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FROSSARD’S 1879 MONOGRAPH

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 USD
FROSSARD’S 1879 MONOGRAPH
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Frossard, Ed. MONOGRAPH OF UNITED STATES CENTS AND HALF CENTS ISSUED BETWEEN THE YEARS 1793 AND 1857: TO WHICH IS ADDED A TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL COINS, TOKENS, JETONS, MEDALETS, PATTERNS OF COINAGE AND WASHINGTON PIECES, GENERALLY CLASSIFIED UNDER THE HEAD OF COLONIAL COINS. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE NUMISMATIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Irvington: Published by the Author, 1879. 8vo, contemporary brown half morocco, gilt; spine rebacked in black cloth with title written in white ink; original gilt-printed front wrap bound in. 58, (2) pages; 9 heliotype plates [first seven plates with numbers and/or ligatures added in red and purple ink; plate nine numbered]. Near fine. An above-average copy of this classic work, with eight of the nine plates numbered and/or with ligatures added by the author. Frossard took the opportunity presented by his Jan. 3, 1879 sale of the George Merritt collection to compile this work, illustrating it with coins from Merritt’s collection as well as from that of Lorin G. Parmelee. The story of the compilation of these plates is told in the September 1878 issue of Numisma, though it has been inaccurately stated through the years that the plates were initially created for use in the Merritt catalogue (they are the wrong size for an auction catalogue and depict both sides of most early varieties, using of necessity different coins—from both Merritt and Parmelee—to do so). Three hundred copies were printed (this is unnumbered). The plates were intended not only to illustrate the various die varieties, but to assist the collector in learning how to grade properly: throughout the work, Frossard provides his own opinion of the grades of the pieces illustrated. The book is a good overview of both series and one of the earliest to deal with die varieties for dates past 1794. Of considerable historical importance as one of the early major works on large cents and half cents. The plates in this copy have more red-ink annotations by the author than usual. Davis 400.