KOLBE & FANNING’S 2013 NEW YORK BOOK SALE RESULTS

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers held their 2013 New York Book Auction at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on Saturday, January 12, in conjunction with the New York International Numismatic Convention. Composed of 271 lots of high-quality works covering the entire range of numismatics, the sale was notable for including exceptionally important archival materials and unique manuscripts from a variety of sources. Bidding was very strong, with the sale bringing over 140% of the estimated value of the lots.

Highlights included:

—Unique and highly important materials from the personal archives of Elvira and Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli, including Elvira’s extraordinary notebooks and Vladimir’s extensive archive on the USAOG controversy. In a remarkable coup for numismatic researchers, the notebooks have been acquired by the American Numismatic Society Library, while the USAOG materials were acquired by the library of the American Numismatic Association.

—An exquisitely bound manuscript dated 1720 by Thomas Compton that may well be the earliest substantive work on the entirety of British coinage was also acquired by the ANS Library.

—An extremely important assemblage of materials on the acquisition, sale and subsequent donation to the National Coin Collection of the exceptional collection of Russian coins belonging to Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich sold for a remarkable $60,000 hammer to a Russian buyer, who also purchased a photographically illustrated inventory of the Izzy Snyderman collection of Russian coins for $32,500 hammer.

—Tom Virzi’s full 900-page manuscript on the bronze coins of Magna Graecia, an unpublished work of legendary importance, hammered at $5,500.

—A previously unrecorded Geoffrey Charlton Adams sale with two fine photographic plates sold for $4,500 hammer.

—William Sheldon’s personal copy of Early American Cents, with the condition census updated throughout in pencil, presented by the author to specialist John W. Adams, was also acquired for the ANA Library. This, the USAOG archive, and two additional lots were purchased for the ANA Library by longtime ANA supporter Dwight Manley.

—John Eshbach’s exceptional collection of the numismatic works of Charles Steigerwalt brought strong bidding, with the auction sales, fixed-price lists and periodicals combining to bring over $10,000 hammer.

—The ANS Library was the recipient of two important archives of material on early American medals and Washingtonia, both of them purchased for the library by dedicated supporter Tony Terranova.

A PDF version of the catalogue and the full prices realized are available on the Kolbe & Fanning website at www.numislit.com

Wayne Homren, Editor

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