The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 20, May 18, 2003, Article 15

ANOTHER NUMISMATIC BOWERS: GEORGE

  Following Neil's reply Stan Stephens added:
  "You are absolutely right about the conflict between research
  and preservation when it comes to rare old numismatic material.
  I only have two original Chapmans 1) plated Stickney 2) non
  plated Jenks. Both with prices neatly written in by hand. The
  cool thing about them is that I am only the second owner. They
  came from that weird estate auction in the middle of West
  Virginia three summers ago. Mr. George Bowers, the owner,
  had been dead for 40 years. It was not until all three of his
  sisters who lived in the Bower's 29 room home were finally
  dead (none ever married) did a few lucky distant relatives find
  out that a small fortune waited for them. There were essentially
  no changes made to inside of the house since Bowers died.
  There were over 20,000 books including many numismatic
  rarities.  For instance three Crosbys were part of the collection.
  When I got the Stickney home and opened it up I found
  three pages of hand written notes detailing the arrival of Halley's
  Comet in 1910. You see Mr. Bowers was also an amateur
  astronomer and yes, a very nice brass telescope was among
  the auction items."

  [Your editor heard about the Bowers auction only after the
   fact, or he would have hightailed it to West Virginia to be
   there.   The handful of coin dealers who attended had a
   field day.  Like many country auctions, low-value items sold
   to the crowd for high prices.  But the truly rare stuff went
   for a song.   A web search found two references to Bowers
   and the sale.  Excerpts appear below.  Follow the links for
   the full article

  "Businessman George Bowers, of nearby Mannington, was
  the ultimate shopper, a material man who amassed over a
  museum's worth of stuff in his 28-room home.  These effects
  could fill San Simeon, publisher William Randolph Hearst's
  massive mountaintop California retreat.

  Bowers died in the 1940s after building up the Bowers
  Pottery Co. and the Warwick China Co. His china was
  elegant. The other half of the business wasn't. Pottery
  in Mannington meant porcelain, and porcelain meant toilets
  and other bathroom fixtures.

  People in town knew the Bowers family was well off.  But
  few, if any, realized just what treasures were contained inside
  the walls of the ever-expanding house on High Street that had
  been owned by Bowers' father.

  Through the years, the collection grew, filling to fit the
  contours of the house. It seems there was nothing George
  Bowers would not buy. After he died, his three daughters
  remained under the same roof where they had grown up,
  never marrying. Their home became stuck in time, frozen
  in 1945.

  Bowers' last remaining daughter, Frances, died in March.
  In her will, she directed that all her father's belongings be
  auctioned off."

  [From The Journal newspapers, reprinted from the
  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
  http://www.jrnl.net/news/00/Jun/jrn95260600.html

  This page has a photo of books being previewed before
  the sale.
  http://www.labs.net/anaiselise/timlin/timlin.htm

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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