NOTES ON THE ANR SEBRING SALE CATALOG Público Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 55, December 28, 2003, Article 4
NOTES ON THE ANR SEBRING SALE CATALOG
The catalog of the January 5-6, 2004 Classics sale from
American Numismatic Rarities makes for interesting reading.
The sale opens with another nice selection of U.S. pattern
coins and ends with the Thomas H. Sebring collection of
shipwreck coins and related items. The Sebring collection
has a two-page introduction by Bob Evans of the S.S. Central
America recovery team. In addition to recovered coins and
ingots, the consignment features related medals, including the
1858 medal struck for the state of Virginia to honor the
Central America's heroic captain William Lewis Hearndon.For bibliophiles, lot 1666 is a deluxe leatherbound version of
Q. David Bowers' 2002 "A California Gold Rush History."
".. front endpapers include a pinch of 'authentic gold dust from
the Central America' protected behind plastic in the miner's
pan of the illustrated scene - a nice touch, inspired by the
1849 second edition of the 1842 'A Manual of Gold and
Silver Coins of All Nations' and the '1850 New VArieties of
Gold and Silver Coins' bu Jacob R. Eckfeldt and William E.
DuBois of the Philadelphia Mint, works which included a
specimen of California gold dust behind a mica window....
This edition cost nearly $1,000 per copy to produce.."The catalog includes an essay by John Kraljevich,
"My Friend Tom Sebring." John describes meeting
Sebring when attending his first coin show in West Chester,
PA at age 10 in 1988. Sebring invited John to join the
local coin club, which he did, and had the chance to see
and learn from Tom and other experienced numismatists
every month for the next seven years.Related to a recent E-Sylum topic, the auction also
includes a 1783 Chalmers Shilling (lot 1039). From the
lot description: "The recent discovery of a Chalmers
threepence in the basement of a house on the street
where Chalmers lived in 1783, covered in such papers
as the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, has led to
speculation that the basement was the site of Chalmers'
mint. While the discovery is an exciting one, the presence
of a single coin is not persuasive evidence of minting activity,
particularly in the absence of silver scrap, minting equipment
or tools, or other implements manufactured by Chalmers.
We prefer the historical record, which notes an outbuilding
present on property that Chalmers actually owned and
occupied up the street from the location of the recent
discovery.- 2003-12-28
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