GEORGE FREDERICK KOLBE
FINE NUMISMATIC
BOOKS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2007
Classic American coin auction sale catalogues were in great demand in George Frederick Kolbe's 104th auction of important numismatic literature, closing on November 1, 2007. The sale featured the library of John Jay Pittman, Jr., and nearly fifty other consignors. The highest price achieved in the sale was $27,600, for a handsomely bound, very fine set of the American Journal of Numismatics, estimated at $20,000 [selling prices cited include the 15% buyer premium; estimates do not]. One of the biggest surprises in the sale was a nearly complete set of 153 Chapman brother auction sales, formed mostly catalogue-by-catalogue over the past 25 years by a dedicated numismatist. Estimated at a seemingly realistic $8,500, five bidders competed for it strongly and it ended up realizing $21,850, well over double estimate. Classic plated auction catalogues set records, often selling for double estimate or more. This reflects the entrance into the market of a new generation of numismatic bibliophiles, along with a renewed realization that the surviving numbers of many nineteenth and early twentieth century catalogues issued with photographic plates, especially those of the Chapman brothers, are quite small.
A selection of sale results follows: a complete set of the Numismatic Chronicle, 1836-1996, sold for $17,250; Fulvio's 1517 Illustrium Imagines, the first illustrated numismatic book, brought $8,050 on a $4,500 estimate; a complete set of Sotheby's classic 1903-1904 Murdoch sales realized $3,162; John Jay Pittman's very fine first edition Red Book brought $2,587 on a $2,000 estimate; Howland Wood's set of volumes 3-6 of The Numismatist, estimated at $4,500, sold for $6,325; Elder's 1921 Gehring sale with photographic plates realized $5,750 on a $5,000 estimate; George Fuld's plated 1890 Parmelee sale caught the attention of many bibliophiles, five of them bidding over the $1,750 estimate, eventually bringing $3,795; Frank Van Zandt's unparalleled collection of 158 copies of Evans' Illustrated History of the United States Mint, 1885-1901, sold for $6,900; and a complete set of B. Max Mehl catalogues, formed by the same collector who assembled the 153 Chapman sale catalogues, brought an impressive $8,050.
Kolbe's next sale is scheduled for March 2008 and will feature
a remarkable, virtually complete library of books and catalogues
on classical Greek coins, including all volumes published thus
far of the international Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum. Other consignments
are still being accepted. Kolbe may be contacted at P. O. Box
3100, Crestline CA 92325, telephone: (909) 338-6527, email: GFK@numislit.com.