Question about the Stewart Blay sale…?

asheland · January 13, 2025 6:24PM

One simple question, was there a printed catalogue? And if so, is it still available anywhere?

erwindoc · January 13, 2025 7:32PM

I know that GC handled lots of his stuff. They don't do printed catalogs so you might be out of luck.

alaura22 · January 13, 2025 7:42PM

No catalog

winesteven · January 13, 2025 8:44PM

@asheland , the following is probably what you’d love to have:

The “Fly-In Club” (for collectors of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents) puts out a handsome journal three times a year called “Longacre’s Ledger”. Dues are only $25 annually.

The December 2023 issue had 19 of its 40 slick pages showing great photos of EVERY coin from the Blay GC auction, along with a description of each coin by Rick Snow, the winning price (includes the 12.5% bp), and Rick’s comments on the price for the quality of each coin.

I don’t know if back copies are available, but I treasure my copy! I bought one of those Blay coins, and had it reholdered by PCGS to have the Blay pedigree put on the label. CAC reapplied their sticker to the new holder, and Rick applied his Eagle Eye Photo Seal as well.

As an example, here’s what was said in that article about the coin I bought:

“1861 PCGS MS-66+ (CAC Green). 01519898. (that’s the cert number) Full strike and hard to find a mark. I thought that it could grade MS67. At $7,144, it was a good deal. GC 11/19/23: 1455925.” (this was the GC Item ID).

Here’s the PCGS True View, and my three photos obtained from Rick Snow as part of the super reasonable $15 Photo Seal fee. I’m not sure if the photos in the article are from True Views or are from GC photos.

Steve

PeakRarities · January 13, 2025 8:53PM

@winesteven - He used the GC pictures, fantastic coin!

coinbuf · January 13, 2025 8:58PM

No catalog, however, you can search the GC coin collection archive for the "Red Copper Collection". All of his coins auctioned by GC are listed there.

DisneyFan · January 13, 2025 9:22PM

@coinbuf said:
No catalog, however, you can search the GC coin collection archive for the "Red Copper Collection". All of his coins auctioned by GC are listed there.

You can also find it as "The Stewart Blay Collection of Indian Cents" and "The Stewart Blay Collection of Barber Dimes"

breakdown · January 13, 2025 11:42PM

Great coin and information, Steve. It will be a shame if some of the Blay coins lose their provenance.

Nevertheless, I respected him for not wanting to stamp his name on all his slabs. The coins speak for themselves and many of the personalized labels (eg Hansen and Bass come to mind) are unattractive and distracting.

davewesen · January 14, 2025 6:23AM

Stewart had many great sets with different denominations and some Canadian. The sales seemed to go over an extended period. His PCGS registry sets are retired and open so coins with TrueViews can be seen. Here is his retired set page

https://pcgs.com/setregistry/stewartblaynumi/othersets/306

johnny9434 · January 14, 2025 7:14AM

Impressive cent, I like 👍

Copperindian · January 14, 2025 7:31AM

@breakdown: we’ll said; absolutely agree. I won 3 of Stewart’s coins in the GC auction & haven’t changed anything about any of them. Nor will I. But, I have no issue either with what @winesteven did - that’s also a good way to ensure provenance.
I know quite a few “YN’s”; virtually all of them know who SB is/was. Many years from now his legacy will still live with them & a number of them will even recognize some of his coins without changing the labels. Kind of like Eliasberg is today (although many of his pieces are designated).

asheland · January 14, 2025 7:25PM

@winesteven said:
@asheland , the following is probably what you’d love to have:

The “Fly-In Club” (for collectors of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents) puts out a handsome journal three times a year called “Longacre’s Ledger”. Dues are only $25 annually.

The December 2023 issue had 19 of its 40 slick pages showing great photos of EVERY coin from the Blay GC auction, along with a description of each coin by Rick Snow, the winning price (includes the 12.5% bp), and Rick’s comments on the price for the quality of each coin.

I don’t know if back copies are available, but I treasure my copy! I bought one of those Blay coins, and had it reholdered by PCGS to have the Blay pedigree put on the label. CAC reapplied their sticker to the new holder, and Rick applied his Eagle Eye Photo Seal as well.

As an example, here’s what was said in that article about the coin I bought:

“1861 PCGS MS-66+ (CAC Green). 01519898. (that’s the cert number) Full strike and hard to find a mark. I thought that it could grade MS67. At $7,144, it was a good deal. GC 11/19/23: 1455925.” (this was the GC Item ID).

Here’s the PCGS True View, and my three photos obtained from Rick Snow as part of the super reasonable $15 Photo Seal fee. I’m not sure if the photos in the article are from True Views or are from GC photos.

Steve

As always, you are very helpful! I appreciate that! I will see if I can find a copy because I would really like to have a copy of that!

And yes, those coins are absolutely spectacular!

asheland · January 14, 2025 7:25PM

Thank you, everybody for posting and for the information!

You guys are the best!

asheland · January 14, 2025 7:26PM

And the reason, for my asking is a friend just gave me a catalog, it’s a wonderful catalog with exceptional pictures, so it went into my library… And I would like to try to find that fly in club piece as well…

Question about the Stewart Blay sale…?

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