BASS SALE RESULTS

George Kolbe notes the following highlights from the recently concluded sales of the Bass library:

* $38,500 for a large paper set of W. Elliot Woodward's eight "Semi-Annual" Auction Catalogues, apparently Woodward's own (last sold at auction in 1968 for $55!)
* $13,200 for S. H. Chapman's 1921 Henderson Auction Sale with plates, the highest price ever paid for an American coin auction catalogue (the last copy sold, in the 1994 Bowers & Merena sale, brought $3,530)
* $29,700 for a Superb Leatherbound Set of The Numismatist, 1888-1952, including the first ANA President's run of the early volumes (from our June 1990 John W. Adams auction where it brought $33,000)
* $25,300 for the two Photographic Albums Depicting Colonel Green's Collection of United States Eagles and Half Eagles (first sale at auction)
* $11,550 for Paul Fouts' first six volumes of The Numismatist (in a subsequent Bass sale, the remainder of the set, 1894 to 1969, brought $3,520)
* $7,700 for a Deluxe Leatherbound Copy of Newcomb's 1925 The United States Cents of the Years 1801-1802-1803 (the highest price ever paid at auction - the 1994 Bowers & Merena sale copy brought $4,620, and a second Bass copy sold for $6,600)
* $9,900 for Charles Bushnell's Annotated Copy of the 1851 Auction of the Lewis Roper Coin Collection (the last priced and named copy brought $1,925)
* $13,750 for J. N. T. Levick's Annotated 1881 Andrews' Varieties of U. S. Cents, 1816-57 (the 1994 Bowers & Merena sale copy brought $5,060)
* $20,900 for A. M. Hart's 1851 Work on American Colonial Paper Money with the rare "Historical Chart" (the only copy sold at auction in the modern era - it last brought $140 in the 1971 Katen sale of the Fuld Library)
* $11,550 for Thian's 1880 Register of the Confederate Debt, one of only five copies known (this same copy brought $8,525 at the September 1995 Bowers & Merena sale)

"Re Dick Johnson: Chris Schenkel was a fascinating conversationalist AND a numismatic bibliophile, and Malcolm Forbes bought the complete series of King Farouk art sale catalogues (including the coin sale) in a Kolbe/Spink New York sale years back.

The original manuscript for McKay's book on colonial currency brought $1,210 in Bass 4 (estimated at $500)."

Wayne Homren, Editor

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The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 25, June 18, 2000, Article 2

BASS SALE RESULTS

Wayne Homren, Editor