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
3 entries found for [year:1995]
1995Brobston Collection
Photographic plates of all of the coins in the 1963 Brobston Sale by Stack's, the photos provided to Tett by Stack's. The issued FPL had only some coins plated.
1995Biblioth?que Nationale Collection
A large and fascinating collection of items related to Tett’s visit to the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France in 1995 to see a collection of early U. S. Coins. Tett learned of an exhibition of half cents, large cents, and other coins at the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1861. The Alexandre Vattemare Collection was described in the exhibition catalog, and it is one of the earliest half cent collections described in the literature. The material includes:
1) Tett’s correspondence with the proper authorities eventually leading to the discovery that the collection still existed intact at the library
2) The exhibition catalog (in French, not scanned here)
3) Tett’s planning and subsequent trip to Paris to view and attribute the coins
4) Some material to help Tett refresh his French
5) Tett’s attribution and assessment of the coins in the Bibliothèque Nationale Collection. They include 34 half cents (including several proofs), 78 large cents, and 59 other coins, many pre-1800 and many in excellent condition, from half-dimes to $20 gold. There is also a 1850 Proof Set. Tett describes as many of the coins as he could in the time he had available.
6) Copies of some of the reference material he took to identify the coins
7) His follow-up letters in which he sent half cents of 7 missing dates to round out the collection, as well reference books by Breen, Cohen, and Sheldon for the Bibliothèque Nationale
1995Michael Demling Correspondence, 1995 to 2001
Correspondence between R. Tettenhorst and Michael Demling on the topic of half cents and other subjects.
