The Christensen Estate

Boosibri · May 4, 2026 2:48AM

About a year ago, a friend of mine in the NY/NJ area sent me a message sharing that they had picked up some very rare pieces of numismatic literature from a special, but at the time undisclosed source. They were specially annotated and named important sales, potentially bid books from the 1960's-1980's. Eventually the source of the material turned into some coins and the source was shared, the estate of noted coin dealer Henry or his son William Christensen.

I inquired if there were more coins coming from the estate and learned that the family sold the majority of the coins to a NJ pawn shop, who then began funneling coins to dealers and ultimately (as most things now do), they made their way to Heritage and the 2025 ANA. I knew of this at the time of the ANA and noted the very interesting group of Chilean patterns in that sale. Prior to the sale, a contact at Heritage had shared with me the group that had come in raw. I had a hunch that these were from the Christensen estate and he was surprised when I asked. They had all come in with Christensen flips.

At the ANA sale I bought the rarest patterns and made meaningful progress on my 1867-1868 pattern set to match the 1868 silver proof peso and 1868 Copper pattern which I already had. The 1910 peso shown here is one of perhaps 3 that exist and is a beautiful piece. With these purchases I think I began collecting Chilean patterns

Last night was what appears to be the final installment of Chilean patterns from the estate. Many of the ones in the ANA and last night were either unlisted previously, or were known informally in circles as having just 2-4 known.

Here are two of the six which I bought last night added to the ten from the ANA sales. The 1928 Mine Worked 2 Peso is considered unique by the dealers in Chile I have spoken to. There is one plated in the 1943 Casa de Moneda de Santiago book so another may be in the national collection. The other pictured is a beautiful off-metal strike of the gold 1948 Onza, this in silver. While not a pattern, who knows if there is another. The 1986 Christensen sale of the Santiago Collection, a a previous 1985 sale, featured many Chilean patterns. Some of the coins offered appear to have sourced from that sale.

I recall speaking with @MrEureka in 2018 before the Eldorado sale and asking him if there was anything for him in the sale. He replied "the Colombian patterns", which initially surprised me. I asked why and he said "when will you ever get another chance"?

I thought of that exchange when seeing these. I didn't;t collect them before, but when will you get another chance?

coinkat · May 4, 2026 5:20AM

Good decision

coinkat · May 4, 2026 6:18AM

Great looking coins

realeswatcher · May 4, 2026 7:50AM

The miner piece caught my eye - interesting motif.

This explains why several batches of old Henry Christensen Cap & Rays have come up on eBay recently... I was wondering what the story was. Must have been another relative, the son William died back in 2009.

learned that the family sold the majority of the coins to a NJ pawn shop

It's well known that the finest accumulations typically go through Jersey pawn shops, especially in Newark or Paterson........ Curious way for the family of a renowned dealer(s) to go about that. Probably could have done better in about 4 or 5 Parsippany shows.

MrEureka · May 4, 2026 9:07AM

@realeswatcher said:
The miner piece caught my eye - interesting motif.

This explains why several batches of old Henry Christensen Cap & Rays have come up on eBay recently... I was wondering what the story was. Must have been another relative, the son William died back in 2009.

learned that the family sold the majority of the coins to a NJ pawn shop

It's well known that the finest accumulations typically go through Jersey pawn shops, especially in Newark or Paterson........ Curious way for the family of a renowned dealer(s) to go about that. Probably could have done better in about 4 or 5 Parsippany shows.

I wouldn’t assume that the family sold the coins to a pawn shop. More likely, the coins were in an abandoned storage locker, or were “removed” by a cleaning crew emptying a house, or something like that.

pruebas · May 4, 2026 9:29AM

@MrEureka said:

@realeswatcher said:
The miner piece caught my eye - interesting motif.

This explains why several batches of old Henry Christensen Cap & Rays have come up on eBay recently... I was wondering what the story was. Must have been another relative, the son William died back in 2009.

learned that the family sold the majority of the coins to a NJ pawn shop

It's well known that the finest accumulations typically go through Jersey pawn shops, especially in Newark or Paterson........ Curious way for the family of a renowned dealer(s) to go about that. Probably could have done better in about 4 or 5 Parsippany shows.

I wouldn’t assume that the family sold the coins to a pawn shop. More likely, the coins were in an abandoned storage locker, or were “removed” by a cleaning crew emptying a house, or something like that.

I imagine this to be the case as the family of such prominent and serious numismatists would surely know enough not to send rare coins to a pawn shop. In fact, shortly after William passed, his fantastic collection of Sarawak coins was sold through a Spink auction. This collection was surprising as I had heard the only thing William collected was beer cans (and I am not saying that facetiously as he was referenced in at least one 1970s book on the subject).

The whole saga of the Christensen family is quite sad. Both father and son died in their 60s. I am told alcohol abuse was a major factor.

MrEureka · May 4, 2026 9:30AM

BTW, Bill Christensen had the largest beer can collection in the world, 75.000 of them according to the Guinness Book of World Records. So there were definitely some storage issues in his life.

pruebas · May 4, 2026 9:39AM

@MrEureka said:
BTW, Bill Christensen had the largest beer can collection in the world, 75.000 of them according to the Guinness Book of World Records. So there were definitely some storage issues in his life.

Not to mention the 3500 numismatic books and catalogs reportedly in their numismatic library at the time of Henry's passing (which undoubtedly grew by 1993 when the firm essentially ceased operation).

I wouldn't be surprised if these coins were in an album among the library in a storage unit.

coinkat · May 4, 2026 11:52AM

There is a significant collector base for Breweriana… beer cans, beer trays, beer signs and even neon light signs

realeswatcher · May 4, 2026 3:51PM

Wow, learning things in this thread.

The miner on the pattern above looks like he could use a couple cold ones (or warm ones... or anything).

pruebas · May 4, 2026 5:30PM

Very interesting family. As they lived near me, I’ve always been curious about them. Years ago, a fellow (older) NJNS member said he had lunch with William every Monday. I was going to contact him, but never ended up doing it.

Henry Christensen’s wife (who was credited with the photos in the auction catalogs) lived until the age of 90 (2006). Seems like she had a very full life.

https://obits.nj.com/us/obituaries/starledger/name/margaret-christensen-obituary?id=14118672

Henry’s oldest son, Henry III died in 2017. Another interesting life.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/henry-christensen-obituary?id=32957881

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/obituaries/henry-christensen-iii-key-lawyer-in-astor-case-dies-at-72.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

I can’t find out anything about his daughter as she probably changed her last name upon marriage.