THE TED CRAIGE SALE, PART II

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V16 2013 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 16, Number 2, January 13, 2013, Article 18

Bibliophiles are familiar with the Ted Craige name from the 1983 George Kolbe sale of Craige's magnificent library. Harvey Stack forwarded an article by Greg Cohen about the upcoming sale of part of Craige's collection. The coins were cataloged by John Kraljevich and Frank VanValen. Below is Harvey's note followed by an excerpt of the article, which I illustrated with images from the sale catalog. -Editor

We just issued a story about the forthcoming Ted Craige part 2 of his massive colonial collection to be sold as part of our AMERICANA SALE on January 24th in New York City, by STACKS BOWERS

The Ted Craige Collection has been off the market for some 40 years but has been legendary, as well as sought after by Colonial Collectors during the past four decades

There are numerous finest known examples, many great rarities and varieties and a full touch of what the collectors of yesteryear all sought to accomplish and acquire.

1. Silver coinage from the Massachusetts Bay Colony
2. Elephant Tokens
3. Pitt Tokens
4. Massachusetts Copper Coins
5. Connecticut Coppers
6. New Jersey Coppers
7. Washington Pieces
8. Fugio Coppers

The session starts with the enigmatic Noe 2-B New England sixpence, one of just two known pieces in private hands, and continues with some very wholesome examples of the ever popular Oak and Pine Tree coins, including lot 11006, a lovely 1652 Oak Tree sixpence graded EF-45 by PCGS and among the finest known for the Noe-16 variety, and lot 11015, an unusually overweight Noe-10 Pine Tree shilling, weighing in at 76.38 grains and graded EF-45 by PCGS.

Craige’s Elephant tokens represent the finest offering since our (Stack’s) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr Collection, Part II. High grade and rare types and variants abound, including lot 11029, a rare God Preserve London struck over a CAROLVS A CAROLO halfpenny pattern. Graded MS-63 BN by PCGS, this is just one of four known example, tied with the 60th New Netherlands Sale piece for finest known. We are also offering two examples of the rare 1694 Carolina Proprietors O/E tokens.

A small offering of Pitt tokens is highlighted by a rare brass farthing certified as having AU Details by PCGS, the firm noting Environmental Damage as the reason keeping the coin from a numerically graded encapsulation.

While the copper coins of New Jersey and Connecticut have large followings of specialists building collections of the various die marriages, the copper half cents and cents of Massachusetts are often overlooked by die variety collectors. Mr. Craige took “a workmanlike approach to filling in a set of…cents and half cents by Ryder number…” including several in the condition census. Lot 11042 features a 1787 half cent, Ryder 4-B that grades MS-63 BN -- a Rarity-5 coin that fits into the condition census and the ready equivalent of the Ford piece offered as lot 69 in our (Stack’s) sale of October 2004. The highlight of the set is the 1788 Ryder 13-I cent, graded as VF-20, cleaned; this Rarity-7 variety was missing from the Ford Collection, as well as many other extensive collections of colonial coins. In fact, Craige noted on his envelope “Unique. Unlisted, unpublished, and unknown combo.”

The coins, tokens, medalets, and the like portraying various renditions of George Washington’s visage are numismatically referred to as “Washingtoniana.” Most collectors of colonial era issues are generally satisfied to own an example of each type. Die variety study and collecting of Washington pieces is not actively pursued by specialists. Ted Craige was well ahead of his time with his collection of Washington pieces, put away over 40 years ago. Our offering begins with the 1783 Washington Georgius Triumpho tokens, progressing to the 1783-dated Military and Draped Bust coppers, struck circa 1820. The number of die varieties offered is extensive, and is highlighted by the unique 1783 Draped Bust copper with the misspelled INDEPEDENCE in the legend. This is only the second time this coin has ever appeared at auction, first appearing in the New Netherlands’ sale of December 1968, lot 488, and is the plate coin in Breen (1988) and the 2nd edition of the Rulau/Fuld Washingtonia reference.

Catalogs for this important collection are in the mail, and the listings are available on our website now at www.stacksbowers.com. This is just an overview of the 634 lots of coins in the legendary Ted L. Craige Collection, Part II. If colonial coins are of interest to you, there is definitely something in this offering for you, whether a seasoned specialist or a casual collector. As noted in our catalog of the Craige Collection, Part I (November 2012), this is a fresh a collection, which sat unmolested in a bank vault since the time of his untimely passing in 1971.