Lest a classic thread die after only 5 years (now 7), I hope no one minds another entry (and that I get the images right -- larger ones linked at end). Two Greek coin provenances found “in the wild” in catalogs with their own provenance (Pozzi Collection, D. Weaver / T. Stanton, H.J. Berk; Libraries of Salton-Schlessinger, BCD, H. Christensen). (I’ve read the replies for a long time without participating but have clearly been infected with the “madness” of
catalog bibliomania. I’ve shared these two coins with different writeups elsewhere, not on
Forum, linked at the end. Believe it or not, this is much condensed.)
First: Corinth AR Stater (ex Pozzi-Naville 1688 = Pozzi-Boutin 3756; for type: Ravel 1029, Calciati 419, BCD 110). One of my first ancient coin purchases (c. 1991, ~12 years old). Bought at
Glass Shoppe coins in Tucson, AZ – not from the owner (then, Halden Birt), but another guy who was there a lot (possibly Anthony “Tony” Tumonis, who later took over). They were cheaper then, but I
still did neighborhood yardwork & saved up all year to buy one ancient coin every summer.
Happily, its sentimental value multiplied when, on its 100th
anniversary, I was looking at the 1921 Naville - Ars Classica
catalog of the
Pozzi Collection, and found my coin illustrated (Lot 1688; No. 3756 in
Boutin 1979). I don’t have a hard copy of the
auction, but there are multiple acceptable copies online (e.g., Uni. Heidleberg (
link), Bib.
Nat. Fr. – Gallica (
link), INHA Fr. (
link), Archive.org (
link), and elsewhere, all of which repositories have digitized many other important catalogs of
ancient coins). The PRL is available, but I haven’t found a “named” copy – yet.…
I do, however, have the 1979
Pozzi collection catalog by Serge
Boutin (not exactly a reprint). It has its own interesting
provenance from the
library of Mark Salton-Schlessinger & Lottie Salton (
Kolbe & Fanning 161, 141, part of). I’m interested in the family’s coins/books as an important illustration of how gravely WWII and the Nazi regime affected the world of
numismatics. Though it’s all post-WWII, I’m glad I bought some literature since I didn’t manage to get any ex-Salton coins at this month’s (ferocious!) Stack’s sale.
The new mystery is how my coin got from 1921 Lucerne to 1991 Tucson. I don’t think it’s cited in
Ravel, and I haven’t found it elsewhere (except as a reference in Gemini VI [2010], Lot 801). A lot of
Pozzi coins ended up with R. C.
Lockett, but no luck there either. Maybe I’ll find it combing through catalogs and journals… Or it may remain a mystery.
Second: Athens “mass classical owl” AR Tetradrachm (ex-Weaver & HJB, mid-1970s).The next coin and its recent background are less exciting, but
still a nice reminder of forgotten moments, actors, and documents in the recent
history of the ancient coin market (c. 1970s).
A mediocre example, it didn’t even
merit its own listing at
Morton & Eden 104 in 2019 (Lot 109,
part of)(
here), so I didn’t hold out much
hope for finding it illustrated in older catalogs.
Since my interest in
provenance research extends to catalogs, this “Note from
BCD” on a mixed lot of American FPL’s caught my attention in a recent sale of “
BCD Library Duplicates”:
This writer considers himself fortunate to have met some of the people that issued these lists. Sadly, they are not with us anymore and it is about time the numismatic community does something significant in their memory so that they will always be remembered. (Jacquier 49, 940)
It’s not quite what
BCD meant, but, having found my
owl in one of those lists, I’ve certainly tried to remember its authors and recognize their connection to the numismatic world.
The list in question is Douglas Weaver’s mail-order FPL from November 1975. It’s the first (or second?) by Tom Stanton after he joined Weaver and they “greatly expanded our ancient section.” A great thing about old mail-catalogs is that the addressee is often labeled on the back cover (often with postage
still attached). This one was addressed to coin dealer
Henry Christensen at
his New Jersey business.
The same coin was illustrated one year prior inHarlan J
Berk’s FPL #2 (Fall 1974), Lot 80 (
link). The prices were $295 (HJB) and $350 (DW; about $1,600 and 1,800 in 2022 USD – representing quite a loss of value over 45 years). Once I’d found a
bit of backstory, I was really hoping for a
collection history, but none is mentioned by
Berk either. Perhaps someday I’ll find it in a 1973
auction!
More:If anyone knows/knew any of the characters involved, I’m interested to learn more, of course. My previous writeups (incl. additional biographical & bibliographical refs. & my notes from Pete Smith's
American Numismatic Biographies & Gengerke's
American Numismatic Auctions):
Pozzi & Salton, (
link here) “A
French Gynecologist Playboy, Nazis, and Numismatic Bibliomania.”
The
owl,
Weaver & ChristensenLarger images plus a few relevant others:
https://imgur.com/a/c5sSFII