SUMMER 2024 ROSA AMERICANA FIXED PRICE LIST

 

Which sounds better to you: the worst of one grade level or the best of another? The quality-price disparity is even more striking with coins that are technically just two points apart, an AU58 and a MS60, where just the faintest bit of rub (often nothing more than oft-noted cabinet friction over a couple centuries of storage by collectors) can equate to tens of thousands of dollars difference in pricing, yet that cheaper 58 coin will always look better than the 60 one does.

Collectors of a certain age had a shorthand term for this kind of quality: "a Robert Martin coin." Robert, who passed away far too soon, had a legendary appetite for pieces that had the right look. A Robert Martin copper coin was a nice even brown, smooth and hard surfaces with a bit of gloss, and a wholesome, natural appearance that had not been "improved" by anything other than a dollop of Coin Care. A coin could have clips or planchet flaws – which were of course there before the coin was struck, but whether the coin graded VG or AU, it would be free of unsightly damage. Collector Jerry Bobbe has called that sort of damage "HIPS" – Human Impairment, Post Strike. The problem most collectors face is that there aren't all that many pretty colonials out there – most of them do have some sort of HIPS. For many varieties, in every series, there might only be a couple coins that are choice and the rest have varying degrees of problem – and for some varieties, the ONLY survivors may all be ugly. Do you eschew those unattractive coins, knowing you will never get close to a magic number if you do (think 300 Connecticut coppers or 100 New Jersey copper varieties)?

Robert Martin was actually one of the first collectors of the modern era to get to the 300-variety mark for his CT coppers, but his eye for quality made him dislike some of the pieces in his own collection which were not up to his standard. So he did what was right for him – he sold those pieces off, knowing he would never be able to get to that variety count again (and making less-picky collectors quite happy, as those discarded coins put at least two others over that 300 mark in one fell swoop). A look at the Stack's Bowers offering of Robert's frontline collection shows the result of his quest, and there are few coins that even the pickiest collector wouldn't happily welcome into their own cabinet today (though he did buy some less attractive secondary coins that fit into his provenance collection – Painted Die Varieties, or with paper envelopes and tickets from earlier famous collections).

The other side of the coin, so to speak, is represented by Syd Martin, also gone far too soon. While Syd could and did buy many extremely choice coins, he was a "completeist" – he wanted every variety, and he came closer than anyone in the history of collecting colonials to doing so. That meant taking a truly ugly coin if that was the only example of a variety available – though if a notable upgrade appeared later, he would happily buy that one too. Syd appreciated every coin he had – and for those of you who have bought things from the recent auctions of his collection, you might have noticed that the handwritten envelope for a lower grade common NJ copper he paid $50 for has just as much care and attention to detail as the envelope for that Unc. NJ that cost him $50,000. Syd had no qualms about paying top dollar for a newly discovered variety, even if it would become the least-attractive coin in his collection of that series.

There is no right or wrong way to collect here, and it is truly a personal choice for every numismatist. Truth be told, I veer far more to the Syd side of things in the areas that I collect, as well as in the colonial issues I deal in. But a completeist can certainly appreciate a coin that is choice, so this list will feature pieces that check that "pretty" box, regardless of grade – with, as always, an emphasis on coins that are excellent value for the money.

This list is being issued before the ANA convention, and will likely be the last list I get out in 2024, as the Fall is taken up with travel to England for Conder-token stuff (a series I collect), the C4 convention in Baltimore, and then the winter holidays. Speaking of Conder tokens, many of the pieces that colonial specialists collect are, indeed, Conder tokens. From the Talbot, Allum & Lee mules, the Kentucky tokens, and many of the early Washington issues, all were made in England, and listed by authors as British Conder tokens from the time they were made. The colonial-Conder gap should not be as wide as it is: Conder tokens were all 18th century productions, mostly in copper, with lots of die varieties, ranging in rarity from common to exceedingly rare, and with contemporary circulating counterfeits in all of the larger series, which flooded the market and led to the collapse of public trust in circulating copper, leading to a national coinage that drove them (mostly) out of circulation. Sound familiar? It's literally the exact same playbook as the state copper issues here on this side of the Atlantic.

To introduce you to the wonderful world of Conder tokens – where you can get something dated 1787 in full mint red for a couple hundred bucks, I might add! – I will make an offer to all readers of this price list. If you email me privately that you are interested, I will gift you a one-year digital membership to the Conder Token Collectors Club, which will also allow you access to all 80+ back issues of the club Journal. No obligations, no pressure, if you like the club you can renew (there are both print and digital options, the print one obviously costing more since printing and postage costs are involved), and if it's not for you, you simply don't renew. You have absolutely nothing to lose, and may find that you can get your 18th century copper fix and discover an awful lot of interesting tokens along the way.

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
ROBERT MARTIN (1946-2017) (https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n46a07.html)
ANS 2020 HUNTINGTON AWARD TO SYD MARTIN (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n43a20.html)
SYDNEY F. MARTIN (1945-2021) (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n04a02.html)

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