The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 49, December 5, 2004, Article 13

DEPARTMENT STORE COIN SHOP PUBLICATION

Chris Faulkner writes: " While sorting through a box of 
numismatic literature this Sunday morning that had
been sitting in my basement for longer than my wife 
likes to remember, I came across an interesting little 
booklet. It belongs with the ongoing reminiscences that 
people have been offering about coin shops in department 
stores. The booklet is entitled "Catalogue and Price List of 
Gold Coins" and it was put out by the Coin Department of 
the J.L. Hudson Company store in Detroit, at 1206 Woodward
Avenue. The date of publication is 1957 and the booklet 
cost 50 cents. It is 6" x 9" with yellow card covers and 
black lettering. There are 31 pages and four plates 
(an inset on the front cover, the inside and outside back 
cover, and the next to last page). A
total of 890 gold coins from Afghanistan to Venezuela, 
ancients to moderns, are given numbered entries, while 
United States gold is listed separately by denomination. 
The terms and conditions of this fixed price catalogue 
State that "All coins in this list are offered subject
to prior sale." 

What strikes me today is what a remarkable inventory 
of world wide gold coins this catalogue represents, i
ncluding some extremely rare items: a Belgian 1912 
100 franc piece; an 1824 Great Britain 2 pounds (the 
Murdoch specimen); an 1825 Great Britain set of plain
edge proofs of the 2, 1 and =BD pound coins; a Great 
Britain proof half sovereign of 1821; an 1871 5 peso
(pattern?) for Honduras struck at Philadelphia; a five 
denomination Japanese set struck for exhibition
at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial; a similar set
for 1877; the Hawaii 1883 =BD, =BC and 1/8 of a dollar 
struck in platinum and the 1884 =BD and =BC struck in 
gold; a U.S. 1861S $20.00 with Paquet reverse.

All of the foregoing rarities list at over $1000. 
On the other hand, one could get an aureus of 
Nero in AU for $200.; a 1795 U.S. $10.00 gold in 
AU for $375.; a 1796 in UNC for $400. Needless to 
say, none of this was pocket change even in 1957, 
whether at the high or the low end. Dazzling, actually.

I'm not sure how I ended up with this little price
list, since I'm not from Detroit, have never been to 
this store, and don't collect gold. An interesting item, though.

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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