ISLE OF MAN COINS PROVENANCE FOUND

Regarding our search for the provenance of two Isle of Man coins initiated by a request from Peter Preston-Morley, Pete Smith has found our answer! Readers had helped narrow the search to early Dave Bowers auctions, and Pete pinpointed the answer. He also has a vision of numismatic research in the future. He writes:

Imagine conducting a search for an auction lot a year from now. You go out to the Newman Numismatic Portal and have access to every American auction catalog ever printed. Until then, it's a search by hand through a library.

I believe I have an example of every Bowers sale from 1972 through 1990. That takes up about five feet of shelf space. My review of Bowers catalogs last night did not turn up the Isle of Man coins.

But wait, there's more! All my catalogs containing 1792 patterns are in another place and another ten feet of shelf space. The 1981 ANA sale catalog had a Birch Cent. It also had the Isle of Man coins.

I am attaching a scan of page 340 from the catalog of "The William Sieck Collection" sold July 28 to August 1, 1981, as part to the ANA sale. Lot 3426 realized $850 and lot 3427 realized $1650.

I've cropped the image below to the lots in question. -Editor

Thank you all very much indeed for this, I am truly grateful, as is the current owner of the coins. He acquired them from a lady in the Isle of Man whose husband was a collector of coins in the US, so it all fits nicely.

Pete, I thank you again for your time and trouble, it is much appreciated. It seems there are no limits to which readers of The E-Sylum will try to help each other solving puzzles!

Thanks! This is a great illustration of the state of numismatic research today. While a lot of information is indeed available online, much if it is not, and most of what is available is scattered among various web sites or hidden behind paywalls, leaving researchers on their own to poke behind every available rock in search of their answer.

What we're attempting to do with the Newman Numismatic Portal is build an online repository that archives and enables search and browsing across the wide spectrum of numismatic publications, from classic books, periodicals and auction catalogs to today's Internet-based auctions and publications.

That comprehensive repository won't be complete in a year, and may in fact never become fully complete. But page by page we're already adding material and are looking forward to demoing some of the content and features at the upcoming NBS Symposium at the ANA World's Fair of Money later this month.

On Thursday, August 13, the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP) team will present at the NBS Symposium at 11:30AM. This website, funded by the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society and administered through Washington University in St. Louis, focuses on gathering and preserving numismatic knowledge for the benefit of all collectors and researchers. Project consultants include well-known bibliophiles Len Augsburger, Roger Burdette, John Feigenbaum, Wayne Homren, and Joel Orosz. The NNP team will demonstrate the current website and discuss the roadmap going forward.

-Editor