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1867 Joseph J. Mickley Medal PR63 Uncertified. Co

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1867 Joseph J. Mickley Medal PR63 Uncertified. Co
<B>1867 Joseph J. Mickley Medal PR63 Uncertified.</B></I> Copper. Thick Planchet. Few collections of coins ever sold in the United States can compare in importance to the cabinet auctioned in 1867 of Joseph J. Mickley. But it is not just the sale itself that is of interest today--Mickley himself was at least as interesting, and had tastes in life, as varied as the coins he collected.<BR> The story goes that at the age of 17, the young Mickley sought out a cent from his birth year: 1799. As later generations of numismatists would immediately recognize, but was unknown at the time, Mickley was born in the rarest year in the entire large cent series from 1793 to 1857. Considerable effort was expended before he finally located an example, and by then he was well on his way to assembling a date run of cents. In the same year, after the fire in the Mint in early 1816, a subterranean vault was uncovered. Two dozen or so old coin dies were discovered and sold to Mickley as scrap (from which he later produced restrikes with the help of Edward Cogan).<BR> But coins were only one area of interest in Joseph Mickley's life. A piano maker and musical instrument repairman by trade, Mickley also had remarkable facility for learning languages. Fluent in French and German, two years after the sale of his collection he left for Europe, and in the several years he was abroad increased his fluency to also include Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, and modern Greek. Following Mickley's death in early 1878, William E. DuBois related the following story about his friend in the <I>American Journal of Numismatics:</B></I> "In the entertaining manuscript of his travels, to show how the Russians are given to the study of other languages than their own, he states that at Nishni-Novgorod, a town well on to the border of Siberia, he went into a restaurant, where there were two young ladies, one of them smoking a cigarette. Supposing he might safely soliloquize in German, he said, "What a pity for such a nice girl to be smoking." Quickly she took out the cigar, and gave him to know that she understood women's rights and German besides. With his usual naivete, he adds, 'how careful we should be.' " Mickley took life head-on and embarked on adventures in his late sixties that would have frightened most men half his age. DuBois concluded, "He seemed bound to see everything in Europe, as well as the borders of Asia and Africa. He was almost stifled in the crypt of an Egyptian pyramid; needed his overcoat in Lapland, where he went in June to see the sun go all around without making a dip; fell down the ancient well of Cicero in Rome, and was knocked down by a careless driver in Constantinople, and taken up for dead..."<BR> Joseph Mickley's collection of world and United States coins was judged "best all around" by John Adams, who also proclaimed it "perhaps the greatest U.S. collection." A portion of his extensive holdings were stolen in early 1867--an event that lessened his interest in furthering his numismatic holdings, and led to the outright sale of his non-gold coins to W. Elliot Woodward in October of that same year. Woodward then conducted a sale in Mickley's name, and unambiguously denied that the catalog contained any coins other than those that belonged to Mickley: "...not one piece of any description has been added...wishing to offer a catalogue of the Mickley collection only, I have refrained from any changes." However, Q. David Bowers apparently believes otherwise, as he stated in <I>The History of United States Coinage As Illustrated by the Garrett Collection,</B></I> " Woodward described the Mickley Collection in a 196-page catalogue comprising 3,349 lots, including additions from his own stock."<BR> By any measure Woodward's sale of the Mickley Collection is a numismatic event of unparalleled proportions. The first lot in the U.S. section was a high grade 1794 dollar that brought $75 and was sold to Colonel Mendes Cohen. Also in the silver dollar section, Mickley's 1804 dollar brought an astounding $750, being purchased by William Lilliendahl. His proof sets commenced with 1827(!) and went through 1866, lacking only eleven years. Each denomination in the U.S. section is virtually complete and many duplicate proofs are included in the date runs. One has to wonder, though, about Woodward's understanding of the minting process and his definition of terms. His description of an 1842 Large Date half dollar is certainly enigmatic to modern readers: "Large date, quite as fine as the last, so fine that it can hardly be described as less than proof, rare." A "Splendid proof" 1794 half dime was offered (perhaps the Lelan Rogers coin?) and fetched a respectable $10.00, being sold to James Clemens.<BR> When one reads through the catalog, it is easy to miss the importance of some of the pieces offered. For instance, an 1851 three cent silver: "Splendid proof, rare" hardly draws attention to the extraordinary rarity of the coin, but J.N.T. Levick appreciated its rarity so much he paid $60 for it. Mickley's large cents and half cents are comprehensive with many proofs sprinkled in generously among the later issues. Patterns are also well represented for the time, but one must remember this was before the large production of patterns began in the late 1860s. Mickley's Colonials probably could not be duplicated today at any price. Several pages list his holdings of Pine, Oak, and Willow Tree coinage (apparently Mickley was the first to use the name "Willow Tree" to describe these coins). Some attempt was made by Woodward to distinguish varieties of the state issues, but the sale was held seven years before Crosby published the first book that systematically organized Colonials by die varieties. Edward Cogan bought Mickley's Sommer Islands shilling for $80, and his Lord Baltimore penny brought $370--the strong prices in this section of the catalog being a testament to the popularity of early American coinage at the time. Non-U.S. coinage collected by Mickley is also very impressive to specialists, with especially fine runs of Roman Imperial coinage and English silver and copper since the Conquest.<BR> Designed and engraved by William H. Key, a Brooklyn-born engraver, he was employed as assistant engraver at the Philadelphia Mint from 1864 to 1892. Key engraved dies for several Mint medals as well as private commissions. This is an especially attractive example of the medal issued by the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia. The surfaces are a lovely even brown with underlying hints of lilac and rose. The fields are deeply mirrored, and the only noticeable flaws are a carbon spot over the M in MICKLEY on the obverse, a thin contact mark below the T in PRESIDENT, and a contact mark in the field left of the word OF. A very pleasing example of this rare and important American numismatic medal.<BR><I>Ex: World-Wide Coins of California Auction (11/6/86), lot 620.</B></I><BR><I>From the Collection of Dr. R.J. Hubartt