Coin Monday: Not Worth a Continental? Not Anymore!

June 29, 2009
Posted by John Dale

Today, the U.S. dollar is one of the premier currencies in the world, but this was not always the case. It took until 1857 for the United States to mandate the use of its own money within its borders; prior to that date, foreign gold and silver coins were acceptable in payment based on their metal content, similar to how the precious-metal coinage of the United States was judged in international trade.

(It’s worth noting that, until 1807, no gold or silver coinage struck by the Philadelphia Mint bore a complete denomination; the fraction ½ appeared on the reverse of the Draped Bust half dollars of 1796 and 1797. That, though, begs the question: Half of what?)

Even earlier, the first money created by the united American colonies became an out-of-control disaster. The early years of the American Revolution were financed by Continental Currency, a series of fiat money issues put out by the Continental Congress. Since the rebel government did not have the power to levy duties or taxes, its options for gaining revenue were limited, and the fiat currency was perhaps the best of a series of bad options.

The inability of the Continental Congress to get revenue in the first place, however, did not change, making the promise of redemption for the Continental Currency increasingly unrealistic. Over the course of roughly four years, more notes were printed in higher denominations, hyperinflation took hold, British-made counterfeits appeared, and the worth of the Continental Currency was destroyed. In the saying “not worth a continental,” the “continental” was a piece of Continental Currency.

With time, though, the “continentals” were recalled or lost, the numbers thinning. Today examples of Continental Currency are prized by collectors, and not only paper money enthusiasts; there were also a number of large-diameter coins issued as well – these historically called “dollars” – though there remains some disagreement about what denomination the coins were meant to represent.

Heritage’s August Los Angeles U.S. Coin auction has an unusually large number of these coins, six of them from the same collection, with a mix of more common varieties in high grades and top-shelf representatives of more elusive types; previews are available under the Colonials header. Not all of the descriptions are in place, but I’ve seen rough drafts of the write-ups being done for these pieces, and the catalog is going to be spectacular.

Stay tuned…

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-John Dale Beety

Second Banana #1, Ed McMahon, is dead

June 23, 2009
Posted by Noah

For many millions of Americans, Ed McMahon is, and forever will be, Johnny Carson’s affable sidekick. He sat through decades with Carson, providing the foil for many of his best jokes and always laughing good- naturedly. For countless millions of others – myself included – McMahon was Dick Clark’s sidekick on the first of what turned out to be hundreds of TV blooper and practical joke shows. Even more, McMahon was the guy that we all prayed to see at our doors with an oversized novelty check when we bought a couple magazine subscriptions from Publisher’s Clearinghouse. In all, despite never being the top bill himself, he put together a respectable career, became a household name and got to laugh at Johnny Carson’s jokes. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

I guess, more surprising, is that his death is leading the news all over the world this morning. It’s the top story on the New York Times, Google, Yahoo, Washington Post, you name it. He was a well known person, and a fixture in late 20th Century television, but the guy was no world leader, no game changer and no beloved sage or activist. He said: “Heeeeerrrrrrreee’s Johnny!” and handed out the aforementioned over-sized novelty checks. His was a life well lived, certainly, there will be no day of mourning and no national holiday for Ed, rest his soul…

You have to understand that I feel terrible about the paragraph I wrote above, but I’ve been thinking about it all morning – I know that’s pretty sad – and wanted to get it out. My grandmother would give me such a look and a little smack for speaking this way of the dead. Then she would have made me pull my ear if I sneezed and would have lit up another Vantage. She was an awesome lady. I do, however, digress and yes! The blog today is a confessional, a mea culpa and, lastly, a chance to prove that the influence of the Good Mr. McMahon reaches even into the labyrinthine HQ of Heritage Auction Galleries from our secret undisclosed location somewhere in Dallas.

Going through the myriad lots in our auction archive at www.ha.com, the wonders of modern technology plucked an impressive sextuplet of Ed McMahon lots, and they are every bit as spectacularly unspectacular as the demi-legend himself. There are autographed photos, a very stylish suit and, the most expensive McMahon lot at $262.90, a photo display from the night he received a lifetime achievement award from Hollywood’s CENSORED Club. I’m assuming they knew Johnny would come, and that Victor Borga was playing The Trop in Atlantic City that night. (Ouch! I’m sorry Mom-Mom!)

My favorite of the six, however, are actually two lots of original comic book art from 1986. Those of you out there who know your Howard The Duck are already smiling as you recall issue #33, when Howard finally gets a break and wins the “Publisher’s Sweepstakes.” The result is that he is hanging out with Ed McMahon when an old love comes calling. Heritage sold some of this original Val Mayerik artwork. I would have been sorely tempted to buy it were I around when it came up.

Always loved Howard The Duck, even after Lucas absolutely destroyed the title, and any hope it had for surviving to be valuable to posterity (I had a lot of money riding on Wendy and Richard Pini’s Elfquest as well…). The fact that Ed appeared in the comic, now in retrospect with his passing, seems a perfect fit. Marvel certainly wasn’t going to throw Ed McMahon in there with Spidey or Cap.

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-Noah Fleisher

Coin Monday: Gold Rush

June 22, 2009
Posted by John Dale

Often a numismatic item requires a good deal of explanation to pin down why it is costly, rare, or just plain awesome. This was expressed well by a representative of a major New York City auction house, who shared an anecdote with Andrew Slayman for the article “Change is Good,” published in the November 2008 edition of Art + Auction. the representative, whom Mr. Slayman notes was auctioneer for the single-lot sale that made the 1933 double eagle the most expensive coin in the world, related: “I carry with me in my pocket a 1923 gold Double Eagle identical in every way to the 1933, with the exception of one digit in the date. It’s hard to distinguish between the two coins, but the difference is all the difference in the world.”

Other times, the appeal of an item is far more straightforward, as is the case for this nearly 15-pound ingot of shipwreck gold to be offered in our August 2008 Los Angeles U.S. Coin Auction.

Step one: gold and lots of it! The 179.50 troy ounce ingot—nearly 15 pounds!—was assayed at .886 fine, and though more than a century at the bottom of the ocean may have changed the numbers a little, this hefty ingot easily packs more than 150 troy ounces of pure gold.

Step two: incredible history! I did mention the “shipwreck” part, didn’t I? This ingot is California gold, created by the assay firm of Justh & Hunter in the mid-1850s, and it was packed away in the cargo of a ship named the S.S. Central America, which sailed from Panama on a course for New York City, where it would have gone into the financial markets. A hurricane sank the Central America and its gold, however, leaving ingots like this one and thousands of freshly minted double eagles from San Francisco at the bottom of the Atlantic. The golden treasure was lost for more than a century, until its rediscovery in 1987.

This ingot shows the effects of more than a century underwater; while parts of it still gleam like new, other areas show deep red or dull green color, the result of reactions between chemicals dissolved in seawater and the non-gold metal, particularly copper, contained in the ingot. This patina only adds to the ingot’s aura of history, while still leaving plenty of fresh gold surface area to satisfy anyone’s “ooooooh, shiiiiiny!” cravings.

If you want a little less golden treasure than the mammoth 15-pound ingot but a little more than a single coin, there are a few other possibilities in our August Los Angeles U.S. Coin Auction. When bidding, think of it as your own personal gold rush – without the backbreaking work, frustration, and overpriced mining equipment.

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-John Dale

Coin Thursday: Heads? Tails? Meh… details

June 18, 2009
Posted by John Dale

(If you did not automatically read the title to today's post in the voice of my dear Yiddish grandmother - rest her soul - then please go back and do so. Once you have finished that, please read on through John Dale's late-week ramblings on double-headed, or double-tailed, coins. Interesting stuff, and funny; who among us never glued two quarters together as a kid and tried to get the neighbors to bid on the outcome of the coin flip? Raise your hands... - Noah Fleisher)

The idea of a two-headed, or two-tailed, coin is an ancient one that has lasted to the present day. Actual two-headed or two-tailed coins, however, are mighty hard to come by, since issuers of modern coins show a strong preference for coins with distinctly different sides. In the absence of actual same-sided pieces, many individuals – particularly illusionists – create their own outside the Mint, generally by combining halves from two different coins.

The Heritage Common Questions page has a section dedicated to the topic. Unfortunately for those of you with dreams of great riches out there, one of these non-Mint-made mutants is worth next to nothing, unless one happens to run into a frantic magician in search of precisely that prop.

For all the falsely concocted coins out there, though, there are a handful of genuinely two-headed or two-tailed coins. In August 2006, Heritage sold an error coin that left even the most experienced catalogers gawking: a Washington quarter struck from two reverse dies. Exactly how it was produced will likely remain a mystery, though the government has affirmed its authenticity as a Mint-made coin.

A commemorative gold issue, more readily available and produced under considerably less dubious circumstances, is also popularly known as a “two-headed” coin. The Lewis and Clark gold dollars, struck in 1904 and 1905 to coincide with an exposition in Portland, Oregon, honor the two famous explorers of the Louisiana Purchase and beyond with one of their portraits on each side. Captain Meriweather Lewis, official leader of the Corps of Discovery, appears on the side with LEWIS AND CLARK EXPOSITION PORTLAND ORE./1904 around; this is traditionally considered the obverse. William Clark, officially a subordinate of Lewis, but a co-leader of the Corps of Discovery in practice, is depicted on the side with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA/ONE DOLLAR around, usually referred to as the reverse. A convenient (if anachronistic and irreverent) way of remembering which portrait depicts which explorer: Clark has the mullet.

Using a Lewis and Clark gold dollar to win at coin flips is not recommended. The coins were not strong sellers when they were released, and only about 10,000 examples of each date were sold and avoided being melted down. Even in the worst imaginable condition any example is worth several hundred dollars, and between the two years the 1905 gold dollar is rarer, particularly in high grades. The illustrative example above, a PCGS-graded MS66 coin in our July Summer FUN Auction, is expected to bring a five-figure sum.

What will it go for? Like the Lewis and Clark expedition, the bidding progression on this coin will be a journey to an unknown destination. Who wants to do some exploring?

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-John Dale

Federalist auction brings $80,000 for Indiana Soldier

June 17, 2009
Posted by Noah

Besides the fact that Captain Nathan Harlan’s first edition Volume 1 of The Federalist Papers sold for a staggering $80,000 hammer price in yesterday’s Rare Books Auction, let me just say that the combined Rare Books and Historic Manuscripts combined events yesterday came off at a very respectable $1.2 million, roughly, and most everyone involved was pretty up about the whole thing.

More to the case in point, regarding Captain Harlan, it simply couldn’t have been a better, or more moving, auction. I know that most people don’t get too misty when recalling an auction, but if you had the opportunity to watch yesterday on HERITAGE Live!™, then you know that auctioneer Mike Sadler, an ex-Air Force guy himself – and certainly one of the bright lights of Heritage’s Auctioneer staff – put it best when he spoke of the auction and of Captain Harlan himself.

“It’s people like Captain Harlan,” said Sadler before the lot came up, “that make up the very fiber of this nation.”

You know what? I couldn’t agree more. In an age of so much contentiousness over politics and political philosophy, I believe we all can agree that our military men and women are doing their best to the do their jobs to height of their capabilities. This is not the early 1970s when Vietnam was going on – or ended – and soldiers were on the receiving end of much vitriol and hatred when they returned home. In retrospect we know this was unfair to them and – again, despite so much ideological division in this nation – we all are in the same arena when it comes to the support of our troops.

The gesture to Captain Harlan was, we thought, a simple one – waive the 20% Seller’s Commission and give the guy a few extra bucks. It was not done necessarily to just stir up PR, but simply because it was the right thing to do. The PR and media attention did indeed come pouring in like we never could have imagined. The news was all over the world, and the outpouring of support for Captain Harlan, his book, and the gesture of waiving the Seller’s Commission moved people to the core. I also think it brought in several thousand dollars more for the man.

I think of it this way: In all the times I’ve run outside and looked up at the sky on the off-chance a suitcase of money fell from the sky it’s never happened. Well, it happened for Captain Harlan yesterday because his duty as a soldier is a noble and just one.

Here’s just a sample of the hundreds of comments we’ve heard:

“I just read the news item about The Federalist auction. You waived your seller's fee for Nathan Harlan! “Ladies and Gentlemen, you are a top notch, class act. It brought tears to my eyes. In this era of corporate greed bankrupting society, you are a breath of fresh air. And did you even imagine the positive advertising and PR you are about to receive? Probably not. I commend you. You are just too awesome for words.”

I’m getting a little choked up just reading that, as I have for every bit of praise that has come in for the auction. In the micro action we took toward one soldier, and hundreds of dedicated Americans, the auction was transformed into a tribute to every American soldier. They all deserve the kind of thing that happened to Captain Harlan, and I am honored and proud to have been a part of it.

Good luck to you Captain, and god-speed, from all of us here at Heritage.

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-Noah Fleisher

The Federalist Papers auctioning today; proceeds for a good cause

June 16, 2009
Posted by Noah

Most of you probably don’t want to hear me wax for 600 words about how much great stuff, and how many amazing stories, come through the hallowed Heritage halls here in Dallas, but I could… I could… I feel fortunate to be around so much amazing stuff all the time and to be part of so many special stories, but the one we are living right now tops them all in terms of heartwarming-ness (I know that’s not a word, but this is a blog, so there’s no rules, right?) and that the story of Captain Nathan Harlan and his first edition copy of Volume 1 of The Federalist, which goes up for auction here today around 2 p.m. as part of our Rare Books auction.

This story has been widely covered by AP and has migrated around the world in the last 24 hours – and we couldn’t be happier here about it – but just in case you want to inside scoop here it is:

Captain Harlan bought the book in 1990, when he was 16, at a flea market with his mother. He paid $7 for it. Just remember that. He was studying The Federalist in school.

Years passed, Harlan grew into a man, a father and a soldier. He is currently preparing to serve his second tour of duty in Iraq. He’s a brave man and we all thank him for his service – regardless of where we come down politically in terms of the Iraq war. He decided it was time to sell his book, and almost listed it on eBay before checking out Heritage. He saw prices we’ve gotten in the past for the same book, different edition, and decided to go with us. Heritage put a conservative estimate on the volume at $8,000-$12,000. Just remember that, too.

Joe Fay, our Rare Books Manager and sometimes-Heritage blogger, suggested we try to get some publicity on the auction to raise the hammer price of the piece and hopefully get Captain Harlan a little more cash – we all know all of our men and women in service of the nation’s defense are bearing a huge burden right now and could use whatever extra money they can get. To add to this, the executive staff here at Heritage felt it would be a poignant gesture in honor of the Captain’s service to waive the Seller’s commission, meaning 20% more money for his book.

Well, AP picked up the story of Captain Harlan, the page views of his book have gone through the roof and the price… Well, remember that $7 he paid for it? And the $8,000-$12,000 estimate? As of the end of business yesterday – and the close of Internet and mail bidding – the book stood at $30,000. Yes, a three and four zeroes. It stands a chance to go even high when live bidding starts today around 2 p.m. This means ever more for Captain Harlan, and I think that bidders understand this.

It is a superb confluence of a great and important book, a worthy consignor and a good cause. The money that is going to this soldier isn’t just about him. It’s about all of our brave men and women, and the dangerous work they do for little recognition. They do it out of love for their country. I can think of little in the hearts of people that is more noble. I hope the bidding goes through the roof.

Stay tuned for results.

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-Noah Fleisher

Coin Wednesday: “1895"

June 10
Posted by John Dale

(It is Wednesday, the mid-week crunch at Heritage is on and once again I have turned to young John Dale Beety to provide his particular brilliance to the Heritage blog, and today he doesn't disappoint. I am a huge fan of speculative fiction, and 1984 is among my annual must re-reads. Somehow John Dale has tied in Orwell's masterpiece with Anthony Burgess, early millennial punk-pop and a cover by a band called Bowling for Soup with the mysterious history of the 1895 Morgan dollars. Don't ask me how he did it. He just did, and I'm glad of it. - Noah Fleisher)

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of several books I read when I was in high school but did not fully understand until I re-read it years later. Among those influenced by Orwell’s novel was Anthony Burgess of A Clockwork Orange fame, who wrote a 1970s update on Orwell’s idea which he titled 1985. For me, though, the best dystopian work titled “1985” is not the Burgess novel but the song by early 2000s alt-rock band SR-71, more famously covered by pop punk band Bowling for Soup, about a woman’s unfulfilling, antidepressant-supported suburban life and her yearning for the music and pop culture of her youth.

While it turns out that the popular story for the origin of the title of Nineteen Eighty-Four, that Orwell switched around the last two digits of the year 1948, is untrue, I’m not one to let a clever folk derivation go to waste, so I’ll take the year 1985 and mix up the middle two digits. The result is 1895, and while the possibilities for an alternate-history tale are limitless, if the writer had a coin-collecting background, perhaps the silver dollars of that year would appear in a subplot.

Morgan dollar enthusiasts collect the proof silver dollars struck in Philadelphia that year, mostly because there is no corresponding business strike issue to speak of; while Mint records indicate that Philadelphia coined 12,000 pieces for circulation, no matching coins have been authenticated. Like any good numismatic enigma, the conundrum of the missing 1895 Morgan dollars has accumulated its fair share of possible solutions:

Some claim the coins never existed, that they were a trick of accounting or that the coins struck in 1895 were actually dated 1894; others believe that the coins were indeed struck, but that the whole mintage was wiped out when silver dollars in Treasury vaults were melted in the early 20th century – with more than a quarter-billion Morgan dollars melted, 12,000 coins are nothing by comparison. Then there are the handful of numismatists who hold out hope that somewhere a business strike 1895 Morgan dollar exists, waiting to be found. I’m one of them.

In the absence of business strikes, though, collectors have turned to proofs and done so for decades, making the 880 proof Morgan dollars minted in 1895 among the most coveted coins in existence. Many of them survive today, but few of them have lasted more than a century and done so as well as the PR68 Ultra Cameo specimen coming up in Heritage’s August Los Angeles Auction. It is a shining exemplar of the coiner’s art with gorgeously contrasted mirror-fields and frosted design elements. Unlike the existence of business strike 1895 Philadelphia Morgan dollars, this specimen’s beauty is no mystery.

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-John Dale Beety

POTUS #2: The great and unsung Mr. Adams

June 9, 2009
Posted by Noah

As far as the pantheon of American Presidents go, John Adams – our estimable second Commander-In-Chief – gets surprisingly few props. I’ll grant that the man wasn’t the most charismatic of our early leaders, and certainly not the most entertaining, but I humbly submit to you now that the man was, and is, our most underrated early leader. Without his contributions, the United States would have never survived into its second decade, and many of the policies that have kept this nation safe and prosperous would never have come to pass.

Why John Adams on an overcast Tuesday, you ask?

I’ve made known my love of early American history in these digital pages before, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise. I’ve also recently been reading James McCullough’s thoroughly brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Adams, and the picture it paints of the mercurial New Englander is as compelling as that of any historic figure. He may have served one term as President, but his overall lifetime of service to America – specifically his role in the Revolutionary War in the Continental Congress and as our first Secretary of State after independence – amount to one of the greatest lives this nation has ever seen.

It also helps that, working at Heritage, there has been – and will be, surely – a healthy dose of John Adams-related material that comes through our doors. All I can say is, lucky us!

There have indeed been several high profile lots of John Adams material, mostly in the way of letters and personal writings, the most spectacular of which is also the lot with his name on it that has fetched the highest price, some $22,000+: It is a John Adams signed letter to an unknown recipient in which he discusses the meaning of the word “Republic,” as well as his longtime political rival and close friend –despite some very bumpy periods – Thomas Jefferson (it’s interesting to note that Adams and Jefferson both died on the same day in the same year, July 4, 1826, rather appropriate for such great and different Americans).

He writes: "Of republicks [sic] the varieties are infinite, or at least as numerous, as the tunes and changes that can be rung upon a complete sett [sic] of Bells. -- Of all the Varitety's [sic], a Democracy is the most rational - the most ancient - and the most fundamental - and essential of all others. -- In some writing of other of mine I happened -- current... to drop the phrase --'the word Republic as it is used may signify - any thing -- everything or nothing' -- From this escape I have been pelted for twenty or thirty years - with as many stones, as even were throw'n at St Steven - when St Paul held the clothes of the Stoners - but the aphorism is literal, strict, solemn truth…”

It goes on at some length, and I encourage you to read the whole description by clicking the link above.

There is also an excellent John Adams Manuscript in next week’s Historic Manuscripts auction.

No mention of John Adams is complete without speaking of his beloved wife, and also one of the greatest Americans to ever live, Abigail Adams. We have not had a tremendous amount of Abigail-related material come through Heritage, though there are a lot of commemorative coins in her name, which is a shame, as she is the model for America’s first ladies. She was as wise and brilliant as she was beautiful, and as Adams himself said many times in his long life, she provided ballast and counsel to the excitable second president.

If in my minor scribbling here today I can make you take moment and consider the greatness of John Adams – even if you already know it – then my work here will be complete. We are indeed a lucky nation to have had architects of democracy as amazing as we did so long ago, and chief among them – a man certainly on equal footing with his contemporaries of greater renown – was the estimable Mr. Adams.

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-Noah Fleisher

Coin Monday: Odd as a $3 bill… or coin…

June 8, 2009
Posted by John Dale

Several of the so-called “odd denominations” that appeared in U.S. coinage during the 19th century, such as the two cent piece and the 20 cent piece, went from first year to finished in less than a decade. Others lasted longer, thanks to their initial usefulness, such as the three cent coin, which was struck in both silver and nickel. One odd denomination is memorable for how it managed to hang on for more than three decades, with coins coming out in tiny trickles each year long after it had outlived its usefulness: The $3 gold piece.

Though the $3 gold piece was created in 1854 and essentially stopped circulating at the onset of the Civil War, the denomination was produced through 1889, with only a law passed in 1890 stopping the madness.

Why was the $3 gold piece allowed to go on so long, even after it became meaningless as a circulating coin? In the most general terms, once a denomination has been created by law, it stays on the books and in production until it is later repealed. Thus, the two cent piece and the three cent piece in silver vanished together, due to their omission from the Act of February 12, 1873 (popularly known as the “Crime of ‘73”), which specified that coinage denominations not specifically listed could not be produced for the United States by the various mints. The 20 cent piece, created by its own law in 1875, was similarly struck down by a laser-focused law in 1878. Despite lack of interest in the $3 dollar gold piece that was evident even in 1873, when the Mint coined just 4,250 of the pieces for circulation, its status as a coin of the realm was reaffirmed that year. It was not until the Act of September 26, 1890, a “clean-up” act of sorts, that the three dollar gold piece, the three cent piece in nickel, and the gold dollar were purged from the books.

For that matter, why was the $3 gold piece created in the first place? There was already a gold coin of similar size, the quarter eagle (equal to two-and-a-half dollars), and the general public in the 19th century found about as many uses for the coins as collectors have today; that is to say, next-to-none. An often-floated idea is that the coins were intended to help customers buy sheets of 100 stamps (postage for a letter being three cents at the time), but stamp-buying as a reason for being seems too narrow. Paradoxically, the $3 gold piece enjoyed its greatest popularity in its last decade, when speculators and gift-givers snapped up the small quantity minted each year; even while it was still around, the denomination was regarded as a curiosity!

Still, both speculators and those who received the coins as gifts saved them, and as a result, low-mintage issues such as the 1889 are available in Mint State today. As our Summer FUN auction continues to grow, look for this and other examples of the three dollar gold piece, among the oddest of the odd denominations.

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-John Dale Beety

An FDR Short Snorter

June 4, 2009
Posted by John Dale

(Young John Dale Beety has proven his worth to this blog numerous times since he started writing for it a few months ago, but today marks the first time he ventures out of coins. Ever the erudite writer, he has chosen a special piece of currency from the upcoming Manuscripts Auction, and ever the stylist, he has done so in fine form. It is still a numismatic-related lot, but much different, quite quirky, and very cool. Nicely done, I say. Thanks John Dale! - Noah Fleisher)

On the face of it (pun intended for the currency collectors out there), there is little special about the silver certificate in Heritage’s upcoming June Grand Format Historical Manuscripts Auction. It is from Series 1935A, common as silver certificates go. The serial number is nothing special, and the note is worn with multiple folds and slight staining.

Turn it over, though, and signatures run down its length. With the right margin and its “Special Mission 11/22/43” inscription at the top, an important name stands out two-thirds of the way down, across the O in ONE: Franklin D. Roosevelt. Far from being a run-of-the-mill silver certificate, this is actually a World War II-era “short snorter” signed by the then-President and date-linked to the Teheran Conference.

What is a short snorter note? A brief definition is that it is a piece of paper money, typically of low denomination, signed by friends or compatriots in commemoration of an event or time spent together. Often, short snorter notes were taped together, and the notes collectively could be referred to as a “short snorter” as well. The true origin of the short snorter may be lost among myths, but the custom was widespread in the American military during World War II and was often associated with the purchase of large quantities of alcohol.

My short definition stops there, largely because my mother reads this blog, but there’s plenty more information available in print and on the Internet. Two articles about short snorters headline the May 2009 edition of The Numismatist, official magazine of the American Numismatic Association, and the Short Snorter Project is dedicated to the bills and the stories around them. Scrolling down the Short Snorter Web site, this lot is listed as number six in the set of links, from when it was the featured exhibit at the Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center Museum for March 2005. Below that are the articles from The Numismatist in PDF format, reprinted with permission.

Short snorter enthusiasts treasure them as small slivers of personal history, as individual and distinctive as those who carried them. Condition is not nearly as important as the story a short snorter has to tell. No two people react the same way to a short snorter, either; a short snorter that is of abstract interest to one viewer can have a much more personal meaning to another, though no bond can be so strong as the one between the short snorter and the person who carried it.

Today, there are three types of signatures on short snorters that attract the most attention outside specialist circles: celebrities, particularly those who went on USO tours; important military figures, such as General George S. Patton; and political figures, such as FDR. This short snorter is more than a mere presidential signature, though; Roosevelt is one of many names on the note, brought together by a “special mission” that profoundly influenced the end of World War II.

“History in your hands,” indeed!

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-John Dale Beety

Heritage announces NYC and Beverly Hills expansions; experts sought

June 2, 2009
Posted by Noah

These are some pretty exciting days around Heritage. Get this: while numerous other major players on the auction scene are laying people off and contracting, Heritage is actually expanding. Immediate plans include the opening of offices in New York City and Beverly Hills, where space has been reserved, but that’s about all I can say right now. This puts us square in the action of two of the best markets in the world. The company is also actively recruiting to fill important positions and sent out an e-mail letter to our non-numismatic client base. I figured I’d let the letter itself do the talking and the explaining. It’s not standard blog fare, but it’s also not standard news. This is big stuff for this company, and lays out a clear path for the future.

Ahem:

“While other auction firms have reported shrinking sales and significant lay-offs, Heritage is adding multiple world-class experts to its current staff in more than 25 different categories. These experts will, in some cases, head new departments and in others will enhance existing department expertise. We have positions open at our headquarters in Dallas as well as at our new state-of-the-art galleries in prime locations in both Midtown Manhattan and Beverly Hills, scheduled to open in late 2009, or in early 2010.

“We believe Heritage's business model of transparency and respect for our bidders' time is the wave of the future, as clients are discovering us in record numbers (read our Mission and Values statement here). In fact, we recently enjoyed our most profitable quarter ever (Jan-Mar 2009), as well as the best April in our 33-year history as an auction house. Our 2009 sales volume will likely match or exceed our record 2008 numbers even as the other major auction houses report 60% sales decreases.

“Heritage is now ready to hire the world's best experts to support existing departments and launch new ones, especially in the following categories, though we will consider many other areas as well, including sub-categories:

“American Art, Ancient Coinage, Antiquities, Asian Art, Books, Maps, and Prints, Decorative Arts, European Art, Jewelry and Timepieces, Latin American Art, Modern and Contemporary Art, Photography
Vintage Automobiles, Wine.

“These are top, high profile positions; we are seeking ambitious candidates who will bring their excellent reputation, strong business and work ethics, organizational skills and knowledge to represent Heritage in the best light. Preferred candidates will have more than 5 years in a major auction house environment, or experience as a commercial dealer (a combination of both would be ideal). Writing and public speaking talents and skills are a plus. Job duties will include obtaining consignments; supervising the vetting of condition; authentication of properties consigned; reviewing inquiries; proofing of cataloging, essays, and advertising copy; marketing specific objects to important clients, and supervising two or more auctions per year with full bottom-line responsibility in the case of department heads.

“Interested parties, with proper qualifications, are encouraged to email their resume and salary history to Experts@HA.com.”

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-Noah Fleisher

Coin Monday: A dime worthy of Dali

June 1, 2009
Posted by John Dale

In past Coin Monday posts, I’ve made clear my love for error coins. They fascinate me, both for what they can teach about the minting process and for the mildly transgressive charm of their blatant imperfections (A coin-as-humorous-gift that I’ve been waiting to spring on someone is an inexpensive error coin, paired with a handwritten note that reads “Nobody’s perfect.”). I was cataloging recently for Heritage’s July Summer FUN auction when I came across a small batch of error coins. One in particular stood out: a 1918-dated dime brockage.

As dramatic as other errors might be, few are as surreal as the brockage; one side is perfectly normal, but the other side is a mirror image of the first, with the features sunk into the coin instead of raised and the lettering reversed. A brockage results from a glitch in striking. In the modern minting process, a blank planchet is fed between two dies, one lower die or anvil die that does not move, and one upper die or hammer die that is raised and lowered. (The terms anvil and hammer are holdovers from the time when coins were made by hand. A heated planchet was placed on the lower die, the upper die went on top of the planchet, and the broad top surface of the upper die was struck with a mallet or hammer.)

Normally, a planchet goes between the two dies, receives an impression, and then the newly minted coin is ejected to make room for the next planchet. Rarely, though, a newly minted coin sticks to one of the dies. When the next planchet comes in, instead of being struck by two dies, it gets its design from one die and one coin. The coin-as-die is in positive relief, so it gives the planchet a negative impression, and since the coin-as-die shows the side opposite that of the die to which it is stuck, the brockage side of the error mirrors the normal image.

In the case of this 1918 brockage dime, a coin stuck to the reverse die, and this piece was then struck with the obverse die, which created the normal impression, and the obverse of the coin-as-die, which is responsible for the mirror image. Both sides are well-centered and show sharp impressions of Miss Liberty but relatively weak letters and numbers; interestingly enough, the word LIBERTY and the date are more clearly defined on the brockage side. Though this dime is dated (twice!), the mintmark is missing, and where this error was made remains a mystery. Its absence, however, will hardly dampen error collectors’ enthusiasm for this double-headed treat. It’s just the beginning of what promises to be a great Summer FUN auction.

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-John Dale Beety

Coin Friday: “Big Money”

May 29
Posted by John Dale

(Is it Friday already? What? Who am I? What am I doing here?... yes, it’s been one of those kinds of weeks, with the holiday at the beginning bringing it commensurate respite from labor that always has to be made up on the back end. It doesn’t get any more back end than Friday, so John Dale – always the valiant blogger – has volunteered to anchor the weekend with another of his coin posts… If he keeps this up I’ll just have to reserve Monday and Friday as coin days for our young numismatist… Today he tackles a rather humorous subject in terms of coins, and yes coins can be humorous. Just read on and you’ll see… and have a good weekend. My thanks to John Dale. – Noah Fleisher)

For more than 60 years, the highest denomination of U.S. currency printed has been the $100 bill, and despite the presence of larger notes in other denominations (such as the $500 note), the Treasury department has no plans to print anything higher. Interestingly, the largest coin struck by the United States also bears the $100 denomination: the one-ounce platinum American Eagle, represented by this 2007-dated proof specimen in our upcoming July 8-12 Summer FUN auction.

This status is subject to a couple of caveats: The first is the possibility that 2008 was the last year for the denomination. While all fractional platinum American Eagles and the uncirculated-finish one-ounce piece were discontinued after 2008, the proof one-ounce platinum American Eagle was spared, and though a release date has not been announced, I’ll mark $100 down as a “dead” coinage denomination only if I see an official statement about its cancellation or if none are minted before January 1, 2010. Until then, it counts!

Another potential quibble is that the one-ounce platinum American Eagles were never intended for circulation, from which the idea springs up that their $100 denomination shouldn’t count. It’s true that the coins were not meant to be spent; to quote from American Eagle Platinum Bullion Coins, a U.S. Mint brochure printed in March 2004, “Their face values are largely symbolic, because platinum’s market price … has historically been higher.”

The same brochure, however, emphasizes that the platinum American Eagles are real coins with the full backing of the U.S. government, specifically their “weight, content, and purity.” The standard term is non-circulating legal tender, abbreviated NCLT, but the Treasury emphasizes the legal tender aspect. (It’s worth noting that the American Eagles, like other bullion pieces struck by governments worldwide, are official coins to give them protection under anti-counterfeiting laws, in addition to other applicable statutes.)

The one-ounce platinum American Eagle may be the largest coin the United States has ever struck, but it’s hardly the largest-denomination coin ever produced. In 2004, the Austrian Mint created 15 examples of its popular Vienna Philharmonic coin in an oversized format containing 1000 troy ounces of pure gold in a .9999 fineness alloy, with a face value of €100,000.

Three years later, the Royal Canadian Mint claimed the world record. It produced a mammoth Maple Leaf bullion coin that contains an astounding 3215 troy ounces or 100 kilograms of .99999 fineness gold. Its official denomination: C$1,000,000. The Royal Canadian Mint has filled multiple orders for the million-dollar coin, though the publicity the coin has garnered has doubtless outweighed any actual profit made; as written on the Web site, “Why did the Royal Canadian Mint make the world's purest and largest gold bullion coin? Because we can.”

Until Heritage’s World Coin department gets one of those million-dollar Canadian coins in a consignment, our bidders will have to content themselves with something…smaller. Might I suggest an ounce of platinum?

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-John Dale Beety

The accessible side of Natural History Prints, or how to buy like you have a second house in The Hamptons

May 28
Posted by Joe

(I’m glad to welcome Joe Fay back to the Heritage Blog, our Rare Books Manager here at Heritage HQ. Joe wrote for us a few months back on a rare first edition of his favorite book, The Hobbit, that appeared in the last Rare Books auction. He’s volunteered a post for today regarding the upcoming mid-June rare books auction with an amazing selection of fine Natural History prints in it. I’ve seen these things up close and they are indeed impressive specimens of art and nature. Best of all, however, they represent a very affordable opportunity _ about $500 and up – to acquire something that, as Joe points out below, seem somehow to always end up on the walls of weekend cabins in the woods or beach houses belonging to people who rarely see them, even if they walk by them every day. The prices of many things here at Heritage are, rightly, not for beginners or the faint of heart. Not so this time, however. If you’ve ever wanted something beautiful, of value and at a great price, then this is a superb opportunity. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my eye on one or two prints in the auction. – Noah Fleisher)

Every time I open Architectural Digest or Florida Design – any other interior design magazine you could name – a homeowner with much more money than myself is being featured after remodeling their country house or cabin. Invariably there hangs on the wall – some wall in this beautifully re-designed home I couldn’t afford to rent for a night – a single framed example or an artfully displayed assortment of exquisitely-colored natural history prints. Not the two butterfly prints my mom had hanging in the guest bathroom when I was a kid, but the real kind: folio-sized, hand-colored original plates featuring exotic birds, mammals, flowers, fruit, reptiles, amphibians, and more.

In the June 16-17 Heritage Rare Books Auction #6025, we’re offer to the collecting (and decorating) public a vast single-owner collection of these very desirable and vibrantly-colored natural history prints and a smaller but no less important assortment of natural history rare books and sets, some of which include thousands of brilliantly-colored fine prints within their pages.

As mentioned above, these prints are often utilized as decorative pieces by interior designers, interior decorators, and anyone else who might fancy themselves as such. In other words, these prints have come to be regarded as works of art.

Prints like Lot 37374, a brilliantly hand-colored lithograph of Edward Lear's hyacinth macaw (yes, that Edward Lear, who was an illustrator of parrots before he wrote a word of nonsense poetry), might get framed and hung on the wall of a mountain cabin by a designer looking to match the wall art to a client's blue couch or to offset a white chaise lounge.

Lot 37313, the print featured on the cover of our catalog would also be suitable as an art display. This particular print is Daniel Giraud Elliot's Pavo Cristatus, an absolutely stunning hand-colored lithograph from Elliot's famous monograph on pheasants. It could complement earth tones, black, white, blue, aqua, or any number of other combinations of colors in furniture, carpet, upholstery, etc.

Besides their obvious and consistent use as decorative objects, natural history prints and books are also historically significant for their representations of very seldom seen aspects of the natural world, or certainly scenes not easily found by the human eye in nature.

An example of this is Lot 37279, which shows a scavenging bird at a closer viewpoint than most people have ever seen or will ever see a vulture (hopefully). The print is a wonderfully imposing hand-colored aquatint engraving by Havell from the first edition of Audubon's The Birds of America (London: 1827-1838).

Another print, Lot 37329 presents a fascinating and seldom witnessed scene in nature, showing an imposing mother Eagle Owl feeding a small brown bunny to her three babies. Both of these prints show close-up views of important members of the animal kingdom from an era way before the advent of zoom lenses, and for that matter, modern photography itself. This intimate view of nature continues to be a very valuable aspect of what makes these prints special.

We've had a special opportunity to live with these elegant prints for a few months now, and the time has come for us to release them back into the wild world of collectors, dealers, designers and so on; to let them spread their wings and fly away home, preferably your home; to plant themselves in a new garden, maybe on the wall inside your house next to your garden.

OK, I'll stop there, but you shouldn't, because if you've ever even thought of acquiring ornithological prints, or you don't know what "ornithological" means but you just want something beautiful to hang on the wall behind your new Stickley chairs, this is your chance because the entire collection of natural history fine prints and rare books is being sold without reserves. That's right. Your first bid might just be the winning bid. You never know.

You can certainly know that if you don't bid you have a 100% chance of not winning one of these gorgeous hand-colored works of art. We expect spirited bidding competition during the auction in June, and hope to see you there, your bidder card soaring like the Bird of Washington.

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-Joe Fay

"My name is Anderson. They call me Bloody Bill."

May 27, 2009

Posted by Noah

"My name is Anderson. They call me Bloody Bill."

That quote is from Clint Eastwood's seminal mid-1970s movie The Outlaw Josey Wales, and there's a very exciting "Bloody" Bill Anderson related lot in the upcoming Civil War Auction.

A Presentation Sword given to Lt. Col. Porter S. Cox in 1864, in recognition of his role in the killing of infamous Civil War guerrilla fighter “Bloody” Bill Anderson – a member of Quantrill’s Raiders – will lead a June 25 auction of rare and important Civil War artifacts at Heritage Auction Galleries’ Uptown Dallas headquarters. The across-the-board depth of the auction leaves no doubt that Heritage has become the most important auctioneer of Civil War artifacts in the nation.

“This sword is doubtless one of the most tangible touchstones in existence to what is probably the most romanticized, fictionalized and cruelly violent chapter in American Civil War history,” said Dennis Lowe, Director of Civil War Auctions at Heritage, “the merciless ‘no quarter’ bloodletting of the Kansas-Missouri Border War and the guerrilla rampage of Quantrill’s Raiders and ‘Bloody’ Bill Anderson.”

The saber is inscribed on the reverse of the scabbard between the ring mounts, "Presented to/ Lt. Col. Porter S. Cox/ the Officer who whipped Thrailkill/ and killed Bill Anderson the Bandit/ by his friends in St. Joseph, Mo./Nov. 25th 1864.” The sword, up until recently, was owned by Cox’s descendants. It carries with it an estimate of $55,000-$65,000.

During the Civil War, William “Bloody Bill” Anderson tormented Union soldiers. He was a pro-Confederate bushwhacker – men who pillaged for profit, who fed and grew strong on the nourishment of revenge. Among these men, Anderson became one of the most despised of them all. Anderson and his men were known for their savagery against Union soldiers and civilian sympathizers alike. They usually shot prisoners and often mutilated and scalped their victims. It’s been reported that Anderson once said he had killed so many Federals that he “grew sick of killing them.”

Anderson’s spree came to an end in October 1864, when Union militia Lt. Col. Samuel P. Cox caught up with the Kentucky native in Missouri. Cox, assigned by Union commanders specifically to track down Anderson, sent a mounted detachment to lure Anderson and other guerrillas into an ambush. As the gang approached, the militiamen fired a volley and one of the Civil War’s most notorious bushwhackers fell dead.

Shortly afterward, Cox received this presentation sword for the killing of Anderson and fellow bandit John Thrailkill.

The story continued on Dec. 7, 1869, when Jesse James walked into the Davies County Bank in Gallatin, MO – where Cox had been awarded the rank of Colonel for killing Anderson – and summarily shot dead the cashier, declaring to the citizens on his escape that he had avenged the death of his "brother" “Bloody” Bill Anderson by killing Cox. The cashier was Capt. John W. Sheets, not Cox, as Jesse believed.

Cox went on to a successful business career, dying in 1913.

Famously, in modern times, when The Outlaw Josey Wales, as portrayed by Clint Eastwood in the 1976 film, seeks revenge for the murder of his family by Kansas raiders, he casts his lot with the man who identifies himself by saying, "My name is Anderson. They call me Bloody Bill." With this line the legend was re-born for an entire generation of Americans. Anderson is the subject of numerous books and a character based on him appears in the 1976 Clint Eastwood movie The Outlaw Josey Wales.

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-Noah Fleisher

If you had any doubt about The Flash’s superiority, you now stand corrected: Showcase #4 brings almost $180K and Chicorel brings $600K+

May 26, 2009
Posted by Noah

I know I had waxed an awful lot on last week’s Comic Auction, especially about the Showcase #4 – featuring the single greatest super hero in the history of the known universe, and even those we don’t know about, the one and only Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen – and about the astounding Chicorel Collection, but as the results for the auction, across the board, shows, these were and are indeed amazingly good comic books. In fact, the Showcase #4 that I coveted so dearly is now the single most-expensive Silver Age book in history as a determined and erudite collector paid almost $180,000 for it, including the BP. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: That’s one big matzo ball.

As impressed as I was by the price for Showcase #4 – and as proud as I am to point to my lifelong love of The Flash – the true heart and soul of the auction was The Chicorel Collection, which realized more than $600,000 all told. It was an astounding thing to watch made even better by the presence of Ralph Chicorel and two of his sons who were in Dallas for the event. I sat behind them, and chatted with them throughout the first 70-odd lots of the auction and was impressed with the level-headedness of Ralph and his sons, both of whom clearly love their old man and were thrilled to be part of the event with him.

Ralph, for his part, was quite relaxed and sanguine. Here he was, almost 70 years after buying these comics off the stand and putting them away watching a frenzied buying public pay tens of thousands of dollars for his collection. He seemed well at ease with the proceedings and quite happy with the results. I know it was 70 years in the making, but as the first part of the auction concluded and I had to leave to go finish my daily work, I couldn’t help but clap Ralph on the shoulder and say:

“Not bad for an afternoon’s work, huh?”

Not bad at all, and it really couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of folks. For my part, this is one of the best things about being the Media and PR Liaison at this company. I get to witness these great auctions and spend the time with the consignor – in this case a man who has lived an excellent life so far, has a loving family and is able to watch the fruits of his labor come to auction and quantify them with great prices. It’s the cherry on top for Ralph, who was a successful businessman and a way more successful family man. Yes, the money is a sizable amount for the collection, but the obvious love and respect of his children – and their excitement at the event – made it way better. I’ve seen many times when hardcore collectors sell their stuff for big money but the family doesn’t care much, because they know nothing about the collection, or don’t care, or maybe have no close relatives to revel in the respective glory of the accomplishments.

There were plenty of records set in this auction, including the most ever for an Underground comic – Zap #1 at more than $13,000 – and for Modern Age – Wolvie #1 in 10.0 Gem went for more than $15,000, which is gratifying to see given how good a comic book it is – but before you decide yourself to dig out your 1980s comics and inundate Heritage with your own comics, the ones you are absolutely sure have to be 10.0s themselves, remember the Wolvie #1 is the exception to the rule, not the norm. Do us all a favor and dig out the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s comics and inundate us with those. The chances are way better that they actually would have some value, and way better that Heritage would be willing to take a look. Store your ‘80s and 1990s comics away for another 60 years – like Ralph Chicorel did with his – then maybe we can talk.

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-Noah Fleisher

Coin Friday and Monday: That coin

May 22, 2009
Posted by John Dale

(Because Monday is a holiday, and most of us are going to be remembering our fallen soldiers and celebrating the start of summer, John Dale and I huddled and decided to move Coin Monday to today and let the Coin Monday faithful have a full long weekend to savor the work. That, and I am always happy to turn an extra day over to John Dale; I learn as much from his posts about coins as in any part of my job, and more than once I’ve related facts that I’ve picked up in these posts to friends and family. No kidding. The most useful is to never – ever! – call a cent a penny. I repeat, NEVER call a cent a penny. You don’t want to see what happens to a numismatist when you commit this egregious sin. My thanks to John Dale, and my wishes to you for a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. – Noah Fleisher)

The idea of a condition census, or listing of best examples, for a date or die variety is time-honored in numismatics. Usually, the condition census will show a sliding scale of grades, such as the top two or three coins being graded AU55, the next best examples XF45 or AU50, and so on, with small rather than large differences in quality from one piece to the next. A few issues, however, have coins in their condition censuses that have become famous in their own right; the Abbey Cent, a 1799-dated large cent, is not at the top of any generally accepted condition census for its variety, yet it has achieved such fame that merely saying “Abbey Cent” sparks instant recognition among many early copper collectors.

In other instances, a coin is without rival, far ahead of the other pieces in the condition census, and gains recognition for its quality; such a coin may be referenced by grade or by pedigree, if the latter is applicable, and the highest possible honor is to be known simply as “that coin,” as in the following conversation:

Cataloger A: “So, have you seen anything exciting today?”

Cataloger B: “We’re getting in an 1856-O $20.”

Cataloger A: “Oh, nice! What grade?”

Cataloger B (smiling): “It’s a 63.”

Cataloger A: “A 63! …oh, is it that coin?”

Cataloger B (nodding): “Yes, it’s that coin.”

Our Long Beach Auction press release covers plenty of ground on the Specimen 63 1856-O double eagle, but it’s hard to convey in a press release how it feels to be in the presence of a mind-blowing coin, one that takes the expectations a collector has for an issue and turns them upside-down; it is not lackluster but gleaming, not softly struck but sharp, not heavily abraded but lightly marked. Until its reintroduction to the numismatic community, no collector even dreamed that an 1856-O $20 like it could exist, and once it appeared on the market, its impact was immediate. Phrases such as “the single most important New Orleans double eagle in existence” are not mere puffery, but reflections on the esteem in which this specimen is held. A common refrain among numismatists is, “If only this coin could talk!”

Perhaps it’s just the auction-house employee in me, but I imagine that if coins could talk, this one would be singing like Eartha Kitt and wanting an old-fashioned millionaire.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-John Dale Beety

Chicorel Collection of Golden Age Comic Books today

May 21, 2009
Posted by Noah

As we speak I am preparing to go downstairs for the opening of this week’s comic auction, which starts with the amazing Golden Age comic book collection of one Ralph Chicorel. Perhaps you’ve read about it on our home page or comics page at http://www.ha.com/, or maybe you saw the nice story Jamie Stengle of the AP wrote about the trove and its amazing journey.

Ralph’s story is one of those one in a million, suitcase-of-money-falling-from-the-sky things that we all wish could happen to us. Basically it’s this: he collected the original Golden Age comics off the newsstand, kept them carefully and moved on with his life. In 1970 he sold half of the collection to raise money for a family move. He got about $3500, a tremendous sum for comics at the time. He didn’t have time to dig up the other half of the collection before the auction, moved, became a successful businessman and forgot about the books.

Almost 40 year later he dug up the trove and contacted Heritage. It’s expected the amazing collection will bring upwards of $500,000, and I believe it – I’ve seen these things and they are indeed, as Al Milgrom put it, “some of the mintiest books I’ve ever seen.” It helps a lot that Ralph and his family are here, at Heritage for the auction, and that he’s about as nice as you’d want someone with such tremendous foresight and good luck to be. I love this story, am glad to be on the periphery of it and am glad that I get to witness such a thing and see that the word gets out about this collection.

As for the comics themselves, I don’t know where to start, except to say that they are all amazing books. From the Marvel Comics #1 to the Marvel #9 to the Batman #4 and #7 to any number of awesome comics in between, it’s a real treat. The color on many of these is still magnificent, and the prices are relative bargains. There are the sexy ones, mentioned above, that will get the high five and six figure prices, but it is the books that are going to go for $2000-$5000 that will prove the true future boon to their erudite buyers.

Yes, these are the type of comic books that make even the most seasoned veterans of the industry – meaning the guys in the Heritage comics department – sit up and take notice, even betray a little excitement. Barry Sandoval, the Director of comics, put it best when he likened the finding of this collection to the Time machine fantasy of many a comic book geek. All they want is to go back in time and buy the comics off the stand, first issue, put it straight into an air-tight containment device, and bring them back in time to add to their collections. There doesn’t have to be any more destiny tampering than that.

Is it so much to ask? Just a couple teeny tiny comic books?

The good news is that, today, we get the chance to see what those time-pilfered comics would actually bring.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Noah Fleisher

More magic afoot at Heritage: Harry Potter trove in June

May 20, 2009
Posted by Noah

I wrote here a few months ago about when we auctioned off an original 1st edition signed paperback of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. It was worldwide news – It is, after all, Harry Potter – and seemed to open the floodgates where original Harry Potter books are concerned. This is, BTW, a good thing. Oh yes it is.

For our upcoming mid-June Rare Books Auction it seems we have a whole lot of a good thing with not just an original hardcover English 1st Edition Harry Potter leading the way – $30,000-$50,000 for this little treasure – but an original complete set of first Deluxe editions signed by Rowling Herself, a complete set of English hardcovers, also signed by Rowling, a complete set of American first editions, a first edition English version of Book Two – Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets – and, just to top things off, a first edition signed version of the Tales of Beedle The Bard, the only literature of the Rowling universe outside of the Harry Potter books themselves.

Whew! How’s that? I guess you could reasonably say that we’ve become the go-to house for rare and valuable Potter first editions.

Is it a little mind-boggling that books that are scarcely 12 years old are commanding $30,000? Yes, but I really don’t know too much about the world of rare books. I do know enough, however, to know that demand is everything and in today’s world there can be no doubt that the single most in-demand title is anything with Harry Potter on it. If we can facilitate the phenomenal growth of this niche – and fuel the continued growth of the Potter legend, then good for us!

Personally, I would love to have one of these books, because they are touchstones of modern Pop Culture and quite valuable. As far as literature goes, not so much. People love Rowling’s world, and they adore her characters, but you can’t possibly tell me that the writing is world class. The storytelling? No question. The writing? Again, not so much. I’ll take me some Faulkner or Nabokov on their worst writing day anytime over Rowling on her best. Like I said, it’s not to fault her epic imagination, just her prosaic writing. I know some of you must be fuming and wringing your hands over my blasphemy, but you can’t change my mind…

The real question with the Harry Potter phenomenon isn’t really what they mean to us today – it’s an indisputable fact that the series of books and movies are one of the most important properties of modern times – but rather whether they will have any legs 100, 200 or 300 years from now. Barring any unforeseen amazing medical breakthroughs – or maybe advanced cryogenics or the prospect thereof a la the future of Jim Halperin’s book The Truth Machine – I’m at a loss to say.

I won’t venture a guess here, as I’d hate for history to somehow prove me wrong, or some alien civilization based solely on the writing of Rowling to arrive here in millennia, uncover my answer and vilify me for all time to its dominion. You know it’s possible…

Anyway, content yourself in the meantime with looking at these superb volumes, and dream of where you’d put them on your own bookshelves. Imagine your grandchildren looking at them and asking you: “Grandma and Grandpa? Is that really a book?”

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Noah Fleisher

“Modern” Love: A wealth of 20th Century readies for June 4 auction

.May 19, 2009
Posted by Noah

I am pretty much the classic example of a Liberal Arts education. I am well-rounded enough in enough diverse subjects that I can speak with a modicum of knowledge on just about any subject. Wanna try me? Shoot me an email (NoahF@HA.com) and I’ll try to dazzle you with the wealth of trivia stashed in the storehouse of my skull. I have no particular desire to be this way; it’s simply the fashion in which my particular skill set – which allows me to do this wonderful job – has evolved. What can I say? Nature of the beast, and all that.

I mention this because there are so many people at Heritage who can say the same, but who have a much greater institutional knowledge of their specific specialty – coins, comics, sports, etc. – than I could ever hope to have, and who also possess an impressive generalist knowledge as well, and also because there is one area of this business I love above all others, and about which I feel I know just about nothing despite – literally – hundreds of hours spent in its pursuit. That specialty is 20th Century Design, and to say that this stuff makes me ecstatic like my 3-1/2-year-old when she’s chasing bubbles is an understatement.

It also just so happens that we have what is really a spectacular 20th Century Design auction coming up here at Heritage. I kid you not. If you’re an aficionado of Modern design, and you’ve watched as Heritage has made its way in the category, then this is the one that you’ve been waiting for.

Depth? You bet. Variety? Unquestioned. Style? Where to even begin?

All I can say is that our new Director of 20th Century, the multi-faceted Christina Japp, (click here and scroll down for her bio) has done an expert’s job of assembling as deep a selection of 20th Century as has ever been offered here, and one that will certainly make the main players in the category sit up and take notice.

My focus has always been on “Modernism” as a form between roughly 1940 and 1980, give or take a few decades on either end with a healthy nod to Biedermeier, the Vienna Secessionists, Arts & Crafts, Mission and Deco. So, basically, everything. I would give my left foot for an original Charlotte Perriand bibliotheque, anything original by Nakashima, Bertoia, van Der Rohe, Prouve, Miller, Eames or any of 30 or 40 designers I know I am forgetting, which is exactly what is so amazing about the pursuit of 20th Century design.

Fortunately for a Modern-o-phile like myself, this auction has a little bit of everything, and a little bit of dozens of designers. There’s amazing Tiffany, a superb Ruhlmann cabinet, a classically modern Sotsass cupboard and a simply astounding array of other great stuff I simply don’t have the time to write about. There’s even an iconic New York Keith Haring painted leather jacket.

I know that I will finish this post, get it online and kick myself for not doing this auction, or my passion for Modernism, justice, but that is the nature of this particular bug. The very best minds on the form have forgotten way more than I will ever possibly know about Modernism, and they would say the same of their teachers. It is an infinite, intricate pursuit; one that fills a lifetime and makes you wish you had just a little more time.

A good place to start is here at Heritage on June 4, or at the online catalog for the event, linked here as well.

Click on the title of this post to leave a comment.

-Noah Fleisher