There are several boxes of archival documents among the Connecticut State Library holdings. I used them for research while writing the Renaissance of American Coinage series. The coins are among the few entirely original pieces remaining in US collections, and many pieces have documented origins direct from the Philadelphia Mint and Annual Assay Commission coins.

I enjoyed brother Ron Guth's comments about Joseph C. Mitchelson, lovingly known as "Uncle Joe" (1856-1911) to his fellow members of the New York Numismatic Club. This venerable numismatic patriarch did indeed bequeath his magnificent collection to the Connecticut State Library, and a cautionary tale lies therein. Some numismatic luminaries of the past have expressed doubts as to the suitability of museums as repositories of numismatic materials. The late John J. Ford Jr. detested museums and museum people generally, often announcing that museum professionals were worthless incompetents "looking to come in out of the rain." As a former museum director I always resented this arrogant view.

However, the Mitchelson collection offers a fascinating insight into this question. Several years ago, vast swatches of the collection went to auction at Stack's-Coin Galleries, where I had the pleasure of cataloging quite a few fascinating pieces that had been off the market for generations. I believe some items remain in state hands, possibly including the Higley Threepence.

Then there is the Jewish Museum of New York, once famous for its rich numismatic holdings, notably in ancient Jewish coins, now inaccessible in deep, dead storage apparently for good, "and what's it to you!" A few years ago, the Jewish Museum received the Kagan-Maremba Collection of modern Palestine and Israel coins, medals, tokens and paper money. Housed in a "Stonehenge" of custom-built Capital Plastics panels, the collection included obverse-reverse examples of all Israel coins and medals, plus a galaxy of rarities including patterns, trial strikes, unique metal examples, printer's proofs and more. This "ultimate" collection first vanished in the museum's black hole storage, only to emerge as a single auction lot offered by Sotheby's, where it was blown away for a song...

Perhaps most museums are not ideal repositories for numismatic material. Coins and medals are generally small, difficult to see, hard to exhibit to a general audience, incomprehensible to museum staffers and administrators, costly to protect and insure. From a collectors' point of view, returning collections to the marketplace returns them to collectors. Take your pick.