NNP

Tettenhorst

Born in St.Louis, Missouri.  Married to Marilyn. Harvard University (B.S., 1949) Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration (MBA, 1951).

R. Tettenhorst is a St. Louis collector best known for his half cent collection (the “Missouri Cabinet Collection”) sold by Goldberg’s in 2014. Tett is related to Eric P. Newman by marriage and both of their collecting careers followed similar arcs, being mentored as children by Burdette G. Johnson, a St. Louis dealer. After establishing professional careers, both built world-class collections. Tet worked his entire career at Edison Brothers Stores, a retail firm founded in 1922 by his father Irving and uncles Sam, Mark, Harry, and Simon. He began at Edison Brothers in 1953 after completing military service and rose to the rank for President in 1968, where he served until retiring in 1987. Edison Brothers was the largest retailer of women’s shoes in the United States, reaching $1 billion in sales in 1983.

Tett originally began by collecting large cents and, feeling he could not compete with top collectors in that field, began pursuing half cents. The Missouri Cabinet, containing pieces from Tett and the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society , was the only collection containing every variety of circulation and proof strikes in the United States half cent series. The 2014 sale realized over $18 million, including a 1794 Cohen-7 half cent graded PCGS MS67 RB, which sold at $1.15 million. Many of the pieces came from other important half cent collections, including those of Philip M. Showers and Roger S. Cohen.

(See Bernard Alan Edison)

He used the name of his secretary, Rose Tettenhorst, to conduct his numismatic business.

Select a year

1976

Showers Collection

Notes related to Tett's acquisition of the Showers half cent collection in 1976.

1976

MoCab

Tett's pedigree notes, keyed to Tett catalog numbers. Date approximate.

1976

Photographs and Slides

File includes: 1) Composite photos of Tett half cent collection, 1982. Coins are photographed laying on top of their respective envelopes. Note that the envelopes and coins for the 1831 half cents are mismatched. 2) Photograph of Walter Breen and Roger Cohen at the 1984 ANA Convention in Detroit, including cover letter from Coin World. 3) Photographs of the Ricky Gross collection of half cent errors, including cover letter from Ron Guth.

1976

Candides

Several drafts of an article that Tett proposed for Penny-Wise in the early 1980's titled "Candides", which was an attempt to create discussion and gather information about error half cents. The final handwritten article is very interesting.

1976

Cohen/Guth Condition Census

Items related to the publication of a condition census for half cents by Roger Cohen and Ron Guth in the early 1980's. Cohen sent Tett copies of his notes on the coins in the condition census and Tett returned his comments, especially about his coins.

1976

Ernest I. Montgomery Correspondence, 1976

A single letter from Ernest I. Montgomery on the topic of rare half cent duplicate.