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A Rare Plated Woodin Sale

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:4,000.00 USD
A Rare Plated Woodin Sale
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Elder, Thomas L. CATALOGUE OF THE FORTY-EIGHTH PUBLIC AUCTION SALE. MAGNIFICENT COLLECTION OF RARE AMERICAN COINS OF WILLIAM H. WOODIN, ESQR., OF NEW YORK CITY. New York, Mar. 2-4, 1911. Small 8vo [22.5 by 17 cm], original gilt-printed card covers. 75, (5) pages; 1602 lots; 18 superb photographic plates. Original prices realized list included. Housed in a brown half calf clamshell box, lettered in gilt; spine with five raised bands, ruled, lettered and decorated in gilt. Spine and overlapping edges a trifle worn; fore-edge of first plate backed with transparent tape. Near fine. Elder considered Woodin to be “one of the pioneers among the collectors of American gold coins. He may, indeed, be the first collector of double-eagles.” The catalogue is extremely rare, with the remarkable photographic plates painstakingly executed by the multitalented Edgar Adams, one of the most prolific American numismatic researchers and photographers of the early twentieth century. Twenty copies were supposedly issued with plates but the whereabouts of far fewer are currently known. Only six appear to have come to sale in the past quarter century, two of them in the 2004 Ford library sale. Our recent Baltimore auction, which offered an extraordinary ten plated Elder catalogues, did not include this sale. The first two plates depict rare American silver coins; the next three plates illustrate United States gold dollars and a few private issues; plates 6-8 depict quarter eagles; the next two plates are devoted to $3.00 pieces; plates 11-13 depict eagles; the next two plates illustrate eagles and three $50 slugs; plates 16 & 17 depict double eagles, eagles, and a few other gold pieces; and the final plate illustrates large cents and half cents. Adams A+: “One of the great gold collections of all time: 21 varieties of $10 pre 1805; 1870-S $3; 1834 $5 no motto; proofs and uncs. galore. 1827 25¢. 300 lots of 50¢. Choice half cents: 1831 original, 1845 restrike half cent proofs. 1870 pattern set. MS 1851 $50 (2).” Ex Armand Champa, with original September 10, 1981 $2,000.00 Frank Katen invoice loosely laid in, and his name stamped in gilt on the upper cover of the book box; ex October 17, 1992 Kolbe Mendelson Sale, lot 111; ex Craig Smith library (Kolbe Sale 95, lot 145); ex Dave Steine library (Kolbe & Fanning Sale 138, lot 261).