Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 164 27 Aug 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Geoffrey Charlton Adams's Dixie Land Sale with Fine Photographic Plates
Adams, Geoffrey Charlton. THE DIXIE LAND COLLECTION OF COINS AND MEDALS. New York, November 13-14, 1906 [postponed to November 14-15, 1906]. 8vo, original salmon heavy paper printed covers stapled at spine, as issued. 44, (2) pages; 1139 lots; 2 fine photographic plates depicting American coins and tokens. Bidsheet and return envelope laid in. Covers a bit worn, particularly at spine. First plate a bit silvered from being against plain paper of facing page. Contents, including plates, generally fine. Adams 30, with plates. The "Dixie Land Collection" was Adams's thirtieth and final sale. While a printed announcement of the sale mentioning a plated version of the catalogue had been known for many years, an actual example of the plated catalogue had never been offered publicly or reported to the numismatic community until the present copy was offered in our 2013 New York Book Auction. The plates are high-quality photographic plates, and are well-executed. The first depicts a variety of U.S. and colonial coins, including 1796 and 1797 half dollars, an 1879 Flowing Hair Stella, a Pine Tree shilling, a Rosa Americana twopence, a Chalmers shilling, rare Seated Liberty dollars and a Confederate cent. The second plate mostly depicts US. half cents and large cents, including key dates (1796 half cent with pole, two 1793 chain cents) and well-preserved early dates; a few early U.S. silver coins (1804 dime, etc.) are also included. While the printed sale announcement mentioned earlier stated that 100 plated copies would be printed, the fact that the sale's existence went unrecorded for a century strongly suggests a rather more limited print run. Discovering a new 20th-century century plated sale was exciting enough: that the plates in question are of high quality and depict some very nice U.S. and colonial coins was truly icing on the cake. The cataloguer, Geoffrey Charlton Adams, is a bit of a mystery. John W. Adams has noted that "although claiming to have been a numismatist since 1879, he does not surface in the hobby until 1903. Three years after he surfaces--in October of 1906, to be exact--he earns the rare honor of being expelled from the American Numismatic Association." While the reasons for his expulsion appear to have been forgotten, the event may have been the final blow to his career. Regardless, he seems to have disappeared shortly thereafter. A decade later, Tom Elder termed Adams "a unique numismatist who formerly had offices in the Scrapiron, and an interview with whom is sought by several individuals." Ex Kolbe & Fanning's 2013 New York Book Auction, lot 162 at $4500 hammer; ex Cardinal Collection Library.
(Estimate: $3000)
Adams, Geoffrey Charlton. THE DIXIE LAND COLLECTION OF COINS AND MEDALS. New York, November 13-14, 1906 [postponed to November 14-15, 1906]. 8vo, original salmon heavy paper printed covers stapled at spine, as issued. 44, (2) pages; 1139 lots; 2 fine photographic plates depicting American coins and tokens. Bidsheet and return envelope laid in. Covers a bit worn, particularly at spine. First plate a bit silvered from being against plain paper of facing page. Contents, including plates, generally fine. Adams 30, with plates. The "Dixie Land Collection" was Adams's thirtieth and final sale. While a printed announcement of the sale mentioning a plated version of the catalogue had been known for many years, an actual example of the plated catalogue had never been offered publicly or reported to the numismatic community until the present copy was offered in our 2013 New York Book Auction. The plates are high-quality photographic plates, and are well-executed. The first depicts a variety of U.S. and colonial coins, including 1796 and 1797 half dollars, an 1879 Flowing Hair Stella, a Pine Tree shilling, a Rosa Americana twopence, a Chalmers shilling, rare Seated Liberty dollars and a Confederate cent. The second plate mostly depicts US. half cents and large cents, including key dates (1796 half cent with pole, two 1793 chain cents) and well-preserved early dates; a few early U.S. silver coins (1804 dime, etc.) are also included. While the printed sale announcement mentioned earlier stated that 100 plated copies would be printed, the fact that the sale's existence went unrecorded for a century strongly suggests a rather more limited print run. Discovering a new 20th-century century plated sale was exciting enough: that the plates in question are of high quality and depict some very nice U.S. and colonial coins was truly icing on the cake. The cataloguer, Geoffrey Charlton Adams, is a bit of a mystery. John W. Adams has noted that "although claiming to have been a numismatist since 1879, he does not surface in the hobby until 1903. Three years after he surfaces--in October of 1906, to be exact--he earns the rare honor of being expelled from the American Numismatic Association." While the reasons for his expulsion appear to have been forgotten, the event may have been the final blow to his career. Regardless, he seems to have disappeared shortly thereafter. A decade later, Tom Elder termed Adams "a unique numismatist who formerly had offices in the Scrapiron, and an interview with whom is sought by several individuals." Ex Kolbe & Fanning's 2013 New York Book Auction, lot 162 at $4500 hammer; ex Cardinal Collection Library.
(Estimate: $3000)