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W.W. Hays’s Plated Parmelee Sale

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1,100.00 USD Estimated At:1,800.00 USD
W.W. Hays’s Plated Parmelee Sale
A buyer’s premium of 17.5% will be added to the cost of all lots purchased. See shipping info and full terms.
New York Coin & Stamp Co. CATALOGUE OF THE FINEST EXISTING COLLECTION OF AMERICAN COINS, THE PROPERTY OF MR. LORIN G. PARMELEE, OF BOSTON, MASS. New York: Bangs & Co., June 25-27, 1890. Tall 8vo, original black quarter calf, gilt; original gilt-printed wraps bound in. 96 pages; title printed in blue, black and red; 1443 lots; fine portrait of Parmelee; 13 fine tinted photographic plates. Handpriced throughout in red ink. Signed by William Wallace Hays on the front flyleaf. Spine worn as usual, with rear board detached; near fine interiors. An outstanding sale, rated A+ by Adams: “Absolutely definitive for patterns, colonials (several unique), and regular issue gold, silver and copper.” Parmelee’s remarkable collection has frequently been regarded as the finest collection of American coins ever formed. One hundred copies were issued with plates (though most haven’t survived), attractively tinted to approximate the metal color of the coins depicted. The presentation of the Federal issues is rather unique. Arranged chronologically rather than by denomination, this innovation was not well received at the time, and has seldom been used since. A famous and highly successful Boston bean baker, Parmelee began collecting coins by sorting through the large cents from his daily receipts. He sold duplicates but continually upgraded his personal collection. In his first major coup, he purchased the superb collection formed by George F. Seavey, which was slated to be sold at auction. He acquired the Brevoort collection in 1876, the magnificent Bushnell collection in 1882, and purchased many rarities from Sylvester Crosby. The first two plates illustrate copper patterns and colonials; plates 3 and 4 depict silver patterns and colonials; plate 5 illustrates copper colonials and Washingtonia; plate 6 is mainly devoted to early cents and half cents; plates 7 and 8 largely depict superb early United States silver coins; plates 9 and 10 are devoted to choice cents and half cents; plates 11 and 12 mainly illustrate United States and gold patterns, including a Brasher doubloon; and the final plate is devoted to large denomination nineteenth-century United States silver coins. Ex Kolbe & Fanning Sale 137, lot 144.