Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 162 22 Jan 2022
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Original Unpublished Breen Manuscript on U.S. Gold Dollars Heavily Revised & Annotated by the Author
Breen, Walter. ORIGINAL TYPEWRITTEN DRAFT, EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BY HAND, OF A SUBSTANTIVE WORK ON UNITED STATES GOLD $1 PIECES . Untitled and undated, but with annotations citing auctions and other events as late as 1977. 8.5 by 11 inch paper, almost always only typed on one side. Annotations are all in Breen's hand, in a wide variety of inks. A total of 91 pages, numbered 1–83 plus 28A, 36A, 37A, 40A, 42A, 44A, 55A and 72A; one plain envelope laid in, on which have been written various emendations and additions for 1865. Paper quality varies, as draft were replaced when revisions were made. Occasional staining; edges of some of the older pages are worn, with some chipping to opening margins. Generally very good, overall. A substantive unpublished Breen manuscript, and one that provides significant insight into Breen's composition process. Breen had published a groundbreaking die study on the United States $1 gold pieces in the October–December 1963 issues of the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine. This work surpassed anything that had previously been written on the subject, and the articles were reprinted in monograph form as part of Hewitt's Numismatic Information Series. The present manuscript indicates clearly that Breen continued to compile data on this denomination. Although complete, it does not include the historical background with which Breen began his earlier articles/monograph, diving immediately into a discussion of die varieties, arranged chronologically, providing considerably more information. The last several pages are devoted to a study of rarity, as his earlier work ended. It is interesting to examine these pages for signs of Breen's working process. The pages vary, as does their numbering. The earliest pages simply have the number within colons, as :39: . Pages that had been revised and retyped were indicated with an asterisk, like :42*: . Occasionally, one sees a page marked like :69**: , indicating that a second retyping had taken place. Nearly every page has handwritten annotations by Breen, with many pages featuring annotations in several colors of ink. Page 23, one of the most heavily annotated, bears writing in at least six different inks, all in Breen's hand. Breen's was a cumulative composition process, where the writing was continually ongoing and revisions never stopped. This is a fascinating manuscript that is of strong interest to specialists as it goes into more detail than could be accommodated in the 1988 Complete Encyclopedia. Unique.
Breen, Walter. ORIGINAL TYPEWRITTEN DRAFT, EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BY HAND, OF A SUBSTANTIVE WORK ON UNITED STATES GOLD $1 PIECES . Untitled and undated, but with annotations citing auctions and other events as late as 1977. 8.5 by 11 inch paper, almost always only typed on one side. Annotations are all in Breen's hand, in a wide variety of inks. A total of 91 pages, numbered 1–83 plus 28A, 36A, 37A, 40A, 42A, 44A, 55A and 72A; one plain envelope laid in, on which have been written various emendations and additions for 1865. Paper quality varies, as draft were replaced when revisions were made. Occasional staining; edges of some of the older pages are worn, with some chipping to opening margins. Generally very good, overall. A substantive unpublished Breen manuscript, and one that provides significant insight into Breen's composition process. Breen had published a groundbreaking die study on the United States $1 gold pieces in the October–December 1963 issues of the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine. This work surpassed anything that had previously been written on the subject, and the articles were reprinted in monograph form as part of Hewitt's Numismatic Information Series. The present manuscript indicates clearly that Breen continued to compile data on this denomination. Although complete, it does not include the historical background with which Breen began his earlier articles/monograph, diving immediately into a discussion of die varieties, arranged chronologically, providing considerably more information. The last several pages are devoted to a study of rarity, as his earlier work ended. It is interesting to examine these pages for signs of Breen's working process. The pages vary, as does their numbering. The earliest pages simply have the number within colons, as :39: . Pages that had been revised and retyped were indicated with an asterisk, like :42*: . Occasionally, one sees a page marked like :69**: , indicating that a second retyping had taken place. Nearly every page has handwritten annotations by Breen, with many pages featuring annotations in several colors of ink. Page 23, one of the most heavily annotated, bears writing in at least six different inks, all in Breen's hand. Breen's was a cumulative composition process, where the writing was continually ongoing and revisions never stopped. This is a fascinating manuscript that is of strong interest to specialists as it goes into more detail than could be accommodated in the 1988 Complete Encyclopedia. Unique.