ALLISON W. JACKMAN

I first came across the name of Allison Jackman while doing research for a 1986 book. That was long before the Newman Numismatic Portal and I needed to find an actual physical copy of the 1918 Henry Chapman sale of his collection. The catalog had a memorable description:

This week I set out to see what else I could learn about him.

Allison Jackman was born in Pennsylvania in 1849, the son of David Kilbourne Jackman and Saraphina P. Ross. For the 1850 Census, David was a merchant in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. The 1860 Census is interesting in that it lists the father as a gentleman and his son as Albisa in an apparent misinterpretation of the handwriting. The family was still living in Loch Haven, Pennsylvania. For the 1870 Census, David was listed as a farmer living in Bath, New Hampshire.

David died before the 1880 Census. By 1910. Saraphina and Allison were in Poughkeepsie, New York. There was a younger son, David Kilbourne Jackman, Jr. who was married with children and can be traced with a respectable biography. This is not true for Allison.

I did not find Allison W. Jackman mentioned in a newspaper before the death of his mother. Saraphina Jackman died in 1914 at age 95. She left an estate with an estimated value of $100,000. There was a dispute over the estate brought by grandchildren who were left out of the will.

Jackman suffered a brain hemorrhage in September 1917 and was hospitalized. He died at Hyannis, Massachusetts, on October 23, 1917. His estate was challenged by nephews who were described as having a bitter dispute over the will of Saraphina.

 

Jackman had been a life member of the American Numismatic Society but not a member of the ANA.

Jackman's coin collection was offered by Henry Chapman in his sale of June 28, 1918. The highlight of the sale was his Brasher Doubloon. The coin realized $3,900, well below the previous sale at $6,000. The sale also included a fine walnut coin cabinet and a library of the standard references available at the time.

A newspaper account of the sale described the auctioneer, Henry Chapman, as a famous pneumismatist.

 

The Jackman collection and auction hold a place in numismatic history. Coins with a pedigree back to that sale have a prestige above that of an unpedigreed coin.

Otherwise, the life of Jackman carries no prestige. He did nothing in his life for good or for evil to distinguish himself.

To read the Jackman catalog on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
ADMINISTRATOR'S SALE. CATALOGUE OF THE COLLECTION OF MAGNIFICENT SPECIMENS OF AMERICAN COLONIAL, STATE AND UNITED STATES COINS AND MEDALS IN GOLD, SILVER AND COPPER. NEW YORK BRASHER'S DOUBLOON 1787, PAPER MONEY AND NUMISMATIC BOOKS OF THE LATE ALLISON W. JACKMAN, POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=20&AuctionId=511112)

 

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