The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 7, February 15, 2004, Article 10

ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER AND ANOTHER

  Peter Koch writes:  "We're still trying to nail down a copy of
  Dr. George Hetrich's sale catalogue of Civil War and Hard
  Times tokens held by little known Pennypacker Auctions in a
  sale we thought took place in 1959. Dr. Hetrich was a
  Pennsylvania-based physician who along with Julius Guttag
  published a then definitive reference on American Civil War
  Tokens in 1924.

  When the latest edition of EAC's (Early American Coppers)
  Penny-Wise arrived last week we were delighted to see the
  name 'Kenneth W. Rendell, South Natick, MA' among a
  listing of candidates for new EAC membership. It got us thinking
  - risky business, but turning the wheels has on occasion reaped
  modicum benefit.  We never really took a close look at one of
  our winnings from the recent Kolbe 'wildfires' sale: Ken Rendell's
  "A Descriptive List of an Outstanding Collection of Hard Times
  Tokens," a Fixed Price List published, according to Kolbe, in
  1957. The nicely executed 16-page saddle-stitched booklet set
  the record straight: "the sale of the collection of Dr. Geo. F.
  Hetrich was sold in 1954."

  This is our second copy of the Rendell FPL. Our first has been
  long lost in darkness, interleaved no doubt in another book.
  Here with this booklet we share a "collyeresque" moment with
  our esteemed editor. (See E-Sylum: Volume 5, Number 52,
  December 29, 2002)

  The assumption of the 1959 date was due in large part to
  Pennypacker's sale of Leonard Holland's wonderful Large Cent
  collection in 1959; a legendary sale that has been a delightful,
  favorite adventure recounted over the years within the copper
  community.

  So, to all the correspondents we've pestered, it's the 1954
  catalogue, not the 1959.

  Really, the dates, 1959 or 1954, should make little difference
  in searching for a catalogue, especially from a non-numismatic
  auction house. Evidently, Pennypacker was a country auction
  center specializing in furniture and the like.  However, we suspect
  correspondents searching our requests for the Hetrich catalogue
  may have come up with only the 1959 Holland sale and
  became frustrated not finding Hetrich and dropped out of
  correspondence, or must have felt we didn't know what the hell
  we were talking about.

  Much of this information would not be possible were it not for
  George Fuld's eloquent E-Sylum recollection in 
  Volume 4, Number 24, June 10, 2001.

  For the interested HT specialist, the Rendell 1957 FPL featured,
  indeed, an 'outstanding' collection of HT tokens.  The specimens
  were, and remain, among the finest known, captured early by
  discriminating pioneer collectors Shumway, Bird, Tilden.  A
  number of these specimens eventually appeared in the Oechsner
  collection sale held by Stack's in 1988; a catalogue whose
  appearance seldom fails to command a premium. Many of those
  specimens remain today in strong hands.

  A plea to anyone reading this: retain your original of the 1954
  Pennypacker catalogue, a photocopy of simply the front cover
  and the Hetrich listing(s) will be met with your premium ask and
  our genuine thanks."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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