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Lester Merkin’s Plated 1913 John P. Lyman Sale, Signed by the Cataloguer

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1,100.00 USD Estimated At:1,800.00 USD
Lester Merkin’s Plated 1913 John P. Lyman Sale, Signed by the Cataloguer
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Chapman, S.H. CATALOG OF THE SPLENDID COLLECTION OF SILVER & COPPER COINS OF THE UNITED STATES FORMED BY JOHN P. LYMAN, ESQ., BOSTON. Philadelphia: S.T. Freeman & Co., Auctioneers, Nov. 7, 1913. 8vo, original white cloth and boards, upper cover lettered in gilt. (2), 42 pages; 619 lots; 8 fine photographic plates. Plates IV through VII (depicting large cents) neatly annotated by Emanuel Taylor with attribution numbers in white ink. Signed by S.H. Chapman on the front flyleaf. Label residue on spine; near fine. Adams A-: “Proof 1801-02-03 $1. 1804 $1 with 6 page analysis. MS 1805 10¢, XF 1802 5¢. Excellent cents: MS chain, 1807, 1813, 1814.” A wonderful example of this scarce and important sale catalogue, featuring an 1804 dollar with six pages of descriptive text. Four of the superb plates depict choice United States large cents, one illustrates half cents, and the remaining three are devoted to rare American silver coins. Lyman, well-known in the financial world, was President of the Webster and Atlas National Bank of Boston. His collection was formed principally between 1877 and 1884, and was, as Samuel Hudson Chapman noted, “uniformly in the finest state of preservation, and it is a keen delight to an expert to have to describe a collection in which every piece shows the work of the engraver unmarred by the buffetings of circulation.” This copy is remarkably unfoxed and is signed by the cataloguer: the Chapmans virtually never inscribed their catalogues and it remains unclear whether Samuel Hudson’s signature indicates that this was a personal copy or an exception to the rule. Ex Lester Merkin library (Kolbe Sale 18, lot 256). Ex Kolbe & Fanning Sale 123, lot 256. Ex Michael Spurlock library.