KOLBE & FANNING OFFER ADAMS FROSSARD CATALOGUES

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers are celebrating our 150th Auction by offering highlights of the John W. Adams numismatic library on July 14, 2018.

The Adams Library includes one of the finest collections of American numismatic auction catalogues ever assembled. Among the highlights is an extensive run of catalogues issued by prolific coin dealer Ed Frossard in the waning years of the 19th century, including all of his plated sales.

Ed Frossard was of Swiss birth, but quickly adopted the United States as his new native land, fighting for the Union in the Civil War only a few years after arriving here. He launched his numismatic career as the first editor of the Coin Collector's Journal, published by J.W. Scott & Co. beginning in 1875. Quickly branching out on his own, he began publishing a regular house organ, Numisma, wrote three books (including standard works on 1794 large cents and Franco-American jetons), and held over 160 auction sales before his death in 1899. Seventeen of his auction catalogues included photographically printed plates, and the Adams Library includes every one of them.

A few particularly noteworthy Frossard lots include:

Lots 203 and 211

Lot 203: a copy of Frossard's important 1879 catalogue of the George W. Merritt collection of half cents and large cents, heavily annotated by the Chapman brothers, who were just starting out in business together.

Lot 211: a finely bound copy of Frossard's catalogue of his own extensive collection, illustrated throughout on nine fine heliotype plates.

Lot 212

Lot 212: an extraordinary bound volume from the library of Bauman Lowe Belden, featuring no fewer than four plated Frossard sales, including the very rare Sale 40 of R.H. Smith's ancient coins, the rare catalogue of Oriental coins offered as Sale 44, and Frossard's sole plated stamp sale (Sale 46), the annotations to which reveal Belden as being the owner of the first day's sale.

Lot 215

Lot 215: sale catalogues from 1886 and 1887, including Frossard's very rare catalogue of medieval manuscripts from the Trivulzio Library and a number of other sales missing from most collections and even from the American Numismatic Society Library.

Lot 217

Lot 217: Frossard's 1888 catalogue of the Gerald E. Hart collection, with the photographic plates accompanying the catalogue loose in the original envelope as originally published.

Lot 218

Lot 218: a bound volume of sales from 1889 and 1890, featuring two very rare plated catalogues including Sale 97 (the Palmer collection), the only plated sale missing from Frossard's own set of his catalogues.

Lot 220

Lot 220: Sales 104 and 106, both with photographic plates, and both of them rare (only 25 copies of 104 were prepared with plates, and 106 is the rarer of the two).

Lot 221

Lot 221: a bound volume of sales from 1892 and 1893, including the catalogue of A.H. Saltmarsh's collection, photographically illustrating a variety of pieces from a Syracusan decadrachm and bell thalers to a Willow Tree shilling and an alleged 1804 over 3 dollar.

Lot 222

Lot 222: sales from 1893 to 1897 including two very rare and important (if controversial) catalogues of material said to be from the estate of Revolutionary War artist John Trumbull and now held to be otherwise.

Lot 226

Lot 226: including a very scarce plated copy of Frossard's 150th sale, his last to feature plates.

In addition to the above, the Adams Library contains nearly all of Frossard's unplated sales, many of which are very rare and nearly unknown today. The sale also includes important offerings of his rarely encountered fixed price lists and other interesting Frossard material.

The extensive, full-color catalogue is now available at bid.numislit.com. The sale will feature live online bidding using Kolbe & Fanning’s custom third-party online bidding platform. Printed catalogues are being mailed to established customers. Bidders wishing to make an appointment to view auction lots are invited to contact David Fanning at df@numislit.com .

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers LLC is a licensed and bonded auction firm in the State of Ohio. For more information, please see the Kolbe & Fanning website at numislit.com or email David Fanning at df@numislit.com .

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