While preparing to share some recent
provenance research, I noticed the resource has only been mentioned here in passing. It might be worthwhile to give some background on the (Richard) “Schaefer Binders” and
American Numismatic Society's (
ANS)
Roman Republican Die Project (RRDP).
The RRDP and Binders weren’t designed for
provenance research, but
good data can always be put to unanticipated purposes. I’m sure others here will have many different uses for it. Some may have worked with the project; please don’t hesitate to correct any errors. Further reading and links at the end.
Apologies – first of multiple – for length. Four sections covering
(1) RRDP/Schaefer Binders,
(2) Three Provenance Research Exemplars ,
(3) Links & Info,
(4) Questions.
(
Note about images:
Per ANS, the project is an “Open Database” (
link) and photos/data “public domain,
fair use objects” (
link) one may “freely share, modify, and use” (
open data license link). All images from this post are in a
gallery here:
https://imgur.com/a/aCwK7am )
(1) RRDP / SCHAEFER BINDERSThe “Schaefer Binders,” created by Richard “Dick” Schaefer (mostly c. 1995-2019), hold raw data for a massive die-study of
Roman Republican Coinage, now housed at the
ANS in
New York. A screenshot of Page 2 from
Binder 22 (where I found one of my coins illustrated twice):
(To my eyes, the binders are beautiful artworks and fascinating artifacts of qualitative science; I
hope they stay up permanently so I can keep staring at them!)
The
Roman Republican Die Project (RRDP), as it’s called, uses Schaefer’s dataset of c. 300,000 photographs and corresponding notes, mostly collected from
auction catalogs. (For anyone who has collected any kind of data, especially alone, this is a mind-boggling accomplishment!) Since he partnered with the
ANS, many others have also helped bring it online, worked on the analysis, or presented research. (I’ve seen mention of the roles played by Miriam Bernstein, Lucia Carbone, Ethan Gruber, Jeremy Haag, Erin Richardson, Alice Sharpless, and Liv Yarrow, among others, I’m sure.)
There have been several waves of data released since 2020, with increasing levels of organization. It seems to me there are now three levels at which the public data are organized:
(1) 14 “unprocessed” binders, hundreds of pages, containing photos roughly grouped by
Crawford type:
http://numismatics.org/authority/schaefer_richard;
(2) 8 “processed” binders with photos arranged precisely in order by
Crawford number (and by dies?),
same link; and, finally,
(3) the SITNAM database (
link), searchable examples of the
types, with details (e.g.,
provenance,
weight) & often die numbers.
An example: For
Crawford 359/2 (
Sulla’s Venus/Trophies
Denarius) (
link), SITNAM includes 238 individually-linked RRDP records, plus 3 from
ANS and 75 from other public
collections. All 316 are incorporated into
CRRO (
link).
ACSearch.info returns only 222 for “359/2,” all post-2000 (including some in error).
Other
types are only in the unprocessed or processed binders and may have only a few examples. Those are slower going, but
still orders of magnitude more efficient than going to the
ANS library in NYC or
Fitzwilliam in
Cambridge to
search catalogs one-at-a-time! Some
types may not be included yet (at least publicly). Maybe I missed them.
(2) PROVENANCE RESEARCH EXEMPLARSSince most photos are from commercial sources (e.g.,
auction catalogs), I’ve been trying it out for
provenance research. Three coins (five matches) to illustrate, all from my own
collection (but one departed). I found all in the “processed” binders (18, 19, 22) after purchase. (I also check active
auctions against the binders.)
(Always the same dilemma: Keep one’s provenance-hunting strategies to oneself or discuss with others, who may then find lost provenances and buy first or bid higher…. But always the same answer: The research
still takes
work, and, in the end, more information benefits the community; or so I believe. Apologies again if it was anyone’s secret weapon.)
Example 1: Thorius Balbus (316/1) Brockage. Acquired from Aureo & Calicó,
Auction 339 (Barcelona, 14 Nov 2019), Lot 1398, from the
Alba Longa
Collection (Jose Fernandez Molina) (
ACSearch link).
Binder (#22) contains “
Brockages and Miscellaneous” (
link). Happily, Schaefer recorded my coin’s appearance in two
Spanish auctions, 1981 and 1998 (neither of which I’d have found otherwise).
One must
work out Schaefer’s codes/abbreviations if a coin isn't in SITNAM. The first was easy: “15
Dec81 / ANE / 508.” The second, tougher: “4MAZ98 / ARE / O / 3.87 / 1345.” Schaefer has a habit of
writing in
ligate, I learned…. After following up with the
Fitzwilliam Museum’s
Catalog Collection (
link) and other resources:
• Asociacion Numismatica Española, Xavier Calicó (Barcelona, 15 December 1981), Lot 508 [Schaefer
Binder #22, p. 2].
• Aureo
Auction 89 (Barcelona, 4 March 1998), Lot 1345 [Schaefer
Binder #22, p. 2].
• Colleción
Alba Longa (J. F. Molina),
vol. II, Aureo y Calicó
Auction 339 (Barcelona, 14 November 2019), Lot 1398.
Example 2: Censorinus (346/2b). Deciphering was harder for the next one. Schafer took examples where he could find them, including
ebay and elsewhere.
His label reads, “LONG ISLAND / NOV10” (“64” is the die number). It was purchased by my father (c. 2001-2015?) for our family
collection, but he doesn't know where.
I’ve checked multiple sources (Gengerke’s American Numismatic
Auctions (
2009 link), Pete Smith’s American Numismatic Biographies (
2021 lin,
ACSearch, NNP) with no luck. Perhaps Paramount or NASCA’s
auctions at the Grand Central Coin Conventions, hosted by the Long Island Coin Club (LICC) each November (c. 1960s-1980s). Maybe LICC
ran its own
auction in November 2010. Or Schaefer photographed it at the show himself. Or one of the several
auctions by Stack’s / Coin Galleries (the Stack family was from Long Island) on November 10 (1987, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999). I might have to wait for the coin to be entered into SITNAM or contact Schaefer to find out.
Example 3 (SOLD, 2 Dec 2012): Quinctius (297/1b). I’m sure other provenance-hunters will feel my pain at finding a
pedigree (even minor) 9-10 years after
selling a coin. Hopefully I can forward this info to the buyer (or, if you see this, J., please let me know!).
I hate seeing my old coin listings & online activities from a decade ago, but my embarrassment is dampened by the appreciation I feel for Ras’s Coryssa database (
link for my coin's record), formerly Coinvac. I use it regularly, as it does the important job of archiving many ancient coin sales that might otherwise go undocumented (
link to site; another I
hope sticks around).
In Schaefer's notes, "
Imperator" must be Joseph Mostrario on
VCoins (did I buy it from him "
AVG ‘12"?), the other
CNG e-285, Lot 281, also August 2012 (which I could've easily found on their website or
ACSearch). Sure sold a bunch of times quickly for a nice coin I really wish I'd just kept (speaking of which, I really need to stop looking at
RRC prices from 10 years ago, very depressing!):
(3) LINKS & INFO Websites:
Schaefer Notebooks (22 Binders) on
ANS Archer (my favorite):
http://numismatics.org/authority/schaefer_richardRRDP on
ANS:
http://numismatics.org/rrdp/ SITNAM on
ANS:
http://numismatics.org/sitnam/CCRO on
ANS:
http://numismatics.org/crro/ Liv Yarrow’s blog (many RRDP updates):
https://livyarrow.org/- Her most recent on RRDP, 11 Aug 2020 (
link)
- All her Schaefer posts:
https://livyarrow.org/?s=schaeferANS Pocket Change Blog:
- Schaefer posts (
link)
- Original announcement of folders 1-14 (unprocessed) with lots of background (
link)
- July 31 2021 Announcement, preceding an excellent
ANS Long Table on the Project (
link)
ANS Magazine:
- Carbone and Yarrow’s
ANS article, 2019, Issue 3, pp. 7-19, via Academia.edu (
link)
Other Provenance Resources mentioned above:
Coryssa (
link);
Fitzwilliam Museum Numis.
Catalog Coll. (
link);
Martin Gengerke (2009) American Numismatic
Auctions (
link);
Pete Smith (2021 edition) American Numismatic Biographies (
link);
ACSearch (
link);
Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington U. in STL (
link);
(4) QUESTIONS FOR ANYONE IN THE KNOWDo Schaefer’s unprocessed data cover all
Crawford RRC issues?
Will all the records eventually be included online in SITNAM?
Will the RRDP's analysis/results be (or have they been) published in print journals, chapters, or as monographs -- or is it going to remain a digital project and leaving print publication to scholars using the data?