A. W. Browning
Coins pictured on the Browning plates were from the Col. E.H.R. Green Collection, mostly from Ard W. Browning himself, though a few (lower grade?) rarities were from C. J. Detwiller.
The original Browning variety descriptions appear in larger type below the relevant text illustration and are in turn followed by my annotations in smaller type.
Two or more auction citations separated by commas represent successive reappearances of a single specimen. Auction citations separated by semicolons represent different specimens, so far as I have been able to ascertain.
Pedigree chains are undoubtedly incomplete. There are many reasons:
1. Photographic quality (or, more often, lack of it) made many pieces untraceable. 2. Others have been cleaned one of more times during their history, obliterating patterns on toning, while still others have developed additional toning. 3. Certain dealers, prior to about 1953, had an unfortunate habit of reusing halftone cuts from their previous catalogues, when the cuts illustrated coins illustrated coins of different grade, variety, and sometimes even date, from the specimens they purported to illustrated. 4. More often than that, even to the present day, many dealers have suppressed pedigrees in order to avoid anyone learning their actual costs and markups. 5. Auction appearances from the 1980's through to publication date of this book are not fully recorded here. Robert W. Miller, Sr.'s numerical Condition Census largely makes up for this.
Information about unlisted varieties, unlisted die states, unlisted specimens of the great rarities, corrections, or additions to pedigree chains, will be greatly appreciated.
Through the courtesy of Fred Lake, I have seen an inventory of Ard W. Browning's holdings (1911-1912) in his copy of [Ben G] Green's Numismatist's Reference and Check Book. (2nd ed., Chicago, the author, 1902.) The individual items show source, year of acquisition, and price; some varieties of quarter dollars are indicated, most are only alluded to by numerals indicating numbers of varieties known. (As of 1922 he knew all the varieties in his 1925 book except 1804 B-2, 1834 B-5, 1836 B-3 & 4, 1837 B-3 & 4.)
Identifiable specimens have been integrated into the pedigrees in the main text. Browning collected primarily silver coins, trimes through trade dollars; his only important gold coin was an 1887 Proof $3, from Proskey in 1922. He had, or claimed to have, some important half dollar Proofs:1818, ex U.S. Coin Co., 1913, at $12; 1843, 1846 and 1849 ex Wayte Raymond, 1920, at $20 each; 1847, ex M.S.C., 1922, at $16; 1848, ex U.S. Coin Co., 1917, at $4 and $5. Two quarters in his inventory are finer than those pictured on his plates, notably Uncirculateds of 1805 (ex U.S. Coin Co., 1913, at $9.50, variety unidentified, probably B-2 or B-3), 1806 (same source and year, variety uncertain, $12.50).
The table of mintages originally included on pages 35-36 of Browning's work have been omitted in this revised edition. Since Browning write some mintage figures have been dramatically mislead new collectors of this series.
Note one illustrations: Except where otherwise noted, all illustrations in the text are from new prints from Browning's original glass negatives now owned by a West Coast collector. The original (1925) Browning format grouped illustrations onto plate pages, making attributions by plates and printed descriptions cumbersome. The present format will alleviate this problem and will assist collectors in attributing their coins. To preserve as much of Browning's original format as possible, illustration plates have also been include at the end of the volume, as in the 1925 edition. Illustrations in the text are twice actual size; those grouped on the plate pages are shown actual size, as in the first edition.