted here did not survive for long after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, operating only until 1935.3
This building was used for hop storage and settling tanks. It originally stood a couple stories taller (as did the building to its left), but was shortened to its current height at some point between 1935 and 1950, according to Sanborn fire insurance maps.
Aside from being an important physical remnant of Chicago’s brewing history, the Brand Brewing complex provides an excellent example of the reuse and evolution of an industrial site. In 1950, the brewery buildings were in use by a multitude of firms, including a cold storage company, hardware warehouse, and rubber works. The front office addition was added in 1949, likely for the cold storage operation. Surprisingly, this addition was cut off at some point! When this occurred, a former doorway between it and the older building was bricked up.
Left: This image depicts the administrative building as well as part of the incongruous 1949 office addition.
Right: The neighboring Home Depot parking lot provides a good view of the back of the former brewery, which once consisted of several more buildings located on the site of this parking lot.
Below is another piece that is linked back to Brand - a J-1746 50C Pattern. While not related to beer or as a dramatic design as some of other pieces noted earlier, I find this of interest as it was an aluminum 50C pattern from the Thomas Elder's 1908 sale of the Peter Gschwend Collection, as Lot Z. The piece was plated so one can easily see below that it is one in the same specimen. Virgil Brand picked up many pieces from this sale including this piece. It was logged into his ledger along with the other pieces from that 1908 auction. Refer to the Secondary Ledger 7, 1908-1909 [ANS Virgil Brand papers] item 44170 for this listing. https://archive.org/details/secondaryledger700unse/page/n40/mode/1up?ui=embed&view=theater&wrapper=false
PS: the hand entry for lot Z in that Auction Addendum had an error - noting 1825 vs. the 1885 date. Also, I like to make note that this piece is the plate piece for the J-1746 in the 10th edition for Judd reference book and is just one of 2 known. The other is impounded in the Smithsonian Institution per USPattern.com.
OMG ... My Mother was Right about Everything!
I wake up with a Good Attitude Every Day. Then … Idiots Happen!
@retirednow said:
Below is another piece that is linked back to Brand - a J-1746 50C Pattern. While not related to beer or as a dramatic design as some of other pieces noted earlier, I find this of interest as it was an aluminum 50C pattern from the Thomas Elder's 1908 sale of the Peter Gschwend Collection, as Lot Z. The piece was plated so one can easily see below that it is one in the same specimen. Virgil Brand picked up many pieces from this sale including this piece. It was logged into his ledger along with the other pieces from that 1908 auction. Refer to the Secondary Ledger 7, 1908-1909 [ANS Virgil Brand papers] item 44170 for this listing. https://archive.org/details/secondaryledger700unse/page/n40/mode/1up?ui=embed&view=theater&wrapper=false
PS: the hand entry for lot Z in that Auction Addendum had an error - noting 1825 vs. the 1885 date. Also, I like to make note that this piece is the plate piece for the J-1746 in the 10th edition for Judd reference book and is just one of 2 known. The other is impounded in the Smithsonian Institution per USPattern.com.
Wow! Amazing coin @retirednow ! For Virgil to have this, just one of two pieces, is amazing. Much thanks to Laura for working with Bob Simpson to get his collection TrueViewed.
1885 Seated Libert Half Dollar in Aluminum - Judd-1746 - Brand-Specimen PCGS PR64+CAM
Ex: Peter Gschwend (Thomas Elder, 6/1908), lot Z in the second addendum; Virgil Brand (Journal #44170); Armin Brand; unknown intermediaries, Harry X Boosel Collection (RARCOA, 4/1972), lot 1190; FUN Sale (RARCOA, 1/1973), lot 688; Public Auction Sale (Stack's, 1/1987) lot 535; October 7-9, 1990 Sale (Superior Galleries, 10/1990), lot 1887; Robert W. Miller, Sr. Collection (Bowers and Merena, 11/1992), lot 1085; Rarities Sale (Bowers and Merena, 1/1997), lot 466; William H. LaBelle, Sr. Collection (American Numismatic Rarities, 7/2005), lot 68; Important Selections from The Bob R. Simpson Collection, Part III / FUN Signature (Heritage, 1/2021), lot 3273; Dallas Signature (Heritage, 6/2021), lot 3256.
@Zoins said:
An interesting thing is that it's relatively easy to associate exonumia with Virgil Brand because there are a lot of NGC slabs with his name on it.
Anyone know the background of how his name got on all those NGC slabs?
Submitter bought them in an auction and requested it?
Yes, @Veep answered my question above indicating that Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co. purchased much of the remainder of the collection, with a follow up by @tokenpro confirming that Bill and @tokenpro both had some pieces slabbed by NGC with Brand's provenance.
@Veepsaid:
PNG member, Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co. purchased remnants of Brand’s exonumia collection around five years ago. I think Coin World ran the story. Much of it was water damaged but there were still many nice pieces. I’m not sure if they’ve all been sold now, but it could be that he slabbed a number of them at NGC.
@tokenprosaid:
You are correct -- Bill purchased two good sized wood boxes full of miscellaneous exonumia & world coins that were the property of one of Brand's heirs. These boxes were part of the inheritance when Brand's collection was split up and had sat unopened in a cabin in Wisconsin for many years. One of the boxes contained all the remainders of the Chicago Coin Club plaquette issued for the visit of the USS Nashville in 1909(?) still in their original presentation boxes. There were many scarce pieces (especially world coins) but there was a bunch of pedestrian material as well.
Many of the other pieces were holdered by NGC with the ex-Virgil Brand notation; the raw pieces (many with minor to major storage related problems) all carried a printed card explaining where they came from and the significance of the hoard. I purchased some of the slabs from Bill at CSNS right after they came out and also purchased a 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 box full of the raw pieces (some of which I later had slabbed with the ex-Brand notation courtesy of the CCC printed card). I also have slabbed about 20 +/- pieces that came from the original Bowers auction including a handful of better Thomas Elder pieces. I would think that most of the ex-Brand holders with exonumia seen currently came from the Burd/CCC discovery.
Of note, there are a number of Virgil's Masonic Pennies on eBay now. They come with typed envelopes but are not slabbed. If they get slabbed one day, hopefully the envelope travels with them!
@Mark said: @Zoins I am relatively sure you know, but QDB wrote a book about Virgil Brand. I read it ( a LONG time ago) and recall that I enjoyed it. In case you do not have a copy, I see where one is available on Amazon. Search for "Virgil Brand: The Man and His Era" and it will pop up. Of course, the book may be available somewhere less for less. I did not spend much (actually, any ) time searching once I found a copy.
@Mark said: @Zoins I am relatively sure you know, but QDB wrote a book about Virgil Brand. I read it ( a LONG time ago) and recall that I enjoyed it. In case you do not have a copy, I see where one is available on Amazon. Search for "Virgil Brand: The Man and His Era" and it will pop up. Of course, the book may be available somewhere less for less. I did not spend much (actually, any ) time searching once I found a copy.
@Zoins said:
Virgil had 6 of the 10 specimens for the 1884 Trade Dollar.
So far, I've only been able get a photo of this one. Can anyone post photos of his other 5?
1884 Trade Dollar PCGS PR64CAM - Idler-Haseltine-Brand
Wow! Below is the Brand-Eliasberg coin, previously owned by @tradedollarnut! So we're now at 2 of 6 in this thread.
1884 Trade Dollar PCGS PR66CAM CAC - Brand-Eliasberg
The pedigree is listed as the following by Heritage. Of note, PCGS lists this as "Brand-Eliasberg"
Heritage said:
PR66 NGC. H.O. Granberg, exhibited at the 1914 ANS Exhibition as part of a full set of Trade dollars; H.O. Granberg Sale (B. Max Mehl, 7/1919), lot 128, realized $260; Virgil Brand (Brand Journal number 92357); Armin Brand (sold 9/1/1942); unknown intermediaries, possibly Stack's in 1942; Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr.; Eliasberg Estate (Bowers and Merena, 4/1997), lot 2353; Spectrum Numismatics; Legend Collection (Bruce Morelan); John Albanese; Heritage Auctions sold privately into the Greensboro Collection in January 2006 for $925,000. The present coin.
This coin is also still certified at NGC, but no longer in the CAC DB:
@air4mdc said:
Thank you @Zoins for passing along this information on Brand, and I like the envelopes very much. I'm over by that area of Chicago often so I'll have to take a look for the building or where it used to be if so.
Thanks @air4mdc! There are many interesting collectors from yesteryear! I have a number threads on others as well, but one reason I keeping coming back go Brand is the breadth of his collection! It has everything from rare coins, including the very first US silver dollar (previously owned by @tradedollarnut and @cardinal here) to errors (owned by @FredWeinberg here), to exonumia (some owned by @THOMAS655 here) . And we wouldn't have the provenance for the exonumia if it were not for @tokenpro and Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co.! Of course, many other great forum members are now owners/caretakers of his other pieces so it's great to not only be able to dive into his collection but link them to today's collectors as well.
Here are some photos of Brand Brewing. It seems like it's easy to visit!
Although heavily altered, the Brand Brewing Company is one of Chicago’s most visible brewing remnants. Located at 2530 Elston, it is shown here in an image dating to the mid 1970s. Unfortunately, the large arch uniting the two buildings has since been removed.
Brewing at Brand began in 1899. The history of this brewery is very complex and often confused with another former brewery located across Elston which was also owned by members of the Brand family. The Brand brewery depicted here did not survive for long after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, operating only until 1935.3
This building was used for hop storage and settling tanks. It originally stood a couple stories taller (as did the building to its left), but was shortened to its current height at some point between 1935 and 1950, according to Sanborn fire insurance maps.
Aside from being an important physical remnant of Chicago’s brewing history, the Brand Brewing complex provides an excellent example of the reuse and evolution of an industrial site. In 1950, the brewery buildings were in use by a multitude of firms, including a cold storage company, hardware warehouse, and rubber works. The front office addition was added in 1949, likely for the cold storage operation. Surprisingly, this addition was cut off at some point! When this occurred, a former doorway between it and the older building was bricked up.
Left: This image depicts the administrative building as well as part of the incongruous 1949 office addition.
Right: The neighboring Home Depot parking lot provides a good view of the back of the former brewery, which once consisted of several more buildings located on the site of this parking lot.
Thanks again @Zoins, what a great read you passed along. It appears that the old Brand Brewery is only a couple of blocks from the MicroCenter and Costco I frequent when visiting family. Most definitely, I’ll be looking for that building, it’s a shame the arch is no longer present.
There is no way I can begin to comprehend the vast amount of coins that were in Brand’s collection. I sure would like one in my collection.🙂
@air4mdc said:
Thank you @Zoins for passing along this information on Brand, and I like the envelopes very much. I'm over by that area of Chicago often so I'll have to take a look for the building or where it used to be if so.
Thanks @air4mdc! There are many interesting collectors from yesteryear! I have a number threads on others as well, but one reason I keeping coming back go Brand is the breadth of his collection! It has everything from rare coins, including the very first US silver dollar (previously owned by @tradedollarnut and @cardinal here) to errors (owned by @FredWeinberg here), to exonumia (some owned by @THOMAS655 here) . And we wouldn't have the provenance for the exonumia if it were not for @tokenpro and Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co.! Of course, many other great forum members are now owners/caretakers of his other pieces so it's great to not only be able to dive into his collection but link them to today's collectors as well.
Here are some photos of Brand Brewing. It seems like it's easy to visit!
Although heavily altered, the Brand Brewing Company is one of Chicago’s most visible brewing remnants. Located at 2530 Elston, it is shown here in an image dating to the mid 1970s. Unfortunately, the large arch uniting the two buildings has since been removed.
Brewing at Brand began in 1899. The history of this brewery is very complex and often confused with another former brewery located across Elston which was also owned by members of the Brand family. The Brand brewery depicted here did not survive for long after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, operating only until 1935.3
This building was used for hop storage and settling tanks. It originally stood a couple stories taller (as did the building to its left), but was shortened to its current height at some point between 1935 and 1950, according to Sanborn fire insurance maps.
Aside from being an important physical remnant of Chicago’s brewing history, the Brand Brewing complex provides an excellent example of the reuse and evolution of an industrial site. In 1950, the brewery buildings were in use by a multitude of firms, including a cold storage company, hardware warehouse, and rubber works. The front office addition was added in 1949, likely for the cold storage operation. Surprisingly, this addition was cut off at some point! When this occurred, a former doorway between it and the older building was bricked up.
Left: This image depicts the administrative building as well as part of the incongruous 1949 office addition.
Right: The neighboring Home Depot parking lot provides a good view of the back of the former brewery, which once consisted of several more buildings located on the site of this parking lot.
Thanks again @Zoins, what a great read you passed along. It appears that the old Brand Brewery is only a couple of blocks from the MicroCenter and Costco I frequent when visiting family. Most definitely, I’ll be looking for that building, it’s a shame the arch is no longer present.
There is no way I can begin to comprehend the vast amount of coins that were in Brand’s collection. I sure would like one in my collection.🙂
Wow! That's awesome that it's so close! I'm glad this thread is interesting and love your posts as well. It's really all of us together that make these forums so worthwhile. If you do happen to visit, please take and post some photos, ideally with some modern cars in it
@air4mdc said:
Thank you @Zoins for passing along this information on Brand, and I like the envelopes very much. I'm over by that area of Chicago often so I'll have to take a look for the building or where it used to be if so.
Thanks @air4mdc! There are many interesting collectors from yesteryear! I have a number threads on others as well, but one reason I keeping coming back go Brand is the breadth of his collection! It has everything from rare coins, including the very first US silver dollar (previously owned by @tradedollarnut and @cardinal here) to errors (owned by @FredWeinberg here), to exonumia (some owned by @THOMAS655 here) . And we wouldn't have the provenance for the exonumia if it were not for @tokenpro and Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co.! Of course, many other great forum members are now owners/caretakers of his other pieces so it's great to not only be able to dive into his collection but link them to today's collectors as well.
Here are some photos of Brand Brewing. It seems like it's easy to visit!
Although heavily altered, the Brand Brewing Company is one of Chicago’s most visible brewing remnants. Located at 2530 Elston, it is shown here in an image dating to the mid 1970s. Unfortunately, the large arch uniting the two buildings has since been removed.
Brewing at Brand began in 1899. The history of this brewery is very complex and often confused with another former brewery located across Elston which was also owned by members of the Brand family. The Brand brewery depicted here did not survive for long after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, operating only until 1935.3
This building was used for hop storage and settling tanks. It originally stood a couple stories taller (as did the building to its left), but was shortened to its current height at some point between 1935 and 1950, according to Sanborn fire insurance maps.
Aside from being an important physical remnant of Chicago’s brewing history, the Brand Brewing complex provides an excellent example of the reuse and evolution of an industrial site. In 1950, the brewery buildings were in use by a multitude of firms, including a cold storage company, hardware warehouse, and rubber works. The front office addition was added in 1949, likely for the cold storage operation. Surprisingly, this addition was cut off at some point! When this occurred, a former doorway between it and the older building was bricked up.
Left: This image depicts the administrative building as well as part of the incongruous 1949 office addition.
Right: The neighboring Home Depot parking lot provides a good view of the back of the former brewery, which once consisted of several more buildings located on the site of this parking lot.
Thanks again @Zoins, what a great read you passed along. It appears that the old Brand Brewery is only a couple of blocks from the MicroCenter and Costco I frequent when visiting family. Most definitely, I’ll be looking for that building, it’s a shame the arch is no longer present.
There is no way I can begin to comprehend the vast amount of coins that were in Brand’s collection. I sure would like one in my collection.🙂
Wow! That's awesome that it's so close! I'm glad this thread is interesting and love your posts as well. It's really all of us together that make these forums so worthwhile. If you do happen to visit, please take and post some photos, ideally with some modern cars in it
Thanks for the kind words @Zoins and I sure will take some pictures and get them up for viewing. With this time of year being very busy, it most likely won’t be until after the holidays. I will make sure to incudes some modern cars as well. Hopefully they won’t covered snow covered.
Finally got to looking up the TrueView for your Brand-Pogue coin! Amazing to think about how much history this coin has both before and after Virgil! Thanks for sharing it!
@dadams said:
This cover was sent registered, wonder what wonderful coin it contained.
In 2025, the odds of a regular USPS envelope with metallic contents and multiple instances of the words "coins", "stamp" and "money" arriving safe and intact are roughly the same odds as me ever owning that 1822 $5.
@dadams said:
This cover was sent registered, wonder what wonderful coin it contained.
The odds of a regular USPS envelope with metallic contents and multiple instances of the words "coins", "stamp" and "money" arriving safe and intact are roughly the same odds as me owning that 1822 $5.
Envelopes like this makes me want to think about stamp collecting again......after 60+ years.
Heritage provenance:
Robert Coulton Davis; George Woodside Collection (New York Coin & Stamp, 4/1892), lot 111; M.A. Brown Collection (S.H. & H. Chapman, 4/1897), lot 52; Virgil Brand (Journal id #17020); Horace Brand; F.C.C. Boyd; Numismatic Gallery Monthly April 1949 and July-August 1951 editions; Dr. J. Hewitt Judd; Illustrated History of United States Coins (Abe Kosoff, 1962), lot 249; Dr. John E. Wilkison; Paramount International Coin Corporation (1973); A-Mark; Trompeter Collection; Southern Collection; Bob R. Simpson Collection
Here's Virgil Brand's HK-69 So-Called Dollar. It's great he was collecting these even before there was a catalog for them, or they had been established as a series for collection.
@Zoins said:
An interesting thing is that it's relatively easy to associate exonumia with Virgil Brand because there are a lot of NGC slabs with his name on it.
Anyone know the background of how his name got on all those NGC slabs?
Submitter bought them in an auction and requested it?
Yes, @Veep answered my question above indicating that Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co. purchased much of the remainder of the collection, with a follow up by @tokenpro confirming that Bill and @tokenpro both had some pieces slabbed by NGC with Brand's provenance.
@Veepsaid:
PNG member, Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co. purchased remnants of Brand’s exonumia collection around five years ago. I think Coin World ran the story. Much of it was water damaged but there were still many nice pieces. I’m not sure if they’ve all been sold now, but it could be that he slabbed a number of them at NGC.
@tokenprosaid:
You are correct -- Bill purchased two good sized wood boxes full of miscellaneous exonumia & world coins that were the property of one of Brand's heirs. These boxes were part of the inheritance when Brand's collection was split up and had sat unopened in a cabin in Wisconsin for many years. One of the boxes contained all the remainders of the Chicago Coin Club plaquette issued for the visit of the USS Nashville in 1909(?) still in their original presentation boxes. There were many scarce pieces (especially world coins) but there was a bunch of pedestrian material as well.
Many of the other pieces were holdered by NGC with the ex-Virgil Brand notation; the raw pieces (many with minor to major storage related problems) all carried a printed card explaining where they came from and the significance of the hoard. I purchased some of the slabs from Bill at CSNS right after they came out and also purchased a 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 box full of the raw pieces (some of which I later had slabbed with the ex-Brand notation courtesy of the CCC printed card). I also have slabbed about 20 +/- pieces that came from the original Bowers auction including a handful of better Thomas Elder pieces. I would think that most of the ex-Brand holders with exonumia seen currently came from the Burd/CCC discovery.
I would assume this is one of the later pieces from the Virgil Brand Collection. It's a political medal by Merriam (SCH-C5) with "lavender-gray toning with proof-like reflectivity in sheltered areas" sold by Heritage in 2017. I own it because it's in with my other Merriam and Bolen pieces. Rev Edward Everett is an interesting person ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Everett ) who was the president of Harvard U. Given my interest in pre-1900 coins and medals, including civil war and Southern SCDs, it's interesting to know that Rev Everett "was the featured orator at the dedication ceremony of the Gettysburg National Cemetery in 1863, where he spoke for over two hours—immediately before President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous two-minute Gettysburg Address."
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
He's not as well-known as some others... I don't know if he was a recluse, didn't interact with the famous dealers of the time, or what.
According to Roger Burdette's Saints book....with regards to the Saint-Gaudens 1923-D....a hoard of 1,000 coins was supposedly owned by Brand that came out in the early-1980's. Seems kind of large but maybe he had some in lower-grades and was using them as a bullion substitute as the coin is fairly common.
That was before my collecting days, maybe some of you can shed more light on that.
@Zoins I have the brief version of Bland in the above book, but because of your thread - I now have ordered the full Bowers version. Besides I like the historic photos of his brewery in Chicago.
We finally made it to Chicago this weekend to visit family, and our son nicely drove us past the old Brand Brewery, err, what’s left of it. What is most
@air4mdc said:
Thank you @Zoins for passing along this information on Brand, and I like the envelopes very much. I'm over by that area of Chicago often so I'll have to take a look for the building or where it used to be if so.
Thanks @air4mdc! There are many interesting collectors from yesteryear! I have a number threads on others as well, but one reason I keeping coming back go Brand is the breadth of his collection! It has everything from rare coins, including the very first US silver dollar (previously owned by @tradedollarnut and @cardinal here) to errors (owned by @FredWeinberg here), to exonumia (some owned by @THOMAS655 here) . And we wouldn't have the provenance for the exonumia if it were not for @tokenpro and Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co.! Of course, many other great forum members are now owners/caretakers of his other pieces so it's great to not only be able to dive into his collection but link them to today's collectors as well.
Here are some photos of Brand Brewing. It seems like it's easy to visit!
Although heavily altered, the Brand Brewing Company is one of Chicago’s most visible brewing remnants. Located at 2530 Elston, it is shown here in an image dating to the mid 1970s. Unfortunately, the large arch uniting the two buildings has since been removed.
Brewing at Brand began in 1899. The history of this brewery is very complex and often confused with another former brewery located across Elston which was also owned by members of the Brand family. The Brand brewery depicted here did not survive for long after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, operating only until 1935.3
This building was used for hop storage and settling tanks. It originally stood a couple stories taller (as did the building to its left), but was shortened to its current height at some point between 1935 and 1950, according to Sanborn fire insurance maps.
Aside from being an important physical remnant of Chicago’s brewing history, the Brand Brewing complex provides an excellent example of the reuse and evolution of an industrial site. In 1950, the brewery buildings were in use by a multitude of firms, including a cold storage company, hardware warehouse, and rubber works. The front office addition was added in 1949, likely for the cold storage operation. Surprisingly, this addition was cut off at some point! When this occurred, a former doorway between it and the older building was bricked up.
Left: This image depicts the administrative building as well as part of the incongruous 1949 office addition.
Right: The neighboring Home Depot parking lot provides a good view of the back of the former brewery, which once consisted of several more buildings located on the site of this parking lot.
Thanks again @Zoins, what a great read you passed along. It appears that the old Brand Brewery is only a couple of blocks from the MicroCenter and Costco I frequent when visiting family. Most definitely, I’ll be looking for that building, it’s a shame the arch is no longer present.
There is no way I can begin to comprehend the vast amount of coins that were in Brand’s collection. I sure would like one in my collection.🙂
Wow! That's awesome that it's so close! I'm glad this thread is interesting and love your posts as well. It's really all of us together that make these forums so worthwhile. If you do happen to visit, please take and post some photos, ideally with some modern cars in it
I was finally able to make a couple of trips in to see my son and daughter-in-law and we did manage to circumnavigate around the area to try to figure out exactly where the brewery was located, what remained of the brewery and how the area streets were changed or rerouted. Snow Avenue no longer exists. A Ford dealership has been built where the Brand Brewery once existed. Brand had built an administration building connected to the brewer (Which is now the Ford dealership) via an arch, which no longer exists. Upon some research I did find that Michael Brand did have a brewery somewhere across the street from Brand Brewery. Further research of an address on a letter to addressed to Brand appears he may have lived next to the famous Morton Salt Company, where an Acura dealership now resides. It is also possible this is where his brother's brewery was located down the street on Elston Avenue. Brand had numerous coin related mail addressed to his brewery, so it's possible that if this was not his residence it may have been the other brewery. This would be a new facade built onto to the existing admin building. The Ford dealership to the right in the picture. The arch would have been connected behind the new facade crossing over to where the brewery once existed. Is it possible Snow St. passed under the arch, possibly. You can see where the old brick arched windows once existed. The other side of the admin building displays numerous additions built over the years The original Brand Brewery
Brand had numerous coin related mail addressed to his brewery, so it's possible that if this was not his residence it may have been the other brewery . The original Brand Brewery
Virgil Brand’s office would have been on the lower floor to the left of the arch and his seven room apartment where he lived was on the second floor.
Too bad this building did not have a Historical Designation as the building is quite attractive, at least for a brewery. Might have been a great home for the ANA instead of their modernistic building in Colorado Springs, which has no numismatic relevance.
Brand had numerous coin related mail addressed to his brewery, so it's possible that if this was not his residence it may have been the other brewery . The original Brand Brewery
Virgil Brand’s office would have been on the lower floor to the left of the arch and his seven room apartment where he lived was on the second floor.
Thanks for passing along this information, I find it interesting he lived where he worked. Most likely very dedicated to his business.
Soooo, can it be said that Virgil Brand inherited his father's brewing business and reinvested the capitlaal of the brewing company into rare coins at the dawn of Prohibition?
@Exbrit said:
A photo of Michael and Virgil’s tomb:
@Exbrit , would you happen to know if this crypt is at Graceland Cemetery? That’s home to the infamous “ Grim Reaper” statue, along with many famous people.
@Exbrit said:
A photo of Michael and Virgil’s tomb:
@Exbrit , would you happen to know if this crypt is at Graceland Cemetery? That’s home to the infamous “ Grim Reaper” statue, along with many famous people.
I would be metal detecting around that toumb just in case they got buried with some good stuff
Comments
Good question and great avenue for discussion!
Here's some information on Brand Brewing for further research and discussion.
http://www.oldbreweries.com/breweries-by-state/illinois/chicago-il-166-breweries/brand-brewing-co-il-50a/
The envelope photo is courtesy of Stamp-O-Saurus.
Submitter bought them in an auction and requested it?
Yes, @Veep answered my question above indicating that Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co. purchased much of the remainder of the collection, with a follow up by @tokenpro confirming that Bill and @tokenpro both had some pieces slabbed by NGC with Brand's provenance.
Here's another envelope from uuubuy's breweriana shop!
The cancellation mark is in an interesting place on this one.
Thank you @Zoins for passing along this information on Brand, and I like the envelopes very much. I'm over by that area of Chicago often so I'll have to take a look for the building or where it used to be if so.
Thanks @air4mdc! There are many interesting collectors from yesteryear! I have a number threads on others as well, but one reason I keeping coming back go Brand is the breadth of his collection! It has everything from rare coins, including the very first US silver dollar (previously owned by @tradedollarnut and @cardinal here) to errors (owned by @FredWeinberg here), to exonumia (some owned by @THOMAS655 here) . And we wouldn't have the provenance for the exonumia if it were not for @tokenpro and Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Co.! Of course, many other great forum members are now owners/caretakers of his other pieces so it's great to not only be able to dive into his collection but link them to today's collectors as well.
Here are some photos of Brand Brewing. It seems like it's easy to visit!
http://forgottenchicago.com/articles/bygone-breweries/
Below is another piece that is linked back to Brand - a J-1746 50C Pattern. While not related to beer or as a dramatic design as some of other pieces noted earlier, I find this of interest as it was an aluminum 50C pattern from the Thomas Elder's 1908 sale of the Peter Gschwend Collection, as Lot Z. The piece was plated so one can easily see below that it is one in the same specimen. Virgil Brand picked up many pieces from this sale including this piece. It was logged into his ledger along with the other pieces from that 1908 auction. Refer to the Secondary Ledger 7, 1908-1909 [ANS Virgil Brand papers] item 44170 for this listing.
https://archive.org/details/secondaryledger700unse/page/n40/mode/1up?ui=embed&view=theater&wrapper=false
PS: the hand entry for lot Z in that Auction Addendum had an error - noting 1825 vs. the 1885 date. Also, I like to make note that this piece is the plate piece for the J-1746 in the 10th edition for Judd reference book and is just one of 2 known. The other is impounded in the Smithsonian Institution per USPattern.com.
OMG ... My Mother was Right about Everything!
I wake up with a Good Attitude Every Day. Then … Idiots Happen!
Wow! Amazing coin @retirednow ! For Virgil to have this, just one of two pieces, is amazing. Much thanks to Laura for working with Bob Simpson to get his collection TrueViewed.
1885 Seated Libert Half Dollar in Aluminum - Judd-1746 - Brand-Specimen
PCGS PR64+CAM
Ex: Peter Gschwend (Thomas Elder, 6/1908), lot Z in the second addendum; Virgil Brand (Journal #44170); Armin Brand; unknown intermediaries, Harry X Boosel Collection (RARCOA, 4/1972), lot 1190; FUN Sale (RARCOA, 1/1973), lot 688; Public Auction Sale (Stack's, 1/1987) lot 535; October 7-9, 1990 Sale (Superior Galleries, 10/1990), lot 1887; Robert W. Miller, Sr. Collection (Bowers and Merena, 11/1992), lot 1085; Rarities Sale (Bowers and Merena, 1/1997), lot 466; William H. LaBelle, Sr. Collection (American Numismatic Rarities, 7/2005), lot 68; Important Selections from The Bob R. Simpson Collection, Part III / FUN Signature (Heritage, 1/2021), lot 3273; Dallas Signature (Heritage, 6/2021), lot 3256.
From this provenance, what other collectors are worthy of note?
Of note, there are a number of Virgil's Masonic Pennies on eBay now. They come with typed envelopes but are not slabbed. If they get slabbed one day, hopefully the envelope travels with them!
Can be found on the Newman portal
https://ia801005.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/31/items/virgilbrand1983bowe/virgilbrand1983bowe_jp2.zip&file=virgilbrand1983bowe_jp2/virgilbrand1983bowe_0000.jp2&id=virgilbrand1983bowe&scale=4&rotate=0
OMG ... My Mother was Right about Everything!
I wake up with a Good Attitude Every Day. Then … Idiots Happen!
This the link to book https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/570384
OMG ... My Mother was Right about Everything!
I wake up with a Good Attitude Every Day. Then … Idiots Happen!
Wow! Below is the Brand-Eliasberg coin, previously owned by @tradedollarnut! So we're now at 2 of 6 in this thread.
1884 Trade Dollar PCGS PR66CAM CAC - Brand-Eliasberg
The pedigree is listed as the following by Heritage. Of note, PCGS lists this as "Brand-Eliasberg"
This coin is also still certified at NGC, but no longer in the CAC DB:
Thanks again @Zoins, what a great read you passed along. It appears that the old Brand Brewery is only a couple of blocks from the MicroCenter and Costco I frequent when visiting family. Most definitely, I’ll be looking for that building, it’s a shame the arch is no longer present.
There is no way I can begin to comprehend the vast amount of coins that were in Brand’s collection. I sure would like one in my collection.🙂
Wow! That's awesome that it's so close! I'm glad this thread is interesting and love your posts as well. It's really all of us together that make these forums so worthwhile. If you do happen to visit, please take and post some photos, ideally with some modern cars in it
Thanks for the kind words @Zoins and I sure will take some pictures and get them up for viewing. With this time of year being very busy, it most likely won’t be until after the holidays. I will make sure to incudes some modern cars as well. Hopefully they won’t covered snow covered.
Great piece @boiler78!
Finally got to looking up the TrueView for your Brand-Pogue coin! Amazing to think about how much history this coin has both before and after Virgil! Thanks for sharing it!
Glad to see Virgil recognized now!
This is now the Brand-Carter-Knoxville Dollar
Cert: https://www.pcgs.com/cert/36065467
(1854) Kellogg & Company $20 Die Trial in Copper - Ex: Virgil Brand, John Jay Pittman
Grade: PCGS MS64BN
Population: 0/1/0
Cert: PCGS 5228958
Wow! Another great Virgil Brand coin surfaced today.
A date-less Kellogg & Company double eagle die trial in copper! It's attributed to 1854.
It's currently with Lee Minshull.
Both ex Brand/Norweb
Latin American Collection
Great Brand-Norweb coins @Boosibri!
Nice top pop of a total pop of 11 at PCGS:
Population: 9/2/0
Cert: 43276424
Here's your TrueView.
1866 "No Motto" Dollar - Ex. Virgil Brand, Bob Simpson
Grade: PCGS PR63+
Population: 2 with 1 in the Smithsonian
Cert: 40273638
This is an interesting coin with only 2 known to exist. This is pedigreed to Virgil Brand at the USPatterns.com pattern research site but not HA.
1794 Dollar with Silver Plug, Ex. Virgil Brand, Amon Carter, Martin Logies, Bruce Morelan
Grade: PCGS SP66
Population: 1
Cert: PCGS 36065467
Another photo of this great Brand coin:
Were these released along with the 1983 Book about Brand? Do you know how many were minted?
In 2025, the odds of a regular USPS envelope with metallic contents and multiple instances of the words "coins", "stamp" and "money" arriving safe and intact are roughly the same odds as me ever owning that 1822 $5.
Envelopes like this makes me want to think about stamp collecting again......after 60+ years.
It might be possible by matching dates against Brand's ledger.
It would be easier if Brand's ledge included the seller.
1860 $5 Large Planchet Half Eagle, Judd-271, Pollock-319 - Ex. Brand, Boyd, Wilkison, Trompeter, Simpson
Population 2 known, PCGS Pop 0/1/0
Grade: PCGS PR64+ DCAM
Cert: 31672893
Here's another incredible gold pattern, to go with Judd-1577 on the first page. It will be interesting to see how many gold patterns Brand had.
I didn't know there was a ratings system. I'm curious where I'm at.
http://ProofCollection.Net
Probably have to ask Doug Winter for this one. Wish he was on the forums but there is there is the ability to comment on his blog:
https://raregoldcoins.com/blog/articles/dual-rarities-great-american-gold-coins
Here's Virgil Brand's HK-69 So-Called Dollar. It's great he was collecting these even before there was a catalog for them, or they had been established as a series for collection.
Photos courtesy of Bruce @THOMAS655
I would assume this is one of the later pieces from the Virgil Brand Collection. It's a political medal by Merriam (SCH-C5) with "lavender-gray toning with proof-like reflectivity in sheltered areas" sold by Heritage in 2017. I own it because it's in with my other Merriam and Bolen pieces. Rev Edward Everett is an interesting person ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Everett ) who was the president of Harvard U. Given my interest in pre-1900 coins and medals, including civil war and Southern SCDs, it's interesting to know that Rev Everett "was the featured orator at the dedication ceremony of the Gettysburg National Cemetery in 1863, where he spoke for over two hours—immediately before President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous two-minute Gettysburg Address."
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
Photos courtesy of giantsaguarotrail.
All I know is he has a good last name.
Jb-rarities.com
IG: jb_rarities
(1852) Annular Gold Dollar, Judd-136 - Ex. Virgil Brand, Dr. John E. Wilkison, Bob R. Simpson
Grade: PR66
Population: PCGS 2/2/0
Cert: PCGS 31672919
Were there other major gold pattern collectors during or before Virgil Brand's collecting era?
If Brand is well-known enough for gold patterns, his name may get on the pedigree for this coin
In 1991 there was an ad in the back of coin world “ancient coin from Virgil Brand collection.”I took the bait !
He's not as well-known as some others... I don't know if he was a recluse, didn't interact with the famous dealers of the time, or what.
According to Roger Burdette's Saints book....with regards to the Saint-Gaudens 1923-D....a hoard of 1,000 coins was supposedly owned by Brand that came out in the early-1980's. Seems kind of large but maybe he had some in lower-grades and was using them as a bullion substitute as the coin is fairly common.
That was before my collecting days, maybe some of you can shed more light on that.
@Zoins I have the brief version of Bland in the above book, but because of your thread - I now have ordered the full Bowers version. Besides I like the historic photos of his brewery in Chicago.
He had extensive stamp collection too
How many of these can we name?
All of them ... I have the book
OMG ... My Mother was Right about Everything!
I wake up with a Good Attitude Every Day. Then … Idiots Happen!
I'll let you start naming them
We finally made it to Chicago this weekend to visit family, and our son nicely drove us past the old Brand Brewery, err, what’s left of it. What is most
I was finally able to make a couple of trips in to see my son and daughter-in-law and we did manage to circumnavigate around the area to try to figure out exactly where the brewery was located, what remained of the brewery and how the area streets were changed or rerouted. Snow Avenue no longer exists. A Ford dealership has been built where the Brand Brewery once existed. Brand had built an administration building connected to the brewer (Which is now the Ford dealership) via an arch, which no longer exists. Upon some research I did find that Michael Brand did have a brewery somewhere across the street from Brand Brewery. Further research of an address on a letter to addressed to Brand appears he may have lived next to the famous Morton Salt Company, where an Acura dealership now resides. It is also possible this is where his brother's brewery was located down the street on Elston Avenue. Brand had numerous coin related mail addressed to his brewery, so it's possible that if this was not his residence it may have been the other brewery.
This would be a new facade built onto to the existing admin building. The Ford dealership to the right in the picture.
The arch would have been connected behind the new facade crossing over to where the brewery once existed. Is it possible Snow St. passed under the arch, possibly.
You can see where the old brick arched windows once existed.
The other side of the admin building displays numerous additions built over the years 
The original Brand Brewery
I did include some modern autos for @Zoins
Brand had numerous coin related mail addressed to his brewery, so it's possible that if this was not his residence it may have been the other brewery .
The original Brand Brewery
Virgil Brand’s office would have been on the lower floor to the left of the arch and his seven room apartment where he lived was on the second floor.
Too bad this building did not have a Historical Designation as the building is quite attractive, at least for a brewery. Might have been a great home for the ANA instead of their modernistic building in Colorado Springs, which has no numismatic relevance.
A photo of Michael and Virgil’s tomb:
Thanks for passing along this information, I find it interesting he lived where he worked. Most likely very dedicated to his business.
Soooo, can it be said that Virgil Brand inherited his father's brewing business and reinvested the capitlaal of the brewing company into rare coins at the dawn of Prohibition?
OINK
@Exbrit , would you happen to know if this crypt is at Graceland Cemetery? That’s home to the infamous “ Grim Reaper” statue, along with many famous people.
I would be metal detecting around that toumb just in case they got buried with some good stuff