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Author Topic: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!  (Read 94693 times)

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Offline Steve Moulding

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #300 on: January 30, 2022, 04:02:54 pm »
Very nice finds Curtis! Excellent work.

...Many people are chasing after pre-1970 provenances.  There aren’t many illustrated FPLs from this period.  There seems to be little interest in FPLs from later — and perhaps that will give us a chance to obtain FPLs cheaply for now....

I've also been quietly accumulating older plated FPLs and have a few boxes of them now. I do need to get them organized, if only I can find the time to go through them and get at least their basic information into the rnumis databases.

My latest buy was around 150 of the Monnaies & Medailles SA Listes...some nice coins there and provenances are sometimes noted, which is helpful. I also like that there's a theme in each one...they're not just lists of 'everything'.  Currently I'm scanning those.

There are some amazing Fixed Price Lists pre-1970 but there are also many which are just so-so, like auction catalogs I suppose.  FPLs without plates I skip, and I also see that even the plated ones often don't bother with coin weights (though M&M and Leu do, from what I've seen so far).

Steve
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Offline helvetica

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #301 on: January 06, 2023, 09:20:43 am »
Not terribly old catalogs, just going back to ca 2001 - all the gorgeous Künker catalogs can be found on their archive site:
Künker auction archive
https://www.kuenker.de/de/auktionen/katalogarchiv
Click on "Katalog im Internet" to the right of the catalog you want, then the pdf link.
There are a number of lovely collections including the Rainer Pudill collection and the Samael collection of ancient Jewish coins (the main sale then an addition sale a bit later)

Offline Curtis JJ

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #302 on: January 12, 2023, 12:49:57 am »
Did anyone buy catalogs from the recent Lanz Library sales? I’ll limit myself to just a few here…

A major theme in my library/collection is “object biography” (provenance), so I went for stuff that was interesting specifically for being ex-libris Lanz.

(Note: Everything but Lanz 88 & Kunstfreund is available online in some form [Lanz 94 & 100 via ACSearch only]; links included in bibliographic info on my Catalog Collection pages [LINK].)

1. Custom Hardbound Leo Benz (Lanz 88, 94, 100).
(More notes & bibliography on my "Catalog Collection Favorites" page: [LINK].)

Leo Benz (1906-1996) was the most important collection of Roman sold in the era of Hubert Lanz – that is, after the deaths of Hubert’s brother Ernst (1945-1989) and their father, Hermann Lanz (1910-1998), who founded the firm in 1947 (and co-founded the IAPN in 1951).

Three catalogs: Lanz 88 (Republican), Lanz 94 (RIC 1) [646 lots, ACSearch], Lanz 100 (RIC 2) [682 lots, ACSearch]. I have one coin (Lanz 88, 407), a “biga of cupids” denarius from “Cousin Julius” Caesar (Craw. 320/1).

I’d never heard of HARDCOVER Leo Benz catalogs before. Anyone else? There was one other set [Lot 3435 LINK] (but partial, only 2 of 3 hardbound, "special edition in full cloth using the covers and spine of the paperback editions" [EDIT, 5Mar23: Apparently LAC now has the partial, listed for sale, no mention of provenance.]).

 


2. Hand-Named Kunstfreund Sale ([Gillet], Bank Leu w/ M&M, 28 May 1974).
(More of my notes/biblio: [LINK].)

Most buyers’ names hand-written on the pre-sale “estimated prices” list. I “hand-redacted” my photo since many buyers are still living, so you’ll have to take my word for it. (If I’m wrong & they’ve already been published, this is much less interesting!)

I wonder if Hermann Lanz or one of his sons, Ernst or Hubert, made the annotations? (Need to compare handwriting…)

I may never have a Kunstfreund coin myself, but if anyone else has one, maybe I can say who the next owner was.

Kolbe & Fanning (Sale 165, Lot 10) [Lot 10 LINK] just sold another (much nicer!) copy that was also partially hand-named. If the winner sees this: Maybe we have one complete list between us! Call me!

The only complete copy I’m aware of is the one sold at the second sale of BCD Library Duplicates [LINK]. (The lot had a very dramatic description!) BCD emphasized the need for secrecy…




3. "Sammlung Kommerzienrat H. Otto, Stuttgart," Hess 207 (Frankfurt, 1 Dec 1932), with Hermann Lanz’s library stamp & number.
(My "Slg. Otto" notes [LINK] and Stack's 1979 "Sawhill/JMU" annotations [LINK].)

I have one coin illustrated in Slg. Otto, a Messenia AR Hemidrachm/Triobol from Antony & Cleopatra's Greece shortly before Actium. The coin was later in BCD Peloponnesos, Part II [Lot 2327 LINK], but the provenance was lost before BCD bought it. Naturally, I was especially excited to recover that one. (BCD bought the coin from Stack’s in 1979, from the Sawhill/James Madison Univ. Coll. Incidentally, my copy of the Sawhill/J.M.U. sale [LINK] is ex-BCD Library!)
 
Lanz never handled the coin in question, but they did BCD Corinth & BCD Euboia. I love all the network of connections across the “object biographies” related to that coin!
 


4. Munzhandlung Basel 6 (Steger & Waldeck), also w/ Hermann Lanz’s “Bibliotheksstempel.”
(My annotations, biblio, coin photo, etc. [LINK])

My favorite thing about the Steger-Waldeck catalog is the lovely French annotations on the plates. They seem familiar, anyone else seen these before?
(Triptych, larger annotated plates [LINK].)
 

In addition to Hermann Lanz’s stamp, it has the signature of a previous owner. (Not necessarily the annotator.) Does anyone recognize the name?
“Collect the collectors…” John W Adams’ advice to J Orosz (Asylum 38, 2: p51)

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Offline Curtis JJ

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness! (Egypt, Alexandria)
« Reply #303 on: March 04, 2023, 04:01:08 pm »
I am pretty excited to add this to my Alexandrian sale catalogs subcollection (the 3 attachments are greatly reduced, for higher resolution plates or a ref. check, contact me or see [imgur LINK]:

Ch. Dupriez (Brussels). Catalogue N. 97 (n.d., 1909). MONNAIES IMPÉRIALES GRECQUES EN POTIN FRAPPÉES À ÁLÉXANDRIE D’ÉGYPTE.
53 (3) pp., 1027 lots, 2 plates (black & white, 50 one-sided coins).
Later hardcover, green full imitation leather, gilt spine.
[Fitzwilliam, A-D [LINK]; Spring –; BCD 2018, 2592 [LINK].]

Quote
“A note from BCD: … Especially interesting is catalogue 97 with its descriptions of no less than 1027 tetradrachms of Roman Egypt, a selection of them illustrated on two plates.”
(Jacquier 44 [13 Sep 2018], 2592, part of [LINK])

“Perhaps the largest listing of its kind in this specialized area, with two fine plates depicting examples of this debased third-century coinage. Very scarce.”
(Kolbe-Fanning 155 [1 Feb 2020], 34 [LINK])

I haven't been mentioning my new catalogs on the discussion boards unless they're scarce or there's something special about them.

I've seen a few other copies for sale, but this one seems to be in better condition. Usually they're torn & chipped. Luckily the plates stood up very well. My copy was in 3 prior Bertolami Fine Arts e-Auctions [ACSearch LINK], incl. EA 71 (in 2019), "Una collezione di cataloghi e listini" (I wish I knew whose!).

BnF's online catalog (Gallica) has other digitized Dupriez sales, but no entry for this one at all. It should be public domain now, so I'm attaching an image of the plates.

The catalog itself doesn't give weights, but briefly describes each rev. type and the regnal year. (I've never seen a coin provenanced to this sale, but no doubt some are floating about.) There's a nice 2-page intro.
“Collect the collectors…” John W Adams’ advice to J Orosz (Asylum 38, 2: p51)

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Offline Carausius

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #304 on: September 16, 2023, 02:04:18 pm »
Would any Forum friends have a copy of Kricheldorf Auction 29 (1975)?  I am researching a coin and would like to see a sharp photo or scan of the plate for Lot 264.  Thanks in advance,if you are able to help.

I'm glad to see my Old Auction Catalogue thread is still alive.  The Madness continues...

Offline Altamura

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #305 on: September 17, 2023, 03:41:47 am »
The company still exists, perhaps they can help you: https://www.kricheldorf.com/en/contact

Regards

Altamura

Offline Curtis JJ

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #306 on: September 17, 2023, 11:11:43 am »
Is it a Republican coin? Unfortunately I don't have Kricheldorf 29 (I have 34, 36-40, all ex Forum shop), but the Richard Schaefer notebooks (now online from the ANS' Roman Republican Die Project) include at least some clippings from the plates of that catalog. 22 Notebooks linked here (check the "processed notebooks" first at the end): http://numismatics.org/authority/schaefer_richard

I discovered that I had a coin from Kircheldorf 29 that way. (Found two sets of photos there, actually. It's the same L. Julius L.f. Caesar [Cr. 320/1] that I posted above with the Leo Benz catalogs.) If the notebooks included that illustration, there's a good chance Schaefer clipped them all out & included them in the notebooks.

It's not as quick as searching through acsearch or coinarchives, and you won't get the text from the description (or any prior provenance), but he usually includes the sale number, lot number, and (sometimes) weight written on the photos. (My example attached.)

Also, my (almost updated) catalog collection is listed here, I'm always more than happy to check if anyone sees something they've been wondering about: https://conservatoricoins.com/catalog-library/
“Collect the collectors…” John W Adams’ advice to J Orosz (Asylum 38, 2: p51)

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Offline Carausius

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #307 on: September 17, 2023, 12:20:50 pm »
Thank you both for the replies.  I may reach out to the firm and see if they can help.  I had previously checked the Schaefer notebooks and did not find it, but I will double-check. Schaefer's notebooks are a die study, so the best available photos of the dies were typically chosen.

Offline Curtis JJ

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #308 on: September 20, 2023, 10:27:26 pm »
I've recently added some new stacks of old auction catalogs & fixed price lists, and some not-so-old. This group falls somewhere in between:

First image attached:

41 of the 50 Buy-Bid sales printed by Henry Lindgren's (1914-2005) Antioch Associates (San Francisco, 1994-2004). (I'm missing 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 17, 20, 22, 45). He formed the firm to sell duplicates from his collection, but some of the introductions to later sales give the impression he was also buying and selling "inventory" (not just collection coins). Until c. 2001 he had been planning to produce a fourth volume in the series of books publishing his collection of Greek & Provincial bronze coins, but it was eventually abandoned. The coins intended for that volume were sold through Antioch or by direct purchase from Lindgren.

One interesting bonus is that these are from the RBW Library. A handful of the Fixed Price Lists were included as well, which were stamped & addressed to him, occasionally with his minor annotations. (He's deceased, but I've redacted the address in the photo out of abundance of caution.) He bought at least a few coins from Lindgren. That's one of my favorite things about collecting 20th century dealer lists sent by mail. I've got examples addressed to many recognizable collectors, dealers, numismatic researchers, etc.

The FPLs are not illustrated, and were mostly printed in The Celator anyway, so those weren't a big deal (aside from the address labels). The Buy-Bid Catalogs all consist of two large glossy, double-sided broadsheets. (Four extra large pages total, maybe 16 booklet-size pages or 8 legal size pages.) They usually include 150-200 lots, the majority of which are illustrated in black-and-white. The photo quality is typical for the 1990s, but the ink/paper are holding up pretty well compared to some catalogs whose photos are always very faded by now.

Second image attached:

I have maybe 10 or 12 coins from the Lindgren Collection, so I was hoping to find one or two. I ended up finding two that I already knew about:
1. Gordian III AE35, Tarsus. Lindgren & Kovacs (1985), 1635 = RPC VII.2 3060.29 [LINK] = Gallery image: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=181200
2. Otacilia AE27, Nicomedia Double-Neokoros Issue. Lindgren & Kovacs (1985), 177 = RPC VIII 20007.6 [LINK].

Plus one surprise.
3. Elagabalus AE26, Moesia, Nikopolis. HHJ Nicopolis (2015-2021) 8.26.34.2 = RPC VI 1197 (Temp.) ex. 1 [LINK], with more interesting provenance noted in my gallery: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=183361
Given that it's a rare type and hadn't been published since Imhoof-Blumer (where it may not have been illustrated?), I assume this is a coin he would've intended for his volume 4.
“Collect the collectors…” John W Adams’ advice to J Orosz (Asylum 38, 2: p51)

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Offline Carausius

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Re: Old Auction Catalogue Madness!
« Reply #309 on: September 22, 2023, 12:58:48 am »
Quote
One interesting bonus is that these are from the RBW Library. A handful of the Fixed Price Lists were included as well, which were stamped & addressed to him, occasionally with his minor annotations. (He's deceased, but I've redacted the address in the photo out of abundance of caution.) He bought at least a few coins from Lindgren. That's one of my favorite things about collecting 20th century dealer lists sent by mail. I've got examples addressed to many recognizable collectors, dealers, numismatic researchers, etc.

Some time ago, I bought a large run of Munzen und Medaillen FPLs which were formerly RBW's.  They are an interesting time capsule on pre-internet collecting.  These FPLs were mailed to RBW in the USA from Europe.  As you can imagine, many of the coins were already sold by the time RBW tried to order something.  He liked to put post-it notes on the FPL with details of his purchase efforts and the dealer's response.  He would typically order multiple coins, and rarely succeeded on more than one, often none!  I remember those days.  I don't miss them.  Frustrating.

 

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