Q.David Bowers
Chapman went on to say that "this collection is the most extensive yet offered American numismatists." Prices were very strong, and over $61,000 was realized. A half year later, on May 22, 1922, B. Max Mehl of Fort Worth, Texas, offered the collection of James Ten Eyck at auction. 2,754 lots were sold for a total of over $45,000. Items offered included a Brasher doubloon, a complete set of half eagles except 1822 (but including the 1798 small eagle reverse), a complete set of $3 gold, a complete set of quarter eagles from 1796 to 1834, and a complete set of pre-1834 silver coins, including the 1804 dollar. Colonials included a Virginia silver" shilling," a 1776 New Hampshire cent, one of two known specimens of the 1714 Gloucester shilling, and ther items acquired earlier from the Parmelee Collection.
In Baltimore, Maryland, John Work Garrett, having acquired the T. Harrison Garrett Collection, with additions from his brother Robert, in 1919, began an intense interest in numismatics. From 1919 through the early 1920s reference books were purchased to round out the Garrett library, custom-made coin cabinets were ordered from the Art Metal Construction Co. in New York City, and intense study was made of existing numismatic literature. Garrett, deeply interested in art, literature, and other subjects, found that among American coins his favorites were colonials, early mint issues, and territorial pieces.
On March 10, 1923, The New York Times reported:
Wayte Raymond, dealer in coins, 49 Park Ave., has bought from M. Knoedler & Co. [a well-known dealer in fine paintings] the collection of early American and United States coins recently sold to the Knoedler Syndicate by James W. Ellsworth. Mr. Raymond paid about $100,000 for the coins, said to be the largest amount ever given for a numismatic collection in this country. The collection has been known for years as the finest in the United States. Mr. Ellsworth, who has disposed of all his art work and other rare coin collections, with the exception of his Innes paintings and a Rembrandt, counted it as one of the most interesting and valuable of his possessions.
Among the valuable coins is the unique set of Nova Constellatio patterns for a decimal system struck in 1783, in denominations of 100, 500, and 1000 mills. This set was from the celebrated Parmelee Collection sold in New York in 1890.
There is also the doubloon struck in New York in 1787 by Ephraim Brasher, of which there are only four specimens known. There are also pieces of the colonial period and early trial pieces used before the regularly adopted coinage at the United States Mint in 1793, and a remarkable series of the gold, silver, and copper coins of the United States from the beginning of the coinage since 1793 up to the present time, including two 1804 dollars and the finest known specimens of many other rare dates.
An interesting part of the collection is a series of the early private gold coins struck in California, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, North Carolina, and Georgia. There are about 2,000 coins in the collection, making it the most important set ever sold here.
John Work Garrett had first pick of the collection and bought for $50,000, in a check paid directly to Knoedler, substantial portions of it.
In 1923 the Mint Collection, earlier called the Mint Cabinet, was slated to be removed from Philadelphia to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Moritz Wormser, president of the American Numismatic Association, and one of the most popular numismatists of the time, proposed that the ANA form its own collection. The organization had recently acquired some pieces from a foreign medal manufacturer and proposed using these as a nucleus. "We hope that our members will enthusiastically and liberally respond to this suggestion, Wormser noted.
On April 29, 1924, 605 lots catalogued by Henry Chapman, formerly the property of A. C. Nygren, of San Francisco, California, were sold at auction for the order of Nygren's sister. The offering consisted of...
... the entire collection of pioneer gold coins, formed by him; a gentleman widely known as an ardent collector of this highly interesting and historical series. Such a grand array has rarely if ever been offered.
Of these 605 lots, 402 were specifically related to territorial issues. The Numismatist in 1924 included one issue, the "Lincoln Number," which was compiled by Robert P. King, of Erie, Pennsylvania. Featured was a 123-page monograph concerning paper money, tokens, coins, medals, and other items pertaining to President Lincoln, a truly monumental study. This set the stage for another special issue on Bryan money which was subsequently written for The Numismatist by Farran Zerbe.
In 1925 The Numismatist discussed, among other things, the estate of John A. Beck, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania collector. Beck, who was born on January 5, 1859, began collecting coins when he was about 10 years old. The article noted:
Mr. Beck is said to have had a fondness for the eagle cents of 1856, and it has been whispered among collectors that he never allowed one to be purchased by anyone else at an auction sale for less than the price he was always willing to pay for the coin. Several years ago he was reported to have had about 700 of these pieces . . . A few years ago Mr. Beck was reported to have about 125 $50 gold pieces, both round and octagonal, and it is believed that he added at least a few more before his death.
The report was not quite accurate, for a specific inventory taken in the early 1930s revealed "just" 531 1856 flying eagle cents, still an immense hoard. These pieces were disposed of in an orderly manner, without adversely affecting the market, in the mid-1970s by Jerry Cohen and Abner Kreisberg, well known professional numismatists.
Popular Mechanics magazine reported in 1925 that:
Owing to the spread of counterfeit coins in Siam, monkeys are being employed in the banks to test the spurious currency, it is reported. Installed behind the counters, the monkeys test the coins between their teeth. If good, no marks are left on the metal and the coins are thrown into a box at the animals' side. Should the coins be bad, the metal bears visible marks and is thrown on the floor, later to be swept up and destroyed.