Q. David Bowers
3. Eliasberg Specimen. EF
• George H. Hall Collection. Stack's, May 1945, Lot 1576, $1,750. (Attribution tentative.)
• Will W. Neil Collection, B. Max Mehl sale, 1947. Neil, a Kansas druggist, was very interested in silver dollars of all eras and was One of the first numismatists to study the rarity of Morgan dollars as found in circulation (in the 19208). His collection was sold via mail bids by B. Max Mehl, the Fort Worth, Texas dealer who in his time was the most publicized professional numismatist in America. Lot 202, $1,500. (Carl W.A. Carlson believes this may have been the George H. Hall coin.)
• Stack's. The purchaser of the Neil coin was Stack's, a firm owned by Joseph B. and Morton M. Stack, who entered the coin auction business in New York City in 1935, and by 1947 was well known in the field. Later, their sons, Benjamin, Harvey, and Norman, managed the business.
• Louis E. Eliasberg, 1947. Louis Edward Eliasberg, a prominent Baltimorean, owned the Finance Company of America. He began his interest in numismatics in the 1930s when gold coins became scarce, following their withdrawal from circulation. By the mid-1940s he determined to do what no one ever did before (or has done since): to acquire one of each and every date and mintmark of United States coinage. This ambitious goal was realized in 1950. A generous man, Louis Eliasberg exhibited his collection widely, including at the Philadelphia Mint, the Smithsonian Institution, and various banks. He was ever willing to share his experiences with collectors, and a talk he gave at the Evergreen House (owned by The Johns Hopkins University) in Baltimore in 1976 related how he formed his cabinet. Following his death, his collection passed to his family. The present writer catalogued and presented at auction The United States Gold Coin Collection, comprising the Eliasberg gold coin cabinet, in 1982, at which time the unique 1870-S $3 and the only known 1822 $5 in private hands were sold, as well as over 1,000 other pieces, consisting of a complete offering of American gold coinage. I wrote a book, United States Gold Coins: An Illustrated History, in connection with the event.
4. Ostheimer Specimen. VF
• Compton Collection, sold by Milferd H. Bolender. Test mark near 7th star. Bolender over a period of years conducted many rare coin auctions. He is remembered today as the author of the book The United States Early Silver Dollars from 1794 to 1803 (Freeport, Illinois, 1950).
• Milferd H. Bolender (apparently, the purchaser from his own sale).
• Mr. and Mrs. Alfred]. Ostheimer. In the 1960s, Mr. and Mrs. Ostheimcr were familiar figures on the numismatic scene. A highly successful insurance executive, Mr. Ostheimer desired to form an outstanding cabinet of silver dollars. Considerable publicity followed the purchase from Louis S. Werner of a pair of "1804" and "1805" dollars, apparently sold by Werner "as is," although they had been condemned as forgeries earlier (cf. Newman-Bressett The Fantastic 1804 Dollar for details).
• Lester Merkin sale of the Ostheimer Collection, September 18-19,1968. Lot 372, $9,500. The Ostheimers consigned their 1870-S dollar to Lester Merkin, whose auction sales held in New York City in the 1960s were well known for their excellent content and authoritative descriptions (including many by Walter H. Breen). This is the only 1870-S dollar to have passed through Lester Merkin's hands. (Information concerning this coin from author's conversation with Lester Merkin, February 20, 1992. Lester Merkin thought the Ostheimers may have owned another 1870-S at one time.)
• Gilhousen Sale, Superior, October 1973. Lot 1339, $62,500. Many of the coins in the sale were from Dr. Charles L. Ruby; Walter H. Breen wrote much of the catalogue." Superior Stamp & Coin Company, founded in Los Angeles in 1930 by two brothers, is today owned by Ira and Lawrence Goldberg in partnership with Bruce McNall, McNall being especially well known in the sports world as the owner of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team. Bruce McNall founded his business empire with his rare coin firm, Numismatic Fine Arts.
• 1975 ANA Convention sale by Superior, Lot 1125.
"Overall About EF, traces of original prooflike surface as on all the best-preserved ones, many minor pinscratches and other handling marks; small rim test mark above 7th star ... " $42,500. Sold to the following.
• Julian M. Leidman, Maryland rare coin dealer. Sold to the following.
• House of Stuart (Gary Sturtridge; Tonganoxie, KS, dealer)
• Bowers and Ruddy Galleries' 1978 American Numismatic Association convention sale. Lot 1160, $39,000. This coin was photographed and featured on newspaper wire services and was publicized in many periodicals.
• James E. Pohrer.
•1983 ANA sale conducted by Kagin's Numismatic Auctions, owned by Arthur M. Kagin and his son, Donald Kagin, Ph.D. Lot 2707, $63,000. Arthur Kagin began his business in the 1930s with the Hollinbeck Stamp & Coin Company of Minneapolis, and with his brother Paul bought the firm. In the 1950s "the fabulous Kagins," as they styled themselves, were America's most prominent cash buyers of rarities.
• Leon Hendrickson and Carl Fusco. In the possession of Leon Hendrickson at the 1991 ANA Convention, Chicago.
• Private collection.
•Advertised for sale for $175,000 by Phoenix Rare Coin Galleries in July 1992.
5. Eureka Specimen. FV-F (scratched)
• This 1870-8 silver dollar was reportedly found in circulation by an 18·year-old boy in 1922 in Eureka, a town in northern California, who kept it until the 1970s. This coin has numerous scratches, marks, etc.
• Donovan Sale, Part II, conducted by Steve Ivy in July 1978, Lot 1128, $32,000. Ivy, of Dallas, Texas, entered numismatics as a youth and soon achieved a reputation for having a large inventory of coins and handling rarities. In the 19808 he became a partner with James L. Halperin (founder of New England Rare Coin Galleries, which he sold in the early 1980s) in Heritage Galleries in Texas.
• Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, New York City bankers, foreign exchange dealers, and numismatists (today known as the MTB Banking Corporation).
• Auction '85, a joint sale held by Paramount International Coin Company, Rarcoa, Stack's, and Superior. Paramount's Lot 1270, $35,750.