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Author Topic: KDM Auction  (Read 462 times)

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Offline paul1888

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KDM Auction
« on: March 01, 2023, 11:23:05 pm »
Hello,
I am researching a coin I have recently acquired and part of the provenance references an auction
"Ex KDM Auction 27, 12 December 1984, lot 64" but I am not able to find anything about this auction or locate an old catalog.  Does anyone know anything about this auction house?  I suspect this is an acronym for an auction, but I am not sure. 

Thanks in advance for your help,

Paul

Offline Curtis JJ

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Re: KDM Auction
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2023, 11:54:11 pm »
It was driving me crazy too, so I clicked around a bit looking. (Short answer: I believe it should've been "KPM" for Kurpfalzische Munzhandlung, not KDM -- Gemini got it wrong in their catalog description of your coin.)

There is a "KÜNSTLERKREIS DER MEDAILLEURE, Munich, Germany," but they weren't in business yet in 1984.

CNG lists a coin (not yours, but was in the same KPM sale) with provenance to Auction 27, 12 December 1984, for Kölner Münzkabinett. BUT that's wrong: I checked their archive [https://www.koelner-muenzkabinett.de/auktionen/archiv/] and Kölner didn't have a sale that day at all (and their Auction 27 was in 1980).

So, tracking that further, I found CNG mis-transcribed their coin's provenance from the description in LHS Auction 96 (BCD Peloponnesos), Lot 733 [LINK] -- it should've been KPM, as LHS 96 had it!
 
Well, KPM could only be one firm, and it turns out their Auction 27 was on 12 Dec 1984. Cut-and-pasting from Fitzwilliam:

KURPFÄLZISCHE MÜNZHANDLUNG, Mannheim, Germany
 1984: no 27, 12 Dec;

https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/coins/library/salescatalogue/SALECH-L.html

It's funny that both CNG and Gemini would make different errors for KPM, but that's sure what it looks like! Unfortunately, I don't think Kurpfälzische catalogs are online anywhere...
“Collect the collectors…” John W Adams’ advice to J Orosz (Asylum 38, 2: p51)

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Offline paul1888

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Re: KDM Auction
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2023, 01:35:42 am »
Thank you very much.  Sometimes trying to track down a coins provenance is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Do you know of a forum somewhere where you can post a coin requesting others to post if they know of any auctions or published collections they may be in?  Thanks Paul

Offline paul1888

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Re: KDM Auction
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2023, 02:33:38 pm »
Hi,
This rarely happens, but I was flipping through a bunch of NFA publications that I recently purchased and to my surprise I see this coin staring me in my face. I have to say I got quite excited, which can happen only if you like finding the provenance of coins like I do.  So I can add the following provenance: Numismatic Fine Arts, Inc., Publication No. 12, January-February 1979, Lot 27., to my coin.  The search continues.   

Paul

Offline Curtis JJ

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Re: KDM Auction
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2023, 03:24:40 pm »
Congratulations on the NFA find! I've got a stack of the old NFA "Journal of Numismatic Fine Arts" (fixed price lists w/ articles) that I bought from FORVM. And a lot of other old catalogs purchased here. Several held surprise finds like that -- "in the wild," as the provenance hunting expression goes.

Do you know of a forum somewhere where you can post a coin requesting others to post if they know of any auctions or published collections they may be in?

I wish I did! If you find it, let me know. There are a few people I email or direct message with about provenances. I'm always happy to try a coin or give any suggestions if you let me know. 

There are other provenance hunting enthusiasts out there. Not everyone wants to share their tricks (since we're often competing against each other to find lost provenances at auction). But I think it benefits the hobby as a whole to share the info and assign collection histories to as many coins as possible. I haven't really used the commercial services, like "Ex-Numis" (for a few reasons), but others have found success that way.

It's tough for a single coin. You either have to find a die study listing known specimens, have some foothold to start with (e.g., if a coin is ex-Salton, it might be ex-Lockett, if it's ex-Lockett it might be ex-Pozzi or ex-Grantley, and published in this or that volume...). Sometimes you can find a recent (since 2000) record in ACSearch or RPC Online or Wildwinds or somewhere that includes a piece of information you didn't know, and it opens a new line of search.

But as you say, it really is "like looking for a needle in a haystack." The only way I know to do it efficiently is to always be searching for a huge pile of needles (keep all my coin weights & photos handy) and methodically go through every haystack there is, hoping a needle sticks you in the eye. (Sorry -- that's as far as I should push the analogy!)

If you haven't, check out Steve M's rnumis.com: https://www.rnumis.com/auctions_top.php (for tons of old catalogs available online) and, if you have any Magna Graecia or Sicily, his amazing database: https://www.rnumis.com/greek_coins_top.php

I also keep my own "database" of links to every published collection and pre-2000 auction catalog I can find. (2000 being a cutoff for ACSearch, where I just use their website.) I've shared some of mine for Alexandrian coins here: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=18927.msg779448#msg779448

For Republican coinage, I use the Richard Schaefer notebooks. I posted about it here: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=127540
“Collect the collectors…” John W Adams’ advice to J Orosz (Asylum 38, 2: p51)

Galleries https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=27154

Offline paul1888

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Re: KDM Auction
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2023, 07:35:47 pm »
Thanks for the web sites. They are great resources. 

Also I discovered another sale the coin was in:

Ex: CNG Electronic Auction 148, September 20, 2006, lot 12, BCD collection.

Paul

Offline Curtis JJ

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Re: KDM Auction
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2023, 08:21:15 pm »
Great find -- that drachm has lived quite the busy biography over the past 44 years or so!
“Collect the collectors…” John W Adams’ advice to J Orosz (Asylum 38, 2: p51)

Galleries https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=27154

 

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