KOLBE & FANNING PUBLIC AUCTION SALE 120 JANUARY 8, 2011

On January 8, 2011, numismatic booksellers Kolbe & Fanning will conduct a public auction sale at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City in conjunction with the New York International Numismatic Convention. The sale features 500 lots of rare and desirable works of numismatic interest, including highlights from the superb Alan Luedeking Latin American numismatic Library, classic nineteenth- and early twentieth-century works on Russian coins and medals from the library of Dr. Ira Rezak, the Dr. Jeff Hosford collection of Crosbyana, key works on ancient coins, and great classic works on American numismatics, some from the library of the New Netherlands Coin Company. Additional consignors to the sale include Norwegian numismatist Jan Olav Aamlid, Minnesota dealer Allan Davisson and the estate of the late Northern California coin dealer Robert R. Johnson. There are any number of rarities in the sale, covering the numismatic spectrum.

A printed catalogue may be obtained by sending $25 to: KOLBE & FANNING NUMISMATIC BOOKSELLERS LLC, 141 W JOHNSTOWN ROAD, GAHANNA OH 43230-2700. The catalogue is also accessible free of charge at Kolbe & Fanning website: www.numislit.com.

The sale features no fewer than seven original editions of Sylvester Crosby's Early Coins of America, including two from the library of the author and five other quite special copies. Other American rarities include an original 1925 Browning work on quarter dollars annotated by Walter Breen; a nice 1921 John Story Jenks sale with original photographic plates; three Eckfeldt and Du Bois works featuring actual gold examples from the California Gold Rush; a superb deluxe leather-bound set of the virtually unknown 1881 edition of Loubat's Medallic History of the United States; all three of James Mease's extremely rare 1821-1838 works on United States numismatics, the earliest works on the topic written from a numismatic perspective; B. Max Mehl's own set of Mehl's Numismatic Monthly; George Woodside's own annotated copy, with plates, of the 1892 sale catalogue of his collection of United States pattern coins; the unique and extensive numismatic archive of Chicagoan Michael A. Powills, a noted coin collector prominent in American Numismatic Association affairs and the leading numismatic book dealer of his time, containing many thousands of letters from the key movers and shakers in American numismatics, circa 1930-1980; papers relating to the Dr. John E. Wilkison collection of United States pattern gold coins; and a deluxe edition of Valentine's famed 1924 work on fractional currency, annotated by Walter Breen.

Classic works on medieval and modern coins and medals include a superb set of the 1791 Beskrivelse over Danske Mynter og Medailler from the library of the Prime Minister of Denmark, along with other classic works on Scandinavian numismatics including the extremely rare supplement to the Beskrivelse; a number of rare and important 16th- and 17th-century merchant guides, often termed “Coin Books”; several very rare works on coining technology; rarities on Scottish and English numismatics from the Allan Davisson library; the first 21 volumes of Rivista Italiana, 1888-1908; the firm's own annotated copies of over 300 Glendining & Co. auction catalogues, 1966-1986; and two leather-bound presentation volumes on Canadian numismatics written by Alfred Sandham.

Desirable works on Russian numismatics include an exceptionally fine set of the Grand-Duc Georges Michaïlovitch's 1916 Monnaies de l'Empire de Russie, from the library of Frank Sternberg; a nice complete set of the Russian edition of Chaudoir; most of the key early and mid-twentieth century auction sales of Russian coins; Hutten Czapski's very rare 1875 treatise on early Russian coins; and rare titles by Iversen, Oreshnikov, Sontsov, Count Tolstoi, and others.

Nearly 150 highlights from the Luedeking library of Latin American numismatics are featured, among them virtually all of the great classic works, including a complete run of José Toribio Medina's principal numismatic works and several minor Medinas as well; the unique bid-book of the 1878 Fonrobert Central America auction sale; 14 lots of invaluable checklists of Latin American and Caribbean tokens compiled by David Henkle; rare Meili and Alejandro Rosa works; along with various seldom-encountered periodicals and virtually complete sets of specialized auction sale catalogues on the topic.

It is the most comprehensive library on the topic ever handled by Kolbe & Fanning. The balance of the library will be sold in a Spring 2011 Kolbe & Fanning sale, as will remaining works from the Rezak library.

Key works on ancient numismatics include a complete set of Ernest Babelon's landmark Traité des Monnaies Grecques et Romaines; an original set of Eckhel's 1792–98 Doctrina Numorum Veterum in an armorial binding; the Chapman brothers annotated salesroom copy of the famous 1905 Jacob Hirsch auction sale of the Rhousopoulos collection of ancient Greek coins; a number of key antiquarian works on ancient coins; and Andreas Alföldi's exceptionally fine set of Mazzini's five-volume Monete Imperiale Romane. Inquiries may be directed to David F. Fanning at df@numislit.com, (614) 414-0855, or to George F. Kolbe at gfk@numislit.com, (909) 338-6527.

Wayne Homren, Editor

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