Q.David Bowers
As might be expected, Mason & Co., cataloguers of the sale, objected to this report. On November 30, 1868, they printed a rebuttal: Our attention has been called to a communication in the November issue of your journal, entitled "The Randall Sale in Philadelphia," over the signature of Edward Cogan.
As this article rather injuriously reflects upon us as managers of said coin sale, we ask the privilege of making a few corrections upon statements which have been doubtless hurriedly and unwittingly penned by our old and honored friend, Mr. Cogan. That Mr. C. was dissatisfied with the catalogue of the Randall sale, we have the most positive evidence, from his own hand, in a private letter written to us before the sale; and we also know, very positively, that his dissatifaction was not caused entirely by the "over description" of the coins in the late sale, but arose from another and most important cause, which although written to us in a confidential communication-and we had Mr. Cogan's per-mission "to make full use of the idea"-we do not think it proper, at present, to make known; but, suffice it to say, that the reasons given by Mr. C. to us, why he did not purchase the full amount of his orders, were certainly good ones-not connected with the condition of the coins and would have offended any honorable businessman.
Mr. Cogan, in complaining of the description of the coins in the Randall catalogue, is very vague and indefinite. He tells us the "1794 dollar was not up to the description," but neglects to play out the discrepancy ... Again, Mr. c., in speaking of the quarter dollars, is very meager and unsatisfactory. He leaves the readers to infer that there were no silver dollars that could be strictly termed "Proofs"
Mason & Co. went on to say that it was:
... customary with all persons cataloguing collections to omit the mention (on coins very nearly unique) of a spot so indistinct that a microscope would scarcely make the defect observable, and such excessively rare coins, in this condition, are usually described as Uncirculated.
Not to be outdone, Cogan then responded with a letter twice the length of his first letter. Quoting a popular play of the time, he said that, "If you are called rough, you put our back up, and when you puts our back up we shows our teeth, and when we shows our teeth, we bite." Cogan went on to say that his letter written to Mason before the sale expressed his dislike of such terms as "Gem of the first water," "Gem of gems," and the like. Cogan said that if the "Uncirculated" 1793 cent had been as described he would have paid a high price for it. He related that Mason had asked "How far is it from Uncirculated?," and Cogan had replied "A long way." Mason had then said, "Why, it is Uncirculated for a 1793 cent, " inferring that because the coin was rare it should be graded differently from other cents. Cogan had the last word by stating" Mr. Mason has written the most contemptible and in some respects unintelligible and withal untruthful twaddle that ever was written, and he ought to have been ashamed . . ."
By April 1869 the Cogan-Mason feud apparently had cooled down, for Cogan submitted a report of Mason & Co.' s sale of the E. J. P. Farmer Collection held in Philadelphia on April 13th and 14th. Descriptions and prices were given, and no special editorial comments were added.
In the same month Sylvester S. Crosby of Boston published an article, "The United States Cents of 1793." Appearing in the American Journal of Numismatics, it was illustrated by a photographic plate showing die varieties of obverses and reverses of that year. Described were three obverse and two reverse varieties of the chain cent, six obverse and six reverse varieties of the wreath cent, and three obverse and two reverse varieties of the Liberty cent. At the time interest in die varieties in American coinage was just beginning, and most series had not been subjected to the scrutiny of a careful cataloguer with a magnifying glass.
Crosby, who later was to achieve fame and distinction with the publication in 1875 of his classic Early Coins of America, was ideally suited to careful cataloguing and attention to details. In addition to his interest in numismatics, he was a watchmaker by trade and enjoyed pursuing astronomy, archaeology, and mushroom culture. Crosby, twice married but childless, lived at 21 Sacramento St., Cambridge, Massachusetts, for 40 years, until his death on August 18, 1914.
Another numismatist with a penchant for cataloguing varieties was Dr. Edward Maris, a Quaker physician, who was born on March 15, 1832, near Chester, Pennsylvania. Graduating from the Jefferson Medical College in 1856, he soon became attached to the Philadelphia Dispensary, where he served for 16 years before leaving to engage exclusively in private practice. Like Crosby, Maris had varied interests, including autographs. A prize possession was William Penn's orginial charter granted to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As a Quaker he was a part of the Friends' Indian Committee and worked with in-habitants of an Indian reservation in New York State. His large home was located at 1106 Pine St. in Philadelphia. Maris was primarily a collector of coins, but he occasionally bought and sold for the account of others.
In 1869 Maris produced Varieties of the Copper Issues of the United States Mint in the Year 1794. This landmark work described 39 different varieties of cents issued in that year. Coins were distinguished by names taken from Dr. Maris' knowledge of Latin and from his medical training. Listed were such varieties as Double Chin, Sans Milling, Tilted Four, Young Head, The Coquette, Crooked Seven, Pyramidal Head, Scarred Head, Standless Four, Abrupt Hair, Severed Hairs, The Ornate, Venus Marina, Short Bust, Patagonian, Amatory Face, Large Planchet, Marred Field, Shielded Hair, The Plicae, Roman Plica, and the Nondescript.
The American Journal of Numismatics editorially expressed pleasure with the curious adjectival descriptions and went on to say that the work was "The unquestioned authority on this theme, so that every cent of 1794 shall henceforth be known as 'Maris l' or some other number, down to 'Maris 39.' "
During the late 1860s and 1870s the American Journal of Numismatics served as a sounding board for collectors and dealers who expressed for the first time in a serial publication many bits of historical information, facts, and figures, some contradictory, but which as a whole later went on to make up the compendium of numismatic knowledge as we know it today. How rare is the 1804 dollar? Who was the first coin collector in America? Who was the first dealer in America? What was the first auction sale? Comments were received by the publication, printed, and then debated by others. Many penned letters to share their experiences. For example, in 1869 Ammi Brown of Boston, Massachusetts, gave his personal experience at the Lewis Roper Collection auction held on February 20, 1851, by M. Thomas & Son, Philadelphia. This sale catalogue, one of America's earliest, contained 24 pages of descriptions of 698 lots, the last 45 of which were autographs. A total of $1,172.47 was realized, a high figure for the time. Ammi Brown said:
The cent of 1793 in Roper's sale, in 1851, was bought by me. It was as fine as when struck, and probably had never been circulated. At that time but little interest was felt in American coinage, and this piece was knocked down to me for my first bid of ten cents. I was laughed at for paying $5 for a Proof 1838 dollar, and a paragraph went the rounds of the papers giving this as an extravagant price for a silver dollar. I obtained at the same sale two Proof dollars of 1836 for $1.62 each ...