COLLECTOR'S MARKS AND THE DEXTER 1804 DOLLAR

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 7, February 14, 2021, Article 14

COLLECTOR'S MARKS AND THE DEXTER 1804 DOLLAR

Steve Roach passed along this article about collector's marks on drawings that relates to last week's vocabulary phrase. Thanks! -Editor

Collectors of Old Master prints and drawings often had hundreds or thousands of works on paper in their collections to keep track of at a time when inventories were painstakingly made by hand in ledger books. As part of this process, a stamp or seal was put on the back of each work of art to identify the owner, sometimes accompanied by a hand-written inventory number. Royal collections were inventoried and documented in the same way, often with a royal wax seal added to the collection number. These marks have been recorded over time and enable scholarly research into the history and provenance of important works on paper. In the absence of old inventory records or royal archives, collectors' marks can help identify a work of art and can add value if it is determined that the mark is that of a prestigious or royal collection, or from a prominent historic figure.

Dutch collector and connoisseur Frederick Johannes "Frits" Lugt (1884-1970) is the best-known and most thorough compiler of collectors' marks. In 1921, Lugt completed Les Marques de collections de dessins et d'estampes, an essential research tool for art historians and collectors.

To read the complete article, see:
Documenting History: Collectors' Marks, Stamps and Seals (https://www.stairgalleries.com/news-insights/insights/collectorsmarks/)

I'm still interested in collector's marks on coins. So let's get this party started with that tiny "D" on the Dexter specimen of the 1804 dollar. Here's an excerpt from Mark Ferguson's 1804dollar.com site. -Editor

New Buyer Discovers Microscopic "D" Counterstamp!

The private buyer of the Dexter Dollar from the dealers who purchased the Charles M. Williams collection was Harold S. Bareford, a lawyer who became General Counsel for Warner Bros. Pictures. Bareford reportedly paid $10,000 for the rarity in 1949.

He held the dollar for many years, with Stack's auctioning the Bareford Collection in 1981. The catalog description for the Dexter Dollar included this important news:

"No description of the Dollar, however, would be complete without mentioning a most interesting detail that tells much about collector pride of ownership. Curiously enough the detail in question was first discovered by Harold Bareford himself and had never been noticed by any of the previous owners or dealers through whose hands the coin had passed. On the reverse a microscopic "D" has been lightly stamped into the second cloud from the right. It is now largely obscured by the coin's natural patina. For all practical purposes, the "D" is virtually invisible.

"When Mr. Bareford discovered this interesting countermark an inquiry was immediately undertaken. B. Max Mehl, still active, was able to confirm that neither he nor any of those familiar with the coin whom he had known personally had been aware of the mark, including William F. Dunham, whose collection Mehl had sold in 1941."

To read the complete article, see:
New Buyer Discovers Microscopic "D" Counterstamp! (https://1804dollar.com/)

Here's a photo and cropped closeup. -Editor

dexter-pogue-1804-dollar reverse closeup D

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
VOCABULARY TERM: COLLECTOR'S MARK (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n06a16.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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