Who Cut The Auction Catalog Plates?

Recently scanned at the American Numismatic Society under the sponsorship of Newman Portal are the Worthington Bitler (1900-1987) notebooks on U.S. large cents. These notebooks, c. 1945-1960, document a large cent collector’s quest to categorize information in a specialized area. Arranged in scrapbook style, the collector included clips from published sources, personal notes, and plates cut from auction sale catalogs. The last represent a bibliophilic crime of high proportion, but one should remember such plates were not especially prized at the time. Bitler was simply trying to put order to the universe, organizing notes and photographs for each Sheldon variety. Volume no. 4 includes purchase records for the Bitler collection, which was comprehensive by Sheldon variety. Bitler’s prices paid were coded in Greek letters – here is a challenge for the numismatic linguist. The Bitler notebooks were no doubt carefully studied by Del Bland during his many visits to the ANS, and remain ripe for investigation by early U.S. copper researchers.Link to Worthington Bitler notebook for U.S. large cents, vol. 1, 1793-1794: https://archive.org/details/uscents179394vol00bitlLink to Worthington Bitler notebook for U.S. large cents, vol. 2, 1795-1814: https://archive.org/details/uscents17951814v00bitlLink to Worthington Bitler notebook for U.S. large cents, vol. 3, 1815-1857: https://archive.org/details/uscents181557vol00bitlLink to Worthington Bitler notebook for U.S. large cents, vol. 4, purchase records: https://archive.org/details/uscents17931857v00bitl