NNP

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers recently conducted the auction sales of the Anders Frösell library of early printed numismatic books and the Robert J. Myers library of literature pertaining to ancient numismatics and art.

On Sunday, 12 September, Kolbe & Fanning offered a small group of antiquarian volumes from the library of Swedish numismatist Anders Frösell. The 48 lots composing the sale did well, with hammer prices approaching 130% of the estimated total value. The highlight of the sale was Valentin Duval’s magnificent 1756 catalogue of the European silver pieces in Empress Maria Theresa’s coin cabinet. The large folio volume, featuring exceptional engravings of some 2500 pieces, brought spirited bidding in Europe and the United States before closing at $11,000 hammer. Other highlights included the Fasti et triumphi Romanorum of Onuphrius Panvinius (1557), which brought $2200, and a copy of the 1554 edition of Aenea Vico’s Omnium Caesarum, which sold for $2100.

The Robert J. Myers library, sold on Thursday, 16 September, was remarkable both for its depth and scope, comprising over 1300 lots of works on ancient numismatics, archaeology, history and art. Highlights of the sale included volumes of Ernest Babelon’s Traité des monnaies grecques et romaines, including all plate volumes, which sold for $3500, and a complete set of A Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, which brought $2850. Robinson and Clement’s rare and important work on the Chalcidic mint brought $2750, as did a set of Collection R. Jameson. Imhoof-Blumer’s Die antiken Münzen Nord-Griechenlands brought a strong $2400 on a $1250 estimate, with several bidders competing.

Kolbe & Fanning will be holding a mail-bid sale closing 18 November, offering a variety of works on U.S., ancient and foreign numismatics, and will be holding a public auction on 8 January 2011 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, as part of the New York International Numismatic Convention. Selected consignments of rare numismatic literature are still being sought for the latter sale.

For more information, please see Kolbe & Fanning’s website at www.numislit.com .