Visualizing Provenance: Ancient Coin Collections, Publication, Social Networks

[Curtis JJ]

Hopefully the two attachments at the end are big enough to see! (Not sure yet...)

One of my interests is the modern history of ancient coins as field of study, commercial enterprise, and avocation. Having a background in sociology, I’m drawn to the “history of knowledge” and questions about “social networks” in numismatics (and how networks shape knowledge).

Below are two ways of visualizing “provenance” or “object biography.”


DIAGRAM 1: The “Object Biography” of a single coin.
Important events in the life of my Tarsos Stater, c. 1970s-present (e.g., collections, publications, sales). To show how coins travel internationally over time, I place location by country on the Y-Axis.

I’ve created such biographical charts for a few coins (a couple more, external website [LINK]). Each chart shows something unique and, to me, interesting about the history of numismatics.

The coin used for Diagram 1 (from my Gallery [LINK]):


Cilicia, Tarsos. Mazaios (Satrap, 361-334 BCE). AR Stater (10.65g, 22.5mm, 12h) Ex-Athena Fund, Seventko, JB Collections.

This coin was part of several important historical developments in numismatics of the past 50 years:
-   part of Bruce McNall’s infamous “Athena Fund” (ancient coin investment fund that spectacularly failed & went bankrupt; McNall went to prison but wrote an excellent best-selling numismatic autobiography);
-   one of the first ancient coins ever “slabbed” (part of Heritage’s first high-profile sale of ICG encapsulated coins in 2002); and,
-   likely part of an undocumented hoard that appeared just at the cusp of increasing attention to “cultural property.”

Additional Relevant Historical Events:
1970: UNESCO Convention on Cultural Property
1980 (April): Crash of rare coin market. “Black Friday” (18 April) at Central States Coin Show, 3 weeks after “Silver Thursday,” when Hunt Brothers scheme to corner the silver market failed.
1984 – 1989: Repatriation of “Elmali Hoard (1984)” (Coin Hoards vol. VIII, 48) to Turkey (where this coin was struck), AKA "Hoard of the Century" or "Dekadrachm hoard."
1986: Modern coin grading services. Holders / Slabs (PCGS first?). Earliest TPG – photo certificates, ANACS (then under the ANA), 1972.
1986: Ancient coin investment funds, 1986. (Merrill Lynch, Athena I Fund, $7.3M in 1986; Athena Fund II began 1988).
1989: Berlin Wall falls. Markets open to the West for enormous supply of coins previously embargoed in the East.
1985-1995: Exponential metal detecting.
1995 – 2005 (circa): Internet coin sales proliferate. “Golden age” of ancient coins on eBay.
2002 – present: Widespread encapsulation of ancient coins, beginning with ICG, Heritage Auctions, and the Seventko Collection (incl. this coin).
2002 (July): Heritage Auctions Signature Sale 296 of Dr. Joseph Seventko Collection: First large-scale sale of encapsulated ancients, widely publicized (e.g., full-page ads in The Celator and at coin shows).
2010 – present: Dramatic rise in public access to ancient coin auctions (incl. online), previously a predominantly “wholesale” affair for an exclusive club.


DIAGRAM 2: The second image is a social network diagram.
(Think of the parlor game, “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” [Wikipedia LINK]. You can play it with coin collectors, too! Who knew?)

All the coins shown (30 of them) are now in my collection but were previously in at least two different collections (50 total collections in this network).

I think I have them all here in alphabetical order (preserving pseudonyms/initials for anyone still alive and not having already published their full names):

Saoud Al-Thani (“Man in Love with Art”), “BCD Collection,” Charles Sweet Bement, Kenneth Bressett, Michel Burstein, Gert Cleff, Garth Drewry, George H. Earle Jr., P.R. Franke, Jim Gilman, Robert Gonnella, “G.R.M.H.”, Lincoln Higgie, Jacob Hirsch, Dieter Klein, James Madison University, Frederic-Robert Jameson, Francis Jarman, Erich Karl, Frank L. Kovacs, Jean P. Lambros, Edoardo Levante, Frederick W. Lincoln Jr., Henry Clay Lindgren, Richard Cyril Lockett, “Maleatas Collection of Epidauros,” MDA, Peter J. Merani, Christopher Morcom, Ronald Keble Morcom, “Kommerzienrat H. Otto, Stuttgart” (Heinrich Otto, Jr.), G. Plankenhorn, Rainer Postel, Joseph Powers, Samuel-Jean Pozzi, “Theodor Prowe” (Fedor Ivanovich Prowe), Dr. W. R. “Roma Universa,” Athanasios Rhousopoulos, Mark Salton, John A Sawhill, Alberto M Simonetta, Bono Simonetta, Pierre Strauss, Burkhard Träger, Cornelius Vermeule, P. Vogl, Hans von Aulock, William P. Wallace, Edward Perry Warren, Hermann Weber, James Whittall.

This is just a draft network (there is software that will do a better job of drawing it). But it uses actual data to illustrate how those 50 collectors are connected to one another, using only coins from my collection (known technically as a "convenience sample," so a random sample or census would give different results). Some are more densely connected to others; that’s partly because they collected well-provenanced coins, partly because those are the coins I chose to buy. Some collectors are only distantly related to each other (e.g., it takes 11 steps to get from the MDA Collection, whose RPC of Cilicia have recently been sold by CNG, to Joe Powers, a mid-20th century Boston collector of Roman Imperial coins).

I have other smaller networks that are not yet connected to this one (except by me, but that’s cheating!). (Four examples, click to expand: [Imgur LINK].) I also have data on other types of connections; the present diagram excludes (mostly) “inventory coins” and connections based on literature (exlibris, author signatures/inscriptions, “plate coins,” and so on, all of which form part of my larger “dataset”/collection), , though I left in a couple "published by von Aulock" and "inventory?" just to illustrate.

[Virgil H]

This is absolutely fascinating stuff. I recall well the silver (and gold) Hunt Brothers bubble. It didn't affect me personally, but people were buying silver that shouldn't have, my only escape is I didn't have any money, being a lowly enlisted guy in West Germany at the time (and loving every minute of it). The most disturbing part of this to me is that "first encapsulation" date in 2002. So much wrong with encapsulating, I think it totally ruined modern numismatics, NCG is trying really hard to ruin ancients.These provenance studies of yours are fascinating. The few encapsulated coins I own were immediately removed, but I did keep the NCG tag thing.

Virgil

[Curtis JJ]

Thanks, Virgil! I usually don’t hesitate, but the Tarsos Stater is the only coin where I was reluctant to remove it, since the “Seventko Collection” slabs were among the first couple hundred ancients encapsulated. (I kept the tag, of course!) But if I hadn’t removed this coin, I never would’ve matched it to the Athena Fund catalog or the 1994 CNG sale. The label has no weight and the case totally covered the edges! (It was also REALLY hard to open.)

The Hunt Brothers are an interesting bit of history, too. I’ve got all of their Sotheby’s ancient coin auction catalogs from 1990-1. Took a while to get them all, but they’re beautiful catalogs.
Those six, plus the three Athena Fund catalogs, all Sotheby’s from the early 90s, make an interesting group. A huge chunk of the world’s greatest ancient coins, all liquidated to cover just two big bankruptcies, and they only covered a fraction of the debts! (Now that I think of it, I bought the Athena Fund catalogs here at Forum -- now out of stock.)

Some interesting collections began right after the silver bubble. The Robert Bartlett (1924-2017) Collection was a neat example (donated to ANS, many sold at CNG Keystone Auction 4 [2 Sep 2021] [ACS LINK]). He was very thorough for the time in recording where he bought his coins, so the sale gives a great snapshot of the U.S. coin market in the early 1980s.

[Virgil H]

If I had any really valuable coins, maybe I would not remove them. I don't know. The first two encapsulated coins I got were actually from the Bartlett sale you mention. It appears that ANS sent them all for encapsulation prior to sale. Both of mine I won were probably less than the cost of the encapsulation services, so they lost money on those. Although you don't really lose money when it has been donated, I guess. I emailed ANS about this to ask why and, for once, no one responded. And that was odd because ANS is super good at responding to virtually every email I send them. Hopefully they realized it was a mistake, at least for ancients. I am sure they got a good deal from NGC, but I paid $60 for one of those coins. And the other was maybe $80. I was super happy with both coins.

Virgil

[Curtis JJ]

Another round of “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” (Wikipedia [LINK]) with ancient coin collectors…

NOTE: I just edited a few lines in the excellent Numiswiki article on “Important Collection Auctions” [LINK] corresponding to two of the coins here: J.P. Righetti Collection (adding Righetti Teil 3 & correcting his name); Robert L. Grover Collection (also cross-referencing Art Institute of Chicago's Alexandrian coins).

I’m probably the only one who collects this way (by social network data on collection history), but I was really excited about this new addition (from Wednesday's CNG 533, group lot 904, previously CNG 419, Lot 84 [LINK]):

Thessaly, Larissa AR Drachm (19mm, 4.92g), Mid-5th century BCE, depicting the Taurokathapsia (bull fighting games). (My Thessaly collection isn’t huge, but I have several bull/horse types, a facing-Larissa Drachm, and various other AR and AE.)

[Photo: CNG. The coin circled in red is the new one (bigger photo attached at the end of post); I already had the other 3 coins (all Alexandrian ex-Dattari).]



ROBERT L. GROVER was one of the coin’s prior collectors (until 1986), followed by the collector known as “BCD.” The BCD-Grover connection provides a link between two previously separate social networks of past owners within my collection.

Until now, the “provenance cluster” above (Alexandrian coins from the Dattari, Righetti, Art Institute of Chicago, and Grover Collections) was an island, cut off from my much larger network of >50 collection histories connected by 34 shared coins.

A few of my ex-Dattari Collection coins passed through other known collections, including J.P. Righetti’s and the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). Importantly, all of the AIC’s Alexandrian coins were originally donated by Robert L. Grover in the 1980s (later de-accessioned by AIC and sold at Gemini XIII). Grover sold the rest of his collection through Superior Galleries (June 1986). (I added both of those sales to the Numiswiki article. With the new Larissa Drachm, now I have coins from both sales.)

“BCD” bought some of the Grover-Superior coins, including my new Larissa Drachm.

[Since I posted the network last time, I’ve now been able to connect the 4 coins & 6 collections farthest to the left, same ones shown above]



JEAN-PIERRE RIGHETTI is a well-known Swiss collector of Roman Provincials (and others, including Islamic & C. Asian). (His brother Francois, too, whose RPC appeared at Auctiones GmbH in 2021.) J.P. sold his collection (or part) to the Bernischen Historischen Museum in 1982, published as SNG Righetti in 1993. From 2003 to 2006, he sold a different collection of Greek & Provincials in eight parts, seven at Münzen & Medaillen GmbH. (All are indexed on ACSearch, also including Auctiones AG 29 [Righetti 2] [LINK]). Smaller groups appeared at CNG, but the 8 named sales are the important ones.

Most recently, an even “newer” J.P. Righetti collection (mostly acquired post-M&M sales), has appeared at CNG and Nomos. The first group, at Nomos 24 (22 May 2022), were Alexandrian coins. That’s where my Hadrian Drachm came from (top left coin).

Although they come with his numbered collection envelopes or tickets, just like the earlier coins, I wouldn’t consider the later “J.P. Righetti Collection” to be important as the earlier one(s). Like the SNG, but unlike the recent sales, the eight named auctions were cataloged to create a lasting contribution and serve as a worthwhile standalone reference (esp. for RPC).


UPDATED LIST OF COLLECTION "NODES"

Now 56 collections linked by 38 coins:

Saoud Al-Thani (“Man in Love with Art”), Art Institute of Chicago, “BCD Collection,” Charles Sweet Bement, Kenneth Bressett, Michel Burstein, Gert Cleff, Giovanni Dattari, Garth Drewry, George H. Earle Jr., P.R. Franke, Jim Gilman, Robert Gonnella, “G.R.M.H.”, Robert L. Grover, Lincoln Higgie, Jacob Hirsch, Dieter Klein, James Madison University, Frederic-Robert Jameson, Francis Jarman, Erich Karl, Frank L. Kovacs, Jean P. Lambros, Edoardo Levante, Frederick W. Lincoln Jr., Henry Clay Lindgren, Richard Cyril Lockett, “Maleatas Collection of Epidauros,” MDA, Peter J. Merani, Christopher Morcom, Ronald Keble Morcom, “Kommerzienrat H. Otto, Stuttgart” (Heinrich Otto, Jr.), G. Plankenhorn, Rainer Postel, Joseph Powers, Samuel-Jean Pozzi, “Theodor Prowe” (Fedor Ivanovich Prowe), Dr. W. R. “Roma Universa,” Athanasios Rhousopoulos, Jean-Pierre Righetti, "Rocky Mountain," Mark Salton, John A Sawhill, Alberto M Simonetta, Bono Simonetta, Pierre Strauss, Burkhard Träger, Cornelius Vermeule, P. Vogl, Hans von Aulock, William P. Wallace, Edward Perry Warren, Hermann Weber, James Whittall, "zumbly."