What's your coolest provenance?

MidLifeCrisis · May 3, 2010 12:48PM

Not the coin...the provenance.

Mine is an Ex: Lorin G. Parmelee Collection (New York Coin & Stamp Co., 6/1890), Hillyer Ryder, F.C.C. Boyd; John J. Ford, Jr. Collection

segoja · May 3, 2010 12:58PM

I had a Seavey/Parmelee Provenance on an error dating to the civil war. Coin changed hand about 5 times since the civil war.

It was a pretty cool error that Heritage put on the cover of a platinum night sale a FUN a few years ago.

MidLifeCrisis · May 3, 2010 1:02PM

<< I had a Seavey/Parmelee Provenance on an error dating to the civil war. Coin changed hand about 5 times since the civil war.

It was a pretty cool error that Heritage put on the cover of a platinum night sale a FUN a few years ago. >>

That IS cool.

AnkurJ · May 3, 2010 1:07PM

Mine is Benjamin Franklin. He held each Libertas Medal before it was distributed.

tydye · May 3, 2010 1:12PM

Bringhurst & Weber courtesy of their children

bidask · May 3, 2010 1:25PM

I have a Pittman, Norweb, Eliasberg and Whyman.

Broadstruck · May 3, 2010 1:27PM

I have a few coins that have been owned by a few forum members...

These mean more to me then if owned by a bunch of old dead guys.

itsnotjustme · May 3, 2010 1:29PM

Mine are my 179X coins which were owned by thousands of the earliest US citizens. After a wearing life of circulation, each of these coins has passed from owner to owner, ending with myself for the moment.

OK, in line with your intent. The only real Pedigreed coin I owned was a ho-hum Bass MS62 Morgan.

I guess I am more excited about coins I have slabbed that have gone into leading collections, including an MS67 Clad Ike and several top-pop state quarters.

cardinal · May 3, 2010 2:29PM

The provenance goes back to July 1792:
- David Rittenhouse, first Director of the United States Mint, and kept in the Rittenhouse family from July 1792 to October 1919 -- 127 years!
- George L. Tilden, from October 1919 to June 1921
- A private collector and museum patron
- New England museum, received as a donation circa 1930's-1940's and held through October 1988
- The Knoxville Collection, from 1988 to 2003
- A private collector, from 2003 to January 2007
- The Cardinal Collection, 2007 to present

-------------------

Portraits of Liberty

ArizonaJack · May 3, 2010 2:38PM

<< I have a few coins that have been owned by a few forum members...

These mean more to me then if owned by a bunch of old dead guys.

>>

You Rock
I have a coin I bought from Charmy !!!!!
It my bestest

savoyspecial · May 3, 2010 2:39PM

Pittman:

Norweb:

EagleEye · May 3, 2010 2:42PM

I think the coins that have the coolest provenance are the Nova Consteattio Patterns.

For instance the 1.000 unit "Mark" can be traced back to it initial production: Robert Morris; Thomas Jefferson; Charles Thompson (Secretary of the Continental Congress); John Thompson (nephew of Charles); Samuel Thompson (son of John); Rathmell Wilson; John Haseltine; Henry S. Adams; Lorin Parmelee; H.B. Smith; the Chapman Brothers; George Earle; James Ellsworth; John Garrett; Johns Hopkins University; "Garrett sale"; John J. Ford, Jr; Present owner.

More on them here.

As far as my own items, I have things that are traced back to Longacre's estate (James B. that is)

Billet7 · May 3, 2010 2:43PM

<<

The provenance goes back to July 1792:
- David Rittenhouse, first Director of the United States Mint, and kept in the Rittenhouse family from July 1792 to October 1919 -- 127 years!
- George L. Tilden, from October 1919 to June 1921
- A private collector and museum patron
- New England museum, received as a donation circa 1930's-1940's and held through October 1988
- The Knoxville Collection, from 1988 to 2003
- A private collector, from 2003 to January 2007
- The Cardinal Collection, 2007 to present

-------------------

Portraits of Liberty >>

Billet7 · May 3, 2010 2:45PM

The only pedigrees that I know of are 1 Jules Reiver, and a few SavoySpecials

savoyspecial · May 3, 2010 2:48PM

after seeing cardinal's post i wanted to delete mine........a pedigree that goes back to the first mint director and a grade of 68.......not fair, i'm throwing in the towel

DennisH · May 3, 2010 2:51PM

I only have one: Pittman.

rld14 · May 3, 2010 2:55PM

<< I have a few coins that have been owned by a few forum members...

These mean more to me then if owned by a bunch of old dead guys.

>>

It turns out, and I only found this out recently, that the very first VF Barber Half that I bought was owned some time ago by MFH. Now, Mike has been a huge help to me on my quest to put together a set of Mid Grade Barber Halves, no way could I have done it without his help.

It's officially my favorite coin.

Justacommeman · May 3, 2010 2:58PM

Cardinal's coin is scary great

I LOVE THAT COIN...........MJ

speety · May 3, 2010 3:07PM

Mine is also ex-Boyd:

• William Hesslein sale of December 1926 – FHI engraved in left field
• F.C.C. Boyd; Numismatic Gallery’s sale of the “World’s Greatest Collection”, January 1954 – Field smoothed out.
• Hollinbeck Coin Company’s Southern Sale, February 1951
• Earl M. Skinner; New Netherlands Coin Co.’s 39th sale, November 1952
• Charles A. Cass Collection; Stack’s Empire Sale (Cass Collection), November 1957
• Hollinbeck Coin Company’s 274th sale, November 1967
• Stack’s sale of June 1996
• Stacks 73rd Anniversary Sale, October 2008
• Bower’s and Merena Baltimore Sale, November 2009

magikbilly · May 3, 2010 5:51PM

Hi there,

Well, not in coins so much as I dabble infrequently...but I have strong interest! I had an Ex-Benson Proof Barber tho and it was nice. Wiped, yes, "album" toning or whatever that was, yes - but it was beautiful (concentric rainbows which were noted back to 1941 from a sale between twp parties I can't recall) at PCGS Pr63 or 64. Right now...some rather well known 1939 New York World's Fair photographs from the Peter M. Warner Collection. Ummmmm. A 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers still signed by Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter from Kevin McCarthy's private collection (vintage paper from this movie is impossible)...a small (LEGAL) bit of the Lusitania wreck from a very prominent collection, I could go on and on and I am leaving out most of the the best I am sure...but one item might be unbeatable in its area of collecting (coin aspect aside) - I have the only exisiting original master 35mm print of Bela Lugosi's last speaking film from the collection of the films producer George Weiss who likely purchased the print from Ed Wood for perhaps $1 or so (with rights knowing Ed) for some alcohol in 1953/54. I have a candid photograph of Bud and Lou hamming on the street in San Francisco from the huge Violet Zane Collection. I stupidly sold a photograph of Judy Garland performing with her own handwriting on the back - a fan photo she liked very much and kept in a scrapbook - but it was not signed, just the date and "Chicago" but it was her hand and it was the important 1961 Carnegie Hall period. However, the resturn was GREAT and so I sold. And, I have since found a much scarcer image of her in concert in 1956 opening the palace from a well known Garland fan whose name escapes me. I have a photograph of the Mauretania, my ship, from the J. Maxtone-Graham Collection. It is the print he used in his 1972 book The Only Way to Cross - this book and this photo in it started my liner interest. Never would I think I'd have the print, signed to me, used to make the book given to me by over high tea, or that I would work with him. It means a lot to me. I also have a section of a gold leaf hand carved rams head capital of scamozzi design from the First Class Lounge of the old Mauretania (1907) from a gentleman's father who saved the Mauretania pub (full of Lounge molding) in Bristol from burning by extinguishing some 23 incenderies in one night during the Bristol Blitz. I have just finished authenticating this pilaster and am now trying to place it in the proper museum. Not from a famous collection, but more importantly to me the shortest line of prevenace possible at my age and this means a lot. No auction houses no nothing in between me and the original owner post-1935 auction at Southampton. This list just goes on - I hope one day people will have "Ex-Eric stuff"

...some already do but I prefer to keep this limited to....AFTER I am dead! Oh yeah - candid Honeymooners reahearsal photographs taken by Gleason's photographer - yes he rehearsed and yes he held a script - despite the oft repeated claim of "no reahearsals - you lose spontaneity!" he did in fact do several walk throughs and the initial scene blocking. Hope this was interesting?

Best,
Eric

Edited for logis/spelling and to add that I have placed some neat and are stuff into well known collections and I enjoy that as well

BillyKingsley · May 3, 2010 6:39PM

While I have an avid love of history (it is, in fact, why I collect coins) I really don't care too much who has owned the coins before I did. They are with me now and that is what matters to me. Or perhaps I just tell myself that because I don't have any....

HOWever, I have a few that were outright given to me by some people I consider good friends...and THAT means the world to me. Are they "famous"? No, but they are good people, and the fact that I know them, even if just via the internet, is far more important to me than any name I have read and not met, physically or digitally.

I hope, that someday MY name will carry a pedigree for those who care about that sort of thing. I plan to collect continually for the rest of my life, and I'm 25 now, so I should have many years more in this hobby to add to my collection. Maybe someday 50-75 years from now people will be talking about having a coin from The Kingsley Collection. I can't afford to purchase great rarity, but maybe I can get it on volume. My collection already spans some 2300 years although the gaps are large enough to fit a small continent through

But again, I'm new at this and have plenty of time. (Sometimes I wonder if I would rather have more spending money then time, but not really!)

Edit: By the way, one of the people who I referenced has posted in this very thread

PerryHall · May 3, 2010 9:11PM

I have two gold coins from two separate transactions that are both Ex. Bass. The funny think is that when I bought these coins no mention was made of their provenance and I didn't know it until I saw it on the slab labels.

MidLifeCrisis · May 3, 2010 9:30PM

<< I have two gold coins from two separate transactions that are both Ex. Bass. The funny think is that when I bought these coins no mention was made of their provenance and I didn't know it until I saw it on the slab labels. >>

That must have been a nice surprise.

PerryHall · May 3, 2010 10:08PM

<< 

<< I have two gold coins from two separate transactions that are both Ex. Bass. The funny think is that when I bought these coins no mention was made of their provenance and I didn't know it until I saw it on the slab labels. >>

That must have been a nice surprise.

>>

Yes, it was a nice surprise. Not sure how much the Bass provenance is worth but I paid the normal retail price.

Broadstruck · May 3, 2010 11:07PM

HT-20 Low 62 - 1841 Daniel Webster Hard Times Token purchased from CRO last year.

Since then I was able to trace the provenance back to to the late 19th / early 20th Century.

EX- Madison, Gilbert Steinberg, Joseph Griner, Herbert Oeschner, Donald Miller, Anderson DuPont (?), George T. Tilden.

Some Tilden pedigrees are noted as also ex Anderson DuPont. DuPont might have been an intermediary when Miller purchased the Tilden collection. These pieces were offered individually in a fixed price list by Kenneth Rendell in the late 1950’s that contained 154 different pieces.

Photo's by Mark Goodman.

MidLifeCrisis · May 3, 2010 11:10PM

<< Since then I was able to trace the provenance back to to the late 19th / early 20th Century. >>

I think it's really cool when you are able to do this with a coin you previously did not know was pedigreed.

Broadstruck · May 3, 2010 11:28PM

<< 

<< Since then I was able to trace the provenance back to to the late 19th / early 20th Century. >>

I think it's really cool when you are able to do this with a coin you previously did not know was pedigreed. >>

It couldn't be done without forming a serious library on the subject matter.

MidLifeCrisis · May 3, 2010 11:37PM

<< 

<< 

<< Since then I was able to trace the provenance back to to the late 19th / early 20th Century. >>

I think it's really cool when you are able to do this with a coin you previously did not know was pedigreed. >>

It couldn't be done without forming a serious library on the subject matter. >>

And sometimes a friend helps you find a provenance for a coin that you didn't know about.

tmot99 · May 3, 2010 11:37PM

<<

The provenance goes back to July 1792:
- David Rittenhouse, first Director of the United States Mint, and kept in the Rittenhouse family from July 1792 to October 1919 -- 127 years!
- George L. Tilden, from October 1919 to June 1921
- A private collector and museum patron
- New England museum, received as a donation circa 1930's-1940's and held through October 1988
- The Knoxville Collection, from 1988 to 2003
- A private collector, from 2003 to January 2007
- The Cardinal Collection, 2007 to present >>

You forgot the silver came from George Washington.

Mine is the gold medal I received from the great great nephew of the Secretary of the Columbian Exposition. They have documented records of the family immigrating from England, fighting in the Civil War, and then Howard Owen Edmonds becoming the Secretary. The medal dates to 1893.

Broadstruck · May 3, 2010 11:46PM

<< It couldn't be done without forming a serious library on the subject matter. >>

And sometimes a friend helps you find a provenance for a coin that you didn't know about.

>>

Thanks MidLifeCrisis as it was fun investigating the background on that one for you.

Yet once you get past the 1990's your SOL relying on the internet.

2manycoins2fewfunds · May 4, 2010 12:46AM

Only one and the last coin I would sell is a 2 1/2 gold piece in an envelope from my grandfather with note that says.........

For Billy........

"When this you see, remember me,
Love,
Grandaddy"

All those other names on slabs are meaningless to me.

MidLifeCrisis · May 4, 2010 12:49AM

<< Only one and the last coin I would sell is a 2 1/2 gold piece in an envelope from my grandfather with note that says.........

For Billy........

"When this you see, remember me,
Love,
Grandaddy"

All those other names on slabs are meaningless to me. >>

Now THAT'S a provenance!

renomedphys · May 4, 2010 1:15AM

After seeing the heavyweight Cardinal post, I feel silly but here goes. This one was purchased directly from the mint by Clapp, and later famously sold along with his entire set to Louis Eliasberg.

grip · May 4, 2010 1:17AM

<< Only one and the last coin I would sell is a 2 1/2 gold piece in an envelope from my grandfather with note that says.........

For Billy........

"When this you see, remember me,
Love,
Grandaddy"

All those other names on slabs are meaningless to me. >>

MidLifeCrisis · May 4, 2010 1:23AM

<< After seeing the heavyweight Cardinal post, I feel silly but here goes. This one was purchased directly from the mint by Clapp, and later famously sold along with his entire set to Louis Eliasberg. >>

No need to feel silly. That's a beautiful Lincoln!

TahoeDale · May 4, 2010 1:34AM

Ex mint supt Snowden, Idler, Hazeltine,Virgil Brand, King Farouk, Ambassador and Mrs R. Henry Norweb, private collections, Morris Silverman

Anyone try for a guess?

Broadstruck · May 4, 2010 1:39AM

<< Ex mint supt Snowden, Idler, Hazeltine,Virgil Brand, King Farouk, Ambassador and Mrs R. Henry Norweb, private collections, Morris Silverman

Anyone try for a guess? >>

I feel this might be a Barber designed Trade $1

Broadstruck · May 4, 2010 1:46AM

<< Ex mint supt Snowden, Idler, Hazeltine,Virgil Brand, King Farouk, Ambassador and Mrs R. Henry Norweb, private collections, Morris Silverman

Anyone try for a guess? >>

Proof 1884 Trade Dollar... to be exact!

TomB · May 4, 2010 2:41AM

Not a named pedigree, but a cool provenance nonetheless as far as I am concerned. My maternal grandfather was the only person I ever used as a role model and he passed away twenty years ago this month after having an abdominal aortic aneurism. After the funeral my grief stricken grandmother approached me and handed me two coins and said "grandpa kept these in his drawer". They were an AU58 1932 WQ and an AU58 1922 Peace dollar, both toned very deeply with a rich auburn from the years of storage in a wooden drawer. They are both in my Dansco 7070 US type set.

OchoReales · May 4, 2010 2:43AM

Pittman, Norweb and Eliasberg!

AngryTurtle · May 4, 2010 3:07AM

<< 

<< 

<< Since then I was able to trace the provenance back to to the late 19th / early 20th Century. >>

I think it's really cool when you are able to do this with a coin you previously did not know was pedigreed. >>

It couldn't be done without forming a serious library on the subject matter. >>

Broadstruck, some of those names are not the best known - what source material proved useful - an enormous collection of auction catalogs?

i have contemplated doing this type of search but haven't really figured out how to start, other than simple minded exhaustive search, and I don't have the auction catalog library for that.

IGWT · May 4, 2010 3:18AM

It's hard to imagine a cooler name than Major Lenox R. Lohr. Reminds me of Lex Luthor.

joecopper · May 4, 2010 3:31AM

1830 N10 VG10+/G6
Ex: R S Brown Jr., Superior 9/30/86:689-Jack Robinson, Superior 1/29/89:917-J R Frankenfield, M&G/Superior 2/17/01:497-2002 EAC Sale, M&G 4/20/02:497

1836 N4 XF45/40
Ex Howard R. Newcomb, J. C. Morgenthau & Co., 5/16/1945:675-Floyd T. Starr, Stack's 12/4/84:1742-Dr. Thomas S. Chalkley, Superior 1/28/90:792-Walter Dudgeon, McCawley & Grellman Auctions 7/30/94:141.

1837 N12b
Ex: Henry Chapman 6/1934 - Willard C. Blaisdell 9/1976 - R. E Naftzger - Fred Borcherdt 9/30/85 - Jim Corrado 2/11/07 - Goldberg Sale Lot 749

1797 S137 VF25/20+
Ex: Major Lenox R. Lohr, Stacks 10/24/56:-Dorothy Paschal- Denis Loring- R. S. Brown, Jr., Superior 9/30/86-Ed Kucia, 9/3/88- Daniel W. Holmes.

Broadstruck · May 4, 2010 4:15AM

<< Broadstruck, some of those names are not the best known - what source material proved useful - an enormous collection of auction catalogs?

i have contemplated doing this type of search but haven't really figured out how to start, other than simple minded exhaustive search, and I don't have the auction catalog library for that. >>

AngryTurtle, Yes I've chased down every major collection auction catalog that I could locate for the last century.

kranky · May 4, 2010 5:22AM

A common date short set Merc in an NGC holder, ex-Eliasburg.

Cardinal, that's just an amazing coin.

CommemDude · May 4, 2010 7:13AM

I like these names on my coins and always reholder coins from sets that were assembled by the modern Deep Pockets and sold a few years later, just my own bias.... Also I won't "pedigree" my own coins.

quickwing · May 4, 2010 8:46AM

I have an old penny that has a provenance some copper folks might recognize: Ex Joseph Breyer 2/61-Richard Picker-Dorothy Paschal-Dr. William H. Sheldon 4/19/72-R. E. Naftzger, Jr.

Sonorandesertrat · May 5, 2010 4:28AM

<< Not the coin...the provenance.

Mine is an Ex: Lorin G. Parmelee Collection (New York Coin & Stamp Co., 6/1890), Hillyer Ryder, F.C.C. Boyd; John J. Ford, Jr. Collection >>

Well, I only have some large cents with pedigrees to well-known early copper collectors (Rasmussen, Holmes, Ellsworth, etc.).
But, I do have Harry Bass' (also ex-Abe Kosoff) copy of the catalog of the Parmelee auction.
Does that count?

RYK · May 5, 2010 4:30AM

Ex-Eliasberg-JK-MLC

MidLifeCrisis · May 5, 2010 5:35AM

<< Ex-Eliasberg-JK-MLC >>

You win! That's the coolest provenance!

pmac · May 5, 2010 5:44AM

<< Bringhurst & Weber courtesy of their children

>>

Better change that provenance to Bringhurst & Webb

What's your coolest provenance?

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