Old Auction Catalogue Madness!

[Andrew McCabe]

Andrew,

As I understand the French, Babelon is talking about coins described in his work, not coins illustrated there.

"You will find in this book, especially for the bronzes, quite a few coins that have not been described in any previous work.  I chose these mainly from the rich collection that Baron d'Ailly left to the BNF in 1877. Finally I should inform the reader that specimens of all of the coins described in this book, unless I have indicated another provenance, may be found in the Coin Cabinet at the BNF".

Curtis

Yes that's literally true as written, but it makes no practical sense - witness the whole host of "Cohen" coins in collections throughout the world today which are not provenanced in Babelon yet evidently not in the BNF, and the easily verifiable fact that Cohen describes but doesn't illustrate many coins that are later illustrated - using BNF d'Ailly coins - by Babelon. "Illustrations" is what this commentary must be about.

That's why I gave an interpretative sentence below my rendering, to explain how I read these sentences as intended. It would be meaningless to take it in a literal sense.

Andrew

[curtislclay]

Andrew,

But that is not what the French clearly states.

It makes perfect sense for Babelon to write that he is describing many previously unpublished varieties, mainly from the d'Ailly collection, and that the Paris collection contains specimens of all the coins he describes, unless he specifies another source.

If there are illustrations in Cohen of coins not in the French collection, though Cohen indicates with an F that Paris has a specimen, then apparently Dardel was drawing another original, say from the BM or from a private collection, because that other specimen was finer or more complete than the Paris specimen.

[Andrew McCabe]

Andrew,

But that is not what the French clearly states.

It makes perfect sense for Babelon to state that he is describing many previously unpublished varieties, mainly from the d'Ailly collection, and that the Paris collection contains specimens of all the coins he describes, unless he specifies another source.

If there are illustrations in Cohen of coins not in the French collection, though Cohen indicates with an F that Paris has a specimen, then apparently Dardel was drawing another original, say from the BM or from a private collection, because that other specimen was finer or more complete than the Paris specimen.

Ok, got it. Yet it is surprising if it's true, as I know the Paris collection and am aware Cohen illustrates very many types not in Paris (even today); I would have to check in each case of a zero in Paris whether a collection is cited for an illustrated (or unillustrated coin) in Babelon; the one case in my own collection, of a type I know to be missing in Paris, does have a provenance (for my coin) listed in Babelon.

I think it is nevertheless still safe to ignore Babelon for provenancing purposes if one has reviewed Cohen. I guess there is a theoretical subset of coin types that are in Paris, not illustrated in Cohen, and illustrated in Babelon by an example not in Paris. But it can't be large.

Anyways, use Cohen for provenances of Republican types.

[Phil A]

I came across this 82' TNA auction book at a used book store and I really like it. But, I don't know much about Numismatic literature. My tiny library basically consists of Sear RCV 1-4 and a few other books. It's hardbound leather and has some nice B/W plates along with auction info.
Here are some pics.

[Carausius]

I came across this 82' TNA auction book at a used book store and I really like it. But, I don't know much about Numismatic literature.

Hi Phil. Funny coincidence, as I'd just mentioned a few posts above that I acquired copies of TNA sales 1-3 recently. They were lavishly produced catalogues. TNA was an auction venture by Tradart, who continues to produce lavish auction catalogues from time to time. Funny thing is I 'd never heard of TNA before I bought my lot, and suddenly they're everywhere!  Yesterday, a certain numismatic book dealer had an auction in which TNA 1-3, all hardcovers, were sold as a group lot. Today, you post your chance find at a bookstore.  I imagine that the hardcover TNA sales must have a good survival rate, as people are less likely to toss "books" in the dust bin vs. typical, softcover auction catalogues.

EDIT:  For those interested in the number of Roman Republican coins in these TNA auction sales: Sale 1 has the most - about 4 plates; Sale 2 about 2 plates; and sale 3 only 1 plate.

[Phil A]

Hey Michael, thanks for the info.
Glad I could contribute to the "madness". As I said, I don't know much about these catalogues but once I flipped open this book, I knew I had to buy it. The store also had the 3rd book and a series of Byzantine coin, hardcover books from the -Something-Wharton, Whittemore collection. Really nice books but a bit too pricey. I am just wading in the shallow end of this niche of the hobby so I'am reluctant to go impulse buying.
  Thanks again,
       Phil A

[Andrew McCabe]

It's a while since I reported a provenance but I found a great one today, a pre-hoard match for a gold type where 90%+ of modern examples come from one hoard (or several closely associated hoards) reported in the 1980s. It's a gold 60 as piece, Crawford 44/2, and I found it in Spink and Galerie des Monnaies 15 Feb.1977 lot 424, a clear decade earlier than any of the hoard coins surfaced. No idea what it realised in 1977 but as I paid just half it's 1977 estimate three decades later I'm pretty pleased. This is actually my first provenance gold coin; as the commoner gold types of the Republic were produced in vast quantities before scattering to the winds, being incorporated in jewellery or melted down, provenances for any except the rarer types are very difficult to find. Pic as usual below.

[Carausius]

Congratulations on that fabulous provenance find. I imagine you can thank the later hordes for the cost savings over the 1977 price!  I'd love to add one of these to my collection one day.

I recently added a complete run of Frank Sternberg catalogues to my library.  They are a great resource and underpriced!

[Andrew McCabe]

Pictured below, my Crawford 36/1 aes grave libral as with prow to the left, now with a pre-1908 collection provenance:

Leo Hamburger (27 May 1929) lot 358 (est. 120 RM) Geheimrat von Kaufmann coll.

Richard von Kaufmann (29 March 1849 in Cologne; † 11 March 1908 in Berlin-Charlottenburg) was a German-Jewish political economist, art collector and patron, and Privy Councillor (Geheimer Regierungsrat) under Kaiser Wiljelm II.

[Molinari]

Wow!  They don't get much better than that (coin and provenance).

[Carausius]

I echo Nick's response. The coin is terrific with fabulous style, and a prewar provenance for an aes grave is special indeed. Was this a chance find? That particular Hamburger catalogue is certainly not one I would pull off the shelf while searching for an aes grave, as Spring reports only a partial aes grave plate.

[Andrew McCabe]

Those who browse this thread will be used to occasional photos of beautifully rebound auction catalogues with attractive gold spine lettering and ornaments. I've done a bit of auction catalogue shelf reorganisation, primarily with the aim of ordering and marking the catalogues with a Spring number, and for those whose publisher is unclear, also adding an auctioneer name and/or a famous-collector name. This was purely a functional upgrade, not in the least aesthetic, but given the likelihood that I'll perpetually retain these catalogues, sturdiness and clarity are my prime objectives. Pics below ... forget the aesthetics, this is a useful arrangement.

[Molinari]

You could always replace the plastic labels with hand-written call tags, which would be the best of both worlds.

[Andrew McCabe]

You could always replace the plastic labels with hand-written call tags, which would be the best of both worlds.

I kinda like it kitschy and practical. It suits my tastes. Somehow it reminds me of the Dynolabel tabs in the libraries of my childhood with the number 737 in Dewey Decimal (I hope some readers recognise that number). I'm very comfortable with plastic labels on my elegant leather bindings. Sort of already feels best of both worlds.

[Molinari]

I suppose that's true!

[Carausius]

  It's great seeing all of them hardbound and together like that!  It's been a gradual process for me, but I'll get there.

The Dynolabels take me back to my childhood as well. I still have old binders etc with the Dynos intact.  Dynolabels will last forever if undisturbed. But beware if you decide to remove them. I have some old, previously-Dynoed, coin wallets with characteristic strips of Dyno adhesive remnants. Of course, my experience is Dynolabels of 40 years ago!

Your arrangement makes sense - alphabetical by Spring number, with some variance due to mix-bound items. What is the significance of black vs pink Spring number labels?

[Andrew McCabe]

It's great seeing all of them hardbound and together like that!  It's been a gradual process for me, but I'll get there.

The Dynolabels take me back to my childhood as well. I still have old binders etc with the Dynos intact.  Dynolabels will last forever if undisturbed. But beware if you decide to remove them. I have some old, previously-Dynoed, coin wallets with characteristic strips of Dyno adhesive remnants. Of course, my experience is Dynolabels of 40 years ago!

Your arrangement makes sense - alphabetical by Spring number, with some variance due to mix-bound items. What is the significance of black vs pink Spring number labels?

I ran out of black. You wouldn't know it, but there's two rolls of black and just one of pink on those books. I guess I might swap the pinks for black once I restock. Then again I might not.

What appeals most to me is the sheer heterogeneity of the bindings. Both my old and new bookbinders tried to channel me into uniformity. Thankfully they failed.

The Spring alphabetical arrangement makes a lot of sense once arranged that way. I used to do chronological but this way for example I've all my M&M Basel catalogues together, from the 1930s to Auctiones (the latter good series oddly missing from Spring, as is Kricheldorf). Note I've a few duplicates.

[carthago]

The Spring alphabetical arrangement makes a lot of sense once arranged that way. I used to do chronological but this way for example I've all my M&M Basel catalogues together, from the 1930s to Auctiones (the latter good series oddly missing from Spring, as is Kricheldorf). Note I've a few duplicates.

That's how I organize mine - alphabetically by firm.  In fact, I keep what I consider my classic catalogues - say 1970's and earlier - together in one area of my bookshelves alphabetically by firm and then chronologically within each firm.   

A fine reference library, Andrew. 

[curtislclay]

I think there is a lot to be said for the system used by the Coin Room in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: auction catalogues are separated first by country of origin, and then, within each country, alphabetically by dealer's name.

There is much that makes the catalogues of a particular country resemble each other, and differ from those of other countries. Therefore I, and I am sure many others, tend to think of catalogues by country: what U.S. catalogues do I have, what British catalogues, what Swiss catalogues, and so on. Therefore I want to keep the different countries separated on my shelves as well, making it easy to find a particular firm, and also to notice when that firm is missing. Firms may change names, but they rarely change countries, so the arrangement by nationality will keep the two parts of what is essentially the same series closer together.

[Carausius]

Firms may change names, but they rarely change countries, so the arrangement by nationality will keep the two parts of what is essentially the same series closer together.

I'd probably tear my hair out (which I really can't afford to do) if I had to remember the old auction house's nationality  in order to find their catalogues. I'd memorize locations eventually, but would prefer to just deal with names.  I suppose the multi-lingual among us might have an easier time of it. Although, I think some auction houses wrote their catalogues in non-native languages, so the multi-lingual might be equally confused!  I suppose the geographic approach might aid in tracing unknown provenances, if coins tended to stay within national borders.

I'll be curious to see whether any German firms change countries over the next few years.

[mauseus]

Hi,

Somehow it reminds me of the Dynolabel tabs in the libraries of my childhood with the number 737 in Dewey Decimal (I hope some readers recognise that number).

Oh yes, I used to work for the British Library when I left university. 737.40937 is a very familiar number for part of the stock from the old National Central Library. We did store books irrespective of subject but by date of acquisition. By doing so you have al your empty shelf space at the end and not having to accommodate gaps in the middle of the shelves that eventually filled. It did mean that if something got misheved it took an age to find! It also meant that the card file index of the time had to be kept up to date and that used the Berghofer system where homonym author names were interfiled, eg Smith, Smyth, Smithe were all in the same run.

Regards,

Mauseus

[Andrew McCabe]

There's been quite a few cross border auction houses in recent years. Aes Rude operated out of Chiasso Switzerland and later from San Marino, gradually becoming known as Titano. M&M might refer to the Basel or later German metamorphosis. ACR aka Bertolami sold from Rome then Munich and now London. The current LAC in London shifted from being Italian. Seaby still operates under its name in London and it wasn't until well into the CNR/CNA auction series that CNG's name began to be solely used as a US brand. Indeed the various Swiss bank branches have tended to merge so what we now know as Sincona once was several firms before it was UBS. But John Spring was cognizant of this and generally kept together all related auction houses, adding comments where necessary. The Ratto's stay together even though Rodolfo and Mario operated in both France and Italy. All -in-all, Spring took a pragmatic, mainly but not entirely, alphabetical approach that recognises successor companies and generally makes sense. Hence my Basel catalogues include the Auctiones series and lead on to the German M&M series, all under the initial letter M. Which I think is how it should be.

Most probably in a large library, national sections make sense. In mine, a mere 3 shelves of 1970s and earlier catalogues, Spring is good -enough.

[Andrew McCabe]

737 Dewey is Numismatics and Sillography. Sounds specific enough. I can't imagine what 737.40937 addresses - some tiny obscure fraction of our hobby maybe.

[Molinari]

Yes, everything after the decimal refers to subcatagories under the numismatic heading.

[curtislclay]

Most probably in a large library, national sections make sense. In mine, a mere 3 shelves of 1970s and earlier catalogues, Spring is good -enough.

I agree entirely.

The division by countries might be recommendable, if you were shelving all of the many catalogues and lists that you doubtless receive in the mail, no matter how important or unimportant their content might be.