RESULTS FROM THE STACKS-BOWERS SULLIVAN SALE

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V22 2019 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 22, Number 9, March 3, 2019, Article 3

Last week I incorrectly stated that there were no major numismatic literature sales going on; I overlooked Friday's Stack's Bowers sale which included a large consignment from former NBS President Michael J. Sullivan. We'd discussed the sale earlier in the month. I understand 100% of the books sold at a collectve 95% of the high-end estimate, with significant competition for the extensive run of Heath's Counterfeit Detectors.

Here are the lots we discussed earlier and their prices realized. See the following article in this issue for information on additional Sullivan numismatic literature lots in the upcoming Stack's Bowers Spring 2019 Baltimore internet-only sale. Live Bidding begins tomorrow, March 4, 2019 @ 9:00 AM PST. -Editor

Singerly's Lithographic Chart of Signatures: Being a Supplement to the Western Review, Containing a Fac Simile of the Signatures of the President and Cashier of almost every Bank in the U.S. Pittsburgh: Benj. Singerly, Publisher and Proprietor, Review Building, 1850. 32 pages. 8to. 26.5 x 17 cm. Brown wraps. Now finely bound in quarter blue morocco by Sam Ellenport with blue marbled paper boards. Gilt spine title with raised bands. Contents complete and pages relatively fine and clean. Cover wrap with chipped off lower right corner. Likely, next to impossible to obtain another.

Sale price (Hammer price plus buyer's fee): $1,800 - $300 over the top estimate. -Editor

Lot 9247: Ormsby's 1862 Harvest of Counterfeiters

Ormsby, W. L. Cycloidal Configurations or the Harvest of Counterfeiters. Containing Matter of the Highest Importance Concerning Paper Money. Also Explaining the Unit System of Bank Note Engraving. New York. Published by W.L. Ormsby, 50 Wall Street. Ca. 1862. (3), 45. Front green paper wrap (rear wrap is missing). Original green front wrap with deterioration, now skillfully mounted upon a paper sheet. Page 26 with three attachments slips as originally from the Ford Library. Octavo. Now beautifully bound in full black morocco by Sam Ellenport. Gilt cover perimeter bordering, gilt spine title and raised bands. Marbled interior covers. Gorgeous presentation. One of the extreme rarities of this genre. There are only a few confirmed. This example is ex Ford and was subsequently sold in Kolbe & Fanning Sale 129, lot 510. At the time, it was only the third auction appearance in 35 years. There was no example in the Newman Library Part XI sale. The impressive binding amplifies this immensely important rarity. It appears quite infrequently, especially in comparison with his large opus with engraved plates. That often exceeds $3,000 or more, yet is relatively available. This is a great opportunity.

Sale price: $4,320. Great price for a very rare and important item. -Editor

1877 Heath's Compound Microscope with Original Distribution Box. Extremely Fine. Enclosed in Custom Leather Solander Box

Heath, Laban. Heath's Improved Adjustable Compound Microscope, [Patented, Dec. 25, 1877], For Examining Bank Notes, Minerals, Flowers, Seeds, Linen, etc., etc. Folding stand with legs decorated with scrollwork, glass magnifying lens which tilts, stored in the original distribution cardboard box, with pictorial green cover label, as issued. The microscope when folded open is 12.5 x 5.5 cm wide at the base and 6 cm in height. The lens has a diameter of 4.5 cm. Box label with titles, illustration of folded out microscope, and patent date. The microscope and its box are housed in a three quarter brown leather solander box with raised bands, spine compartments lettered in gilt, designed as version "A" as designed and executed by Sam Ellenport.

Sale price: $6,600! - over twice the top estimate. -Editor

Naramore, R[obert] C. Naramore's United States Treasury and National Bank Note Detector. Pocket Edition. Being Exact Copies of the Genuine Plates, Photographed from the Proof Sheets, By Permission of Hon. H. McCulloch, Secretary U.S. Treasury. Published by American Photograph Co., Bridgeport, Conn. [1866]. 18 individual 10 cm. x 6.3 cm photographic cards, housed in original two piece, blue Cardboard Box with gold lettering. Nearly all of the cards in this set are choice condition. However, a few have some minor mounting remnants at the top of the backs. A full set in original box is rarely seen. Original cardboard box expertly repaired by Alan Grace, 12/1995. Now housed in a sumptuous, octavo size navy half leather solander box, marbled boards, five raised bands, leather spine label, spine compartments decorated in gilt, and blind tooling by Alan Grace. Beautifully made with snug compartment for the original box and the cards it contains. Ex: Charles Davis Sale 23, December 14, 1991, lot 456.

Sale price: $660. One of the great bargains of the sale. -Editor

Here are some additional results. -Editor

Lot 9242: 1850 Henry Foote Manuscript

1850 H. C. Foote's Manuscript Concerning Bank Note Rules. Fine. Enclosed in Leather Clamp Shell Box.

Titles and Specifications: Foote, H(enry) C. Four page manuscript letter, May 1, [18] /50 to Mr. J. C. Hutchins. Ink manuscript on blue paper, folded. 20 x 30 cm pages. Lengthy discourse concerning notes from the Strafford Bank, [Dover], New Hampshire printed by New England Bank Note Co. and using Perkins Steel Stereotype Plates. The false notes investigated are compared to Foote's seven "rules" as eventually specified in his published works. We believe this letter may precede the publications, hence its importance as a foundational document of Foote's eventual and important publications. Fine, normal folds. Enclosed now in beautifully made blue morocco clamp shell box with cloth sides. Gilt title and raised bands. Priceless, with important content related to Perkin's technology and Foote's work.

Sale price: $2,040 -Editor

Lot 9245: 1861 Peyton's How to Detect Counterfeit Bank Notes

1861 Peyton's How to Detect Counterfeit Bank Notes cover

1861 Peyton's How to Detect Counterfeit Bank Notes in Decorated Cloth. Very Fine.

Titles and Specifications: Peyton, George. How to Detect Counterfeit Bank Notes; or, an Illustrated Treatise on the Detection of Counterfeit, Altered, and Spurious Bank Notes, with original bank note plates, engraved expressly for this work by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, and Edson, bank note engravers of New York. [3rd Edition]: Sixth Thousand. New York: Published for the Author, 1861. 54 pages, 4 finely engraved plates. Hardbound in Black Decorated Cloth, titled on cover and spine in gilt, Full gilt page edges. Octavo.15.0 x 23.5 cm. Very rare edition; one other known to us in this form. This example ex Champa (August, 1990). Ex: John Bergman. Expertly rebacked and repaired by Alan Grace via A. Champa. Handsome penned signature of E. M. (or H.) Tiffany on the front free endpaper. The contents and plates excellent. A gorgeous book and very underrated.

Sale Price: $900 -Editor

Lot 9264: 1870 Heath's Pocket Detector

Heath's Pocket Detector - 1870 Edition. Unlisted Newman 3-P-3.8. Fine.

Titles and Specifications: Heath, Laban. Heath's Greatly Improved and Enlarged Infallible Government Counterfeit Detector, At Sight. The Only Infallible Method of Detecting Counterfeit, Spurious, and Altered Bank Notes, Government Bonds, & etc., Applicable to all Banks in the United States and Canadas, as Now in Circulation or that May be Issued, With Genuine Designs from the Original Government Plates. By Authority from the United States Treasury Department, and the American, National, and Continental Bank Note Cos., New York and Boston. Third Edition, Revised and Corrected. Boston, Mass. and Washington, D.C.: Published by Laban Heath & Co., No. 30 Hanover St., Boston, to whom all orders should be addressed, 1870. 40 pages includes 2 pages of magnifying glass illustrations, 13 plates includes a double page fractional currency plate, counterfeit $100 Legal Tender, counterfeit $5 Legal Tender. Blue-green cloth, lettered in gilt, blind stamping, 12 mo.

Sale price: $2,040 -Editor

Titles and Specifications: American Bond and Currency Detector Company. [aka Laban Heath]. The American Bond Detector; and Complete History of the United States Government Securities; Issued Under the Sanction of the United States Treasury Department, and Containing Superb Illustrations, in Genuine Tints, Printed at the Treasury Department, From the Original Dies in the Possession of the Government, of All the Bonds Issued Under the Acts of Congress from July 17, 1861, to March 3, 1868, Together with a Full Description of all Genuine Plates, and Complete Rules for the Detection of Counterfeits; also, Valuable Plates of Existing Coins, and Important Statistical Tables. Washington, D.C.:

Published by the American Bond and Currency Detector Company, to Whom all Orders Should be Addressed, 1869. Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1869, by Nehemiah George Ordway, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of New-Hampshire. (6), 100 pages, 22 steel-plate intaglio plates of bonds and bond design elements, 9 plates of American and foreign coins metallically tinted for the coin's metal by J. Haehnlen, PR., Goldsmiths' Hall Philada. Bound in three quarter brown leather and green cloth, large oblong folio decorated in gilt. Uniquely inscribed bond detector reading "Hon. Henry L. Dawes, with Compliments of N.G. Ordway." Contents bright and vivid overall and superior to most of the large bond detectors known. Often broken up, complete examples are difficult to obtain and this inscribed example has a particular uniqueness to it. Ex: Charles Davis Auction of Duplicates from the Library of the ANA, July 14, 2007, lot 7.