Q.David Bowers
On May 26, 1862, the large collection of William A. Lilliendahl, a merchant, was sold at auction through Bangs, Merwin & Co. of New York. The catalogue was prepared by William H. Strobridge, a numismatist who had earlier formed a collection of ancient coins and other items which he sold to Lilliendahl. Strobridge, born in Barnet, Vermont, on January 9, 1822, followed several different trades. The study of ancient Greek and Roman coins became an early interest, followed by numismatics of Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States. By 1862 he had established an office and was actively engaged in trading coins, archaeological specimens, and other artifacts.
One of the greatest numismatic events of the time took place on May 17, 1864, when the McCoy Collection, catalogued by W. Elliot Woodward, was offered in a 160-page catalogue which described 3,122 lots. Held at the sale room of G. A. Leavitt, New York, the sale fetched the record price of $13,010.13.
John McCoy, a Pennsylvania leather merchant, sold his collection outright to Woodward. To McCoy's treasures Woodward added other items from his stock. Attinelli described McCoy as:
... well-known among numismatists for his genial, affable, generous disposition; he had dark brown hair, ruddy complexion, an eye usually beaming with a smile, slightly inclined to be portly in size; above average in height, active in his motions, sociable in conversation, quick in discernment. His tastes early led him to select fine specimens, and judiciously secure a rarity, even if not quite up to his standards, until an opportunity might favor him with a better example. He thus became the possessor of one of the finest collections in this country of American coins. Not having been so early in the field, as some few others, he, of course, failed to secure some of the rarities; it is much to be regretted that he so early left the numismatic field, where his absence was so undesired.
Early in 1865 Joseph N. T. Levick produced a 41-page, 1, 708-lot auction sale scheduled for April 27th. Following President Lincoln's assassination, it was decided to postpone the sale date. This was done, and the auction was subsequently staged on May 29th. The total realization was $2,090.03.
In the same year, 1865, the United States Postal Service instituted free delivery of letters to all cities with 50,000 or more population. While Philadelphia, New York, and Boston furnished the locale for several dealers, most business was transacted by mail. Auctions were an exception. While mail was used to distribute catalogues to interested collectors, grading standards were so uncertain and descriptions were so inaccurate that most numismatists preferred to submit their bids to trusted dealers who would attend the sale in person, examine the lots, and bid on pieces considered to be worthy of merit. This practice continued for many decades until grading was standardized. A letter from Philadelphia dealer John W. Haseltine, written to John F. Tinkham on October 1, 1873, in regard to the latter's bids placed with Haseltine for execution in an auction sale are typical: "Everything in it was miserable; nothing near the description ... " What one cataloguer would call Uncirculated, another might list as Extremely Fine. The term Proof was used with reckless abandon.
The first issue of the American Journal of Numismatics appeared in May of 1866. This became the first serial publication on coin collecting to be issued in the United States. Around the same time, young T. Harrison Garrett, a student at Princeton College, was fascinated by an old copper cent of New Jersey which he had acquired, thus igniting the spark which would eventually culminate in the formation of one of the greatest numismatic collections ever assembled.
The initial issue of the American Journal of Numismatics gave an overview of collecting at that time:
It is certainly a matter of some surprise, taking into consideration the extent of the interests involved, that the subjects of numismatics and archaeology have, until the present time, existed in this country without an organ or means of introduction to the public, or to those persons who make their study a specialty.
While the last ten years have seen the study of these subjects almost originate, grow up, and finally take such proportions, the only means for instruction, for the spread of information, or for the advancement of these sciences, in the literary point of view, has been an occasional paragraph in a weekly paper, or an account of some coin sale or the discovery of some ancient relic, transiently made public in the newspapers, and perhaps cut out and preserved by interested collectors.
The collection of coins has not only become an infatuating and engrossing pursuit among thousands of persons of all ages and either sex, but out of it has grown up an extensive trade, furnishing the means of livelihood to numerous individuals in all our large cities. Prices have risen a hundredfold and in some instances almost incalculably and unreasonably. Speculation has been rife. In many instances, we regret to say, dishonesty has exhibited itself in its most glaring and disgusting form; and all this time there has been no publication attempted which, besides being of historical value, should act as a check upon all nefarious and improper acts, either in the manufacture, collection, or sale of coins and medals ...
The American Journal of Numismatics... is offered as an exponent of the opinions of those that make these subjects their study, with the hope that through the assistance of that class of students for whose interest it is designed it may in time become a useful and valuable adjunct to historical and scientific literature.
Specie payments (payments in coin) were suspended by the Treasury Department during the Civil War and were not resumed until 1876. During this time, silver coins were absent from circulation, their place being taken by paper fractional currency notes. Proof sets could be ordered from the Philadelphia Mint, but payment had to be made in coins rather than paper money. During the middle of the Civil War, when gold was selling for over twice the price of paper money, few gold sets were ordered due to their high cost in coin. Copper coins, following intense hoarding in the 1862-1863 period, began to circulate toward the end of the war. Joining them were a wide variety of privately issued cent-sized copper tokens with political and commercial legends. The nickel three-cent piece introduced in 1865 and the nickel five-cent coin introduced in 1866 served to stimulate the public's interest in coins and swell the ranks of collectors. By 1867 Augustus B. Sage, a dealer who had been in business since the late 1850s, estimated that there were 3,000 people in America who were interested in coin collecting. Several hundred of these qualified as serious numismatists. Many others casually saved coins from circulation, particularly cents of the old large copper style which were rapidly becoming collector's items.