Q. David Bowers
Varieties:
OBVERSE TYPE II, RIBBON ENDS POINT DOWN, 1876-1885
REVERSE TYPE II: NO BERRY BELOW CLAW, 1875-1885
Proofs:
1. Normal issue: Breen-5831. Issued clandes-tinely. Five known. Reverse from a different die than used in 1884 and has "a faint raised guide line in the field just in front of the 12 denticles to the left of UNITED."(Per description by Carl W.A. Carlson in Stack's sale of the L.R. French, Jr. Collection, Lot 202.) Struck on normal trade dollar planchets c. 420 grains.
Registry of 1885 Trade Dollars
The following roster is updated from Walter Breen's Encyclopedia, with help from Mark Borckardt, Q. David Bowers, Carl W.A. Carlson, and P. Scott Rubin. Opinions of the grades are estimates of the author and Mark Borckardt; the opinions of others may differ (as the catalogue descriptions quoted indicate).
1. The Granberg Specimen. Proof-63 to 64
• Mint official, possibly Col. A. Loudon Snowden
• William Idler. Idler, a Philadelphia rare coin dealer, had close ties to the Mint. Through him various insiders, probably including Col. Archibald Loudon Snowden, superintendent of the Mint in early 1885, sold "special pieces" made privately for sale on the numismatic market. This practice was rampant at the Mint from at least circa 1858 through June 1885, and, occasionally, later (as under George T. Morgan, engraver, who restruck MCMVII Extremely High Relief $20 pieces and who made up special Proofs, etc., for his personal profit). (Re: Morgan producing "fancy pieces" for profit: Cf. description of 1922 low-relief Proof Peace dollars in the Norweb Collection sale and, especially, Andrew W. Pollock III, "George T. Morgan, Ambrose Swasey, and the 1921 Proof Morgan Dollars," article in The American Numismatic Association Anthology. Further: Farran Zerbe related to Louis S. Werner that Morgan made restrikes of the MCMVII Extremely High Relief pieces at the rate of one or two per year after 1907, filtering them out through Henry Chapman and Stephen K. Nagy (conversation related to the author by Werner). Some information on this, although not as specific as stated here, is among the Zerbe files donated to the ANA by Werner in the 1970s with the proviso that they be sealed for 50 years )
• Capt. John W. Haseltine. Haseltine, Idler's son-in-law, was a well-known and highly respected Philadelphia dealer, who conducted numerous auction sales, published his Type Table studies of certain early silver series (as an auction catalogue; research was by J. Colvin Randall, who received no credit line)," and who handled numerous rarities, some in partnership with Stephen K. Nagy.
• Henry O. Granberg, B. Max Mehl's sale of July 1913, Lot 392, $1,140. Granberg, one-time president of the American Numismatic Association, was a businessman who traveled widely and bought coins aggressively. He was known as one of the biggest buyers during the early twentieth century and formed and sold several specialized collections. Granberg exhibited an 1885 trade dollar (and also an 1884) at the 1916 A.N.A. Convention, three years after the 1913 auction mentioned here. Whether the 1913 coin was unsold and was still owned by Granberg in 1916, or whether Granberg owned a second coin, is not known. In the July 16, 1919 sale of the Henry O. Granberg Collection, by Mehl, there was an 1884 trade dollar but no 1885.
• William H. Woodin. An industrialist par excellence, William Hartman Woodin was a collector of gold coins and patterns, among other interests. Later, he served for a brief time as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's secretary of the Treasury, until illness forced him to retire.
• Col. Edward H.R. Green. Edward Howland Robinson Green was the millionaire playboy son of eccentric Wall Street financier Hetty Green. In his time he acquired many rarities, often in duplicate.
• Burdette G. Johnson. Proprietor of the St. Louis Stamp & Coin Co., Johnson was an active figure on the numismatic scene for many years. Among his accomplishments were the handling of the Brand and Col. Green estates.
• Jack V. Roe, B. Max Mehl's sale of June 1945, Lot 628, $1,275.
• Jerome Kern, B. Max Mehl's sale of May 1950, Lot 897, $1,450. "Perfect brilliant Proof gem." Kern, a famous composer, had many songs and shows to his credit.
• Amon Carter Sr. & Jr., Stack's, January 1984, Lot 441, $110,000. "Choice Brilliant Proof, light hairlines."
• Kevin Lipton. From his office in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Kevin Lipton traveled widely, especially on the coin convention and auction circuit, and handled many important coins. In the 1980s he relocated to Beverly Hills, California.
• Auction '84, Lot 192, $90,750. "Brilliant Proof 63. A Choice Brilliant Proof specimen with full glittering mirror surfaces, light hairlines encircled by natural russet and steelblue iridescent toning about the borders." This was one of two 1885 trade dollars in Auction '84 (the other was the Olsen specimen described below).