Has anyone ever heard of a dealer called Winthrop Carner?

Longacre · November 1, 2007 2:54AM

I was reading Doug Winter's newest blog on his website. He recounts a story about the Ed Milas gold collection that was sold by Stack's in May, 1995. Other than salivating and thinking how quaint things must have been way back then when Winter described how pure, undipped, and unenhanced the coins in Milas' collection were, I was intrigued by the following comment:

"Most of the Dahlonega coins in the sale (as well as a majority of the Charlotte pieces) were purchased by dealer Winthrop Carner. Ironically, Carner ran into financial problems soon after the sale and many of the Milas coins were re-offered at the Numisma ‘95 auction where they brought considerably less than what Carner had paid for them earlier in the year."

Now I know Carner was probably not the first coin dealer to fall on hard times. We have a present-day Carner among us in the coin world today in the form of a particular dealer who goes belly-up every year or two like clockwork. Getting back to Carner himself, does anyone have any additional detail on him? Personally, I never heard of him before. If he was such a significant dealer to purchase almost all of the C and D coins in the sale, he must have been pretty prominent. Does anyone know the circumstances behind the financial issues? I assume that the second leg of a potential flip deal on those coins must have fallen through, but I am not sure.

kiyote · November 1, 2007 2:59AM

I bet elementary school was hell for that guy. Winthrop... that's a beating.

Other than that, never heard of him!

ebaytrader · November 1, 2007 3:02AM

Last I heard, Win worked for The Evil Empire. That was 3-4 yrs ago.

The Milas sale is still a sore spot with me.

edmerlr · November 1, 2007 3:09AM

After a Google search, this came up:

"I've learned that this coin was also once owned by Winthrop Carner of Winthrop Carner Rare Coins, who does business on eBay as "wcarner." This coin is the first pictured in his eBay logo." (They are talking about a PGCS EF-40 1798 Dollar.)

Searching eBay for "wcarner," I can find no feedback posted since December, 2005.

Searching Yahoo for "Winthrop Carner," there are several sites.

...hope this helps.

Regards,

Ed R.

originalisbest · November 1, 2007 3:29AM

I bought a nice '49-S Franklin from him on eBay 'bout 3-4 years ago.

oreville · November 1, 2007 3:31AM

Yes Winthrop was at Heritage 4 years ago and since left from what I recall.

I thought he went out on his own but forget the details.

TomB · November 1, 2007 5:13AM

I have done business with Win previously. He worked for Heritage at one point and then left to work for himself. During this time he had an ebay ID of wcarner and he specialized in early Federal issues. His coins were never cheap, but he handled nice pieces from time-to-time. It might be thought of a "you get what you pay for" paradigm. Over the last few years I have seen nothing of him.

wayneherndon · November 1, 2007 5:40AM

Try here and here. He is mentioned in a number of other threads here too. A search will give you quite awhile of fascinating reading.

WH

mrcommem · November 1, 2007 6:45AM

I bought a 1849-D gold dollar from him in September 2000. I still have it as part of my type set. It has sensational toning and in AU55. I did pay top dollar for it.

lordmarcovan · November 1, 2007 9:00AM

I've sold to him once and bought from him once and gotten into a squabble with him once.

mrearlygold · November 1, 2007 9:15AM

I spoke with him once after I left Heritage in 1991/2. He was a dealer in NYC and I called him about some dated gold coins he claimed to have in stock. He was quite rude and I decided not to call him again. Imagine my surprise when he called me after he started his job at Heritage many years later.

coinkat · November 1, 2007 9:34AM

Wasn't that the name of one of the characters in Trading Places?

Has anyone ever heard of a dealer called Winthrop Carner?

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