LOT Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers LLC  /  Sale 143, Part 1  / 

273

The First Photographic Representation of the Dexter 1804 Dollar

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:600.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 USD
The First Photographic Representation of the Dexter 1804 Dollar
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Weyl, Adolph. VERZEICHNISS EINER BEDEUTENDEN SAMMLUNG VON MÜNZEN UND MEDAILLEN VON AMERIKA, AUSTRALIEN, ASIEN UND AFRIKA, SOWIE EINER STATTLICHEN REIHE PROKLAMATIONS-MÜNZEN VON SPANIEN. Berlin: 46ster Auktions-Katalog, 13ten Oktober 1884 und folgende Tage. 8vo [23 by 15.25 cm], removed from previous binding. (2), 50 pages; 2355 lots; 1 fine Lichtdruck illustration measuring 4.5 by 10.75 cm, pasted in near the base of the title, depicting the obverse, a portion of the edge lettering, and the reverse of an 1804 United States silver dollar. Very good or better. An extremely rare auction catalogue featuring an important collection of coins and medals of America, most notable for its photographically printed illustration depicting what is now known as the Dexter specimen of the 1804 dollar. Not in the library of the American Numismatic Society and, apparently, it had not been seen by Newman or Bressett when their classic work The Fantastic 1804 Dollar was published in 1962. The Lichtdruck illustration, produced through a process similar to a collotype, has been the source of much confusion through the years. The conjecture that the illustration was that of an electrotype of the Idler 1804 dollar is certainly mistaken. The 1804 dollar depicted is clearly Type 1 without any signs of wear, consistent with the Dexter specimen, although the portion of the edge depicted [DOLLAR ** O] appears to be relatively distinct except for the second L and the R. Collotype or Lichtdruck illustrations, while of excellent quality, are photographically printed from plaster casts and, though the quality of detail is excellent, toning or proof surfaces are not apparent. This might account for the differences perceived by Ed Frossard when comparing it with the same coin sold in 1885 by the Chapmans, these “differences” apparently being the basis for the Idler electrotype theory. Nearly all European auction catalogues of the 19th century that include illustrations of coins provided those illustrations through collotypes or similar techniques based on plaster casts; American catalogues of the time period used a variety of photographic printing techniques based upon photographs of the coins themselves. A lack of familiarity with collotype-illustrated catalogues led some American numismatists to suspect that Weyl didn’t even possess the coin in the question. (As an aside, we mention that the image of the coin’s edge lettering seems not to have been produced with the Lichtdruck technique, but with a more directly photographic technique, which may have been more appropriate for this type of image--possibly the first of its kind.) That such a rare American coin would appear in a German auction is not as unlikely as it might initially appear to be. During this time period, the Weyl firm made a specialty of offering important collections of überseeischer Münzen, often featuring extensive selections of North, Central and South American coins, tokens and medals. The famous 1879 Fonrobert sale, for example, featured over 6,000 lots of North American coins, tokens and medals and several thousand Central and South American lots. In addition, while the 1804 dollar stands out, the American coins in the sale clearly formed a meaningful collection. The assertion the Chapman brothers might have “laundered” this coin also needs reassessment. It is true that the Chapman brothers regularly traveled to Europe to attend major coin auctions and Samuel Hudson is known to have participated in archaeological excavations there. Indeed, John W. Adams has speculated that S.H.’s “summer-long ‘research’ trips to the continent” may have been a factor in the breakup of the brothers’ partnership. Thus, it would appear to be quite possible that the collection was viewed by the Chapmans sometime during the summer of 1884 (nearly a year elapsed between the June 9-14, 1884 sale of the Warner collection and their next sale, the May 14-15, 1885 sale featuring the “Weyl” dollar, in which sale a number of other Weyl acquisitions were also offered). If the coin was indeed “planted,” the Chapmans may still be prime suspects but it is also possible that another American dealer or source near the Mint placed it since a number of other coins in the sale appear to be consistent with the Mint’s early sub-rosa collector marketing programs. Weyl termed the 1804 dollar in the sale “tadellos, noch nicht im Verkehr gewesen” (flawless, uncirculated), going on to comment on the similarity of the coin to the Cohen specimen and the quality of the edge lettering “Genau mit der Abbildung der im Jahre 1875 zu New-York versteigerten No. 535 der Collection Cohen übereinstimmend; Randschrift jedoch auf vorgliegendem Exemplar nur schwach ausgeprägt.” No reference is made to the choice Sanford 1804 dollar sold the year before Cohen’s, perhaps a ploy to accentuate the superiority of the Weyl coin over the Cohen dollar. This is only the second example of this catalogue that we have offered at auction (though we have sold one other copy privately). A copy deriving from the library of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Montreal (probably having been part of the library of Robert Wallace McLachlan, which was transferred to the Chateau de Ramezay in 1922) was sold in the 14th Kolbe/Spink sale in 1995. The present example had been part of the library of Kenyon Painter and was acquired by the current owner from a general bookseller in the American Southwest. Interestingly, all three copies we have handled have been removed from previous bindings (this example includes the first leaf of Weyl’s next catalogue, not included in the pagination above). A fabled rarity, of considerable historical and numismatic importance.
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