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.
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6 entries found for [year:1981]
1981Cohen Book
Items relating to the publication of Roger Cohen’s 2nd Edition of “Little Half Sisters”. They include Cohen’s draft of the Table of Equivalents, a letter from Cohen detailing Jules Reiver’s and his visit to St. Louis to photograph Tett’s coins for the book, a list from 12/81 of the owners of the plate coins for the book and their known pedigrees (Cohen offers Tett the opportunity to remove his name from the list before others see it), an updated version of the previous from 6/82 with much more complete pedigree info, and rough drafts of new sections for the book (“Other Half Cents”, “A Short History of Half Cent Collecting”, and “Photographs”).
1981Jerry Bobbe Correspondence, 1981 to 2006
Correspondence between R. Tettenhorst and Jerry Bobbe on the topic of half cents and other subjects.
1981Ronald John Guth Correpondence, 1981 to 1984
Correspondence with Ronald John Guth on the topic of half-cents and tokens.
1981Robert P. Hilt II Correspondence, 1981
A brief correspondence to Robert P. Hilt II on the topic of the 1804 dollar obverse die.
1981Julian Leidman Correspondence, 1981 to 2009
Correspondence with Julian Leidman discussing the Bareford coins and other half cents.
1981Jules Reiver Correspondence, 1981 to 1990
Correspondence with Jules Reiver and Eric P. Newman on the topic of half cents, dimes, exchanging research and want lists, and more.
