STACK'S MARCH 2010 BALTIMORE SALE FEATURES ELIASBERG LITERATURE
The E-Sylum (2/14/2010)
Book Content
From the Stack's Thursday email update:
Of particular interest in this sale will certainly be the various appraisals, inventories, and reference books from the Eliasberg Collection. This represents an historic opportunity for collectors to acquire spectacular additions fit for the finest numismatic libraries. Available here are twenty-six lots of inventories filled with fascinating information about this famous collection, personal copies of numismatic references and auction catalogues.
From the lot description:
Green, Ben E. The Numismatists' Reference and Check Book. 1926. Third edition, revised by Guttag Brothers. Black leather binding, with gilt lettering on cover, "L. ELIASBERG." Fine.
Measuring a compact 3.75 by 6.5 inches in size, easy enough to tuck into a pocket, it contains 129 numbered pages listing varieties from half cents to double eagles, plus encased postage stamps, private gold issues, and more. Spaces are provided for a basic checkmark to verify ownership, a column for condition or grade (which Louis Eliasberg filled out with a shorthand numbering system), the date purchased, and the source. Coins from the collection of John M. Clapp, and his successor and son, John H. Clapp, are separately listed with the notation they were purchased in July 1942, this being the famous $100,000 transaction in which he purchased the Clapp Collection intact, based upon an appraisal made by John Zug, a prominent dealer located in Bowie, Maryland.
Other items are entered individually. For example, an 1873 trade dollar in "condition 1" (Proof) was purchased from S. Henry Chapman in 1926, an early acquisition. The price paid is given in code. On the other hand, an 1874-CC trade dollar is described as Fine grade, with no numerical grade abbreviation, and was valued at $1 when acquired from the Clapp Collection. Among miscellaneous examples, a Proof 1856 Flying Eagle cent was bought from the New York Coin Company in 1927 for $60.
To read the complete lot description, see: Green, Ben E. The Numismatists' Reference and Check Book. 1926. Third edition (www.stacks.com/lotdetail.aspx?lsid=AN00000760
&asid=&lrid=AN00166896)