TEICHMAN INDEXES VIRGIL BRAND LEDGERS AT ANS

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V20 2017 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 19, May 7, 2017, Article 7

The Virgil Brand ledgers at the American Numismatic Society (ANS), an inventory of one of the most important American collections, are a frequently consulted resources at the ANS library. The main ledger acts as a summary of the entire collection, while the 23 secondary ledgers provide additional detail on each coin. The Newman Portal and the ANS previously collaborated on the scanning of these ledgers, which, in total, describe over a hundred thousand items. Now that this material is accessible online, Saul Teichman has meticulously created an index that details several thousand of the most significant pieces listed in these massive, oversized volumes.

The result is eight finding aids, each dedicated to a specific area – Carson City coinage, colonials, early U.S. gold, medals, patterns, proof gold, U.S. rarities, and territorial coinage. These indexes illuminate the acquisitive, insatiable nature of Brand, whose middle name might well have been “Duplicate.” Why settle for a single 1827 quarter when you can have nine of the 18 known? Teichman has generously made these indices available through the Newman Portal, and collectors and researchers alike may now more easily search for provenance clues that could extend the story of a coin back into the 19th century.

1. Acquisition of 1827 25c listed in the Brand ledgers, #10436, purchased in 1893 at $150.00

2. Same coin offered in the Chapman sale of the Petry collection 5/8/1893 (Chapman bid book copy from Hamelberg library)

3. Virgil Brand identified as winning bidder (“Red”), from the Chapman bid book

There are large data gaps in what is presented, especially for Colonials (over 1500 pieces are missing and this is not an area of expertise for me) and probably patterns as the Dr Hall, Wurtzbach and Brenner purchases are not itemized in the journals.

I am hoping some of this data is available in the Brand papers and invoices that have not yet been published on the Newman portal.

The one for medals is primarily US gold medals, although I do note the two Richardson oval Indian Peace Medals purchased in the Hunter sale and the Stickney Season medal set that appeared in the Bowers & Merena Brand II sale.

The early gold includes a listing of journal #s for the Bechtlers, which I did not bother to itemize in the Territorial section – I only highlighted major purchases (bulk purchases) in that one.

If anyone finds errors or can provide updates to these listings they should send them to me at saul.teichman@ey.com.

I am certainly no expert on colonial coins, for example, so I could easily have made mistakes in this listing.

Another sort of crowdsourcing involves scouring the community for the source materials themselves - not all resources are found in major repositories like the ANS and Eric P. Newman numismatic libraries.

Len reports getting a request for Randolph Zander fixed price lists. Zander was based in Alexandria, VA. A group of his publications was sold in Remy Bourne's 14th numismatic literature sale (and thanks to Remy for allowing his sales to be digitized by the portal, enabling this discovery).

Lot 463 in that sale contained 175 of Zander's early world coin price lists and mail bid sales issued beteen 1955 and 1975. Could anyone lend these to the Newman Portal for digitization? Is there a known current copyright holder? Thanks. -Editor