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How exactly do you trace the pedigree on a coin that you own?

LongacreLongacre Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
For a somewhat common coin (not a great rarity), what is the process that you go through to trace the pedigree? What is the standard number of years that you have to go back in the history of the coin? Is it OK to skip lesser known auction firms that may have handled the coin briefly, so long as you cover the major firms? Is the process similar to doing a title search on a property where you like to go back a certain number of years in the ownership chain (and confirm other branches of ownership)? Is there an easy way to determine which auctions in the past have contained a coin of the date at issue (other than the Heritage archives)?
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Comments

  • DUIGUYDUIGUY Posts: 7,252 ✭✭✭
    I look at the address on the original envelope it was mailed in . This tells me who purchased it .
    This only works when original stuff is included with the coin or coins image
    “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly."



    - Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
  • coindeucecoindeuce Posts: 13,496 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I believe that a pedigree does not necessarily relate to a chain of ownership, but more likely to a particular owner of note or familiarity. The term provenance would relate to the chain of owners from the origin of the item(coin) to the present. Not very practical to attempt to provenance a common coin, unless there exists an extreme sentimental value, such as a family keepsake. A provenance would be inaccurate or invalid without documentation or corroboration, which is not very likely to have been maintained for anything that would not have been recognized as exceptional or rare at or near the time of issue. image

    "Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
    http://www.american-legacy-coins.com

  • CoinosaurusCoinosaurus Posts: 9,645 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Many ways to go about this problem.

    a) Rome's and Krause issued annual auction prices realized books from the early 70s onward. It is good to have a full set of them.

    b) Lately Whitman has been publishing these books at very high prices (OK, they are really thick books).

    c) ANR and Heritage of course have searchable archives.

    d) For specialists, you already know the 20 or 30 auction catalogs likely to contain "important" coins in whatever series you are looking at.

    e) QDB has an built an index for gold from 19th century and early 20th century sales. Not public, but he will likely respond to serious inquiries.

    f) For seated coinage, a comprehensive survey of auction sales since 1985 was published in the Gobrecht Journal a couple years back.

    g) Always talk to other specialists, especially the old timers. They know a lot.

    h) It helps to have a ton (literally a ton) of catalogs in the basement image


    I have done title searches, and they are much more straightforward than pedigree research.

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