Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 164 27 Aug 2022
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Mehl's Own Copy of the Deluxe French Cent Catalogue
Mehl, B. Max. THE CELEBRATED COLLECTION OF LARGE UNITED STATES CENTS FORMED BY DR. GEO. P. FRENCH, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. MORE THAN EIGHT HUNDRED ALL DIFFERENT SPECIMENS WITH MANY UNIQUE VARIETIES NOT KNOWN IN ANY OTHER COLLECTIONS. ALL IN SUPERB STATE OF PRESERVATION. THE RECOGNIZED FINEST AND, AS A WHOLE, MOST COMPLETE COLLECTION OF ITS KIND EVER FORMED. FOR SALE AT FIXED PRICES. PROPERTY OF AND CATALOGUED BY B. MAX MEHL, NUMISMATIST. Fort Worth, 1930. 4to [27.5 by 20 cm], original flexible brown full morocco, upper cover decorated and lettered in gilt; red-speckled page edges. 139, (1) pages; 823 listings; halftone text illustrations depicting large cents. Laid into the catalogue are three notes in Mehl's hand. Edges rubbed; top front joint cracking; very good or better. Housed in a handsome clamshell box, brown half morocco with marbled sides; spine with two brown calf labels, ruled and lettered in gilt. The Deluxe Leatherbound Edition. The cataloguer's own copy, ex 1983 Ted Craige/Ron Stocker sale of Mehl memorabilia. Unique as such and most desirable. Loosely laid are three of Mehl's handwritten notes on large cent varieties and the following pencil entry in his hand is found on the front free flyleaf: "Total, $48,137--." The deluxe French catalogue is quite rare, with perhaps half a dozen copies or so having been sold publicly in the last thirty years. This one has what may be considered an unimprovable provenance. However, while Mehl raised the importance of the fixed price catalogue to a new level with this well-produced work, it was not without considerable controversy. George H. Clapp, among others, was critical, writing that he had "never seen a catalog with more false and/or misleading statements." It should be noted that Clapp and Mehl were hardly friends. Legend has it that Clapp once told Mehl that he was mendacious, and, apparently unaware of the word's meaning, Mehl thanked him. Nonetheless, the French catalogue, though overloaded with the usual Mehl hyperbole and malapropisms, is still important to large cent collectors. At the time, sales from the catalogue were less than a commercial triumph, though it featured wonderful large cents. Many of the coins appeared years later in various Mehl sales and others changed hands for considerably less than the original asking prices. Doubtless, the beginning of the Depression was not a good time to sell coins. On balance, however, with this attractive production Mehl raised the importance of the fixed price catalogue to a new level and helped to further broaden interest in this staple of American numismatics. A very important copy. Howard Newcomb's copy of the deluxe edition was sold in our 2018 New York Book Auction for $7000 hammer. Ex Kolbe Sale 67 (1996), lot 1558 at $1250; ex Jim Neiswinter Library.
(Estimate: $1500)
Mehl, B. Max. THE CELEBRATED COLLECTION OF LARGE UNITED STATES CENTS FORMED BY DR. GEO. P. FRENCH, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. MORE THAN EIGHT HUNDRED ALL DIFFERENT SPECIMENS WITH MANY UNIQUE VARIETIES NOT KNOWN IN ANY OTHER COLLECTIONS. ALL IN SUPERB STATE OF PRESERVATION. THE RECOGNIZED FINEST AND, AS A WHOLE, MOST COMPLETE COLLECTION OF ITS KIND EVER FORMED. FOR SALE AT FIXED PRICES. PROPERTY OF AND CATALOGUED BY B. MAX MEHL, NUMISMATIST. Fort Worth, 1930. 4to [27.5 by 20 cm], original flexible brown full morocco, upper cover decorated and lettered in gilt; red-speckled page edges. 139, (1) pages; 823 listings; halftone text illustrations depicting large cents. Laid into the catalogue are three notes in Mehl's hand. Edges rubbed; top front joint cracking; very good or better. Housed in a handsome clamshell box, brown half morocco with marbled sides; spine with two brown calf labels, ruled and lettered in gilt. The Deluxe Leatherbound Edition. The cataloguer's own copy, ex 1983 Ted Craige/Ron Stocker sale of Mehl memorabilia. Unique as such and most desirable. Loosely laid are three of Mehl's handwritten notes on large cent varieties and the following pencil entry in his hand is found on the front free flyleaf: "Total, $48,137--." The deluxe French catalogue is quite rare, with perhaps half a dozen copies or so having been sold publicly in the last thirty years. This one has what may be considered an unimprovable provenance. However, while Mehl raised the importance of the fixed price catalogue to a new level with this well-produced work, it was not without considerable controversy. George H. Clapp, among others, was critical, writing that he had "never seen a catalog with more false and/or misleading statements." It should be noted that Clapp and Mehl were hardly friends. Legend has it that Clapp once told Mehl that he was mendacious, and, apparently unaware of the word's meaning, Mehl thanked him. Nonetheless, the French catalogue, though overloaded with the usual Mehl hyperbole and malapropisms, is still important to large cent collectors. At the time, sales from the catalogue were less than a commercial triumph, though it featured wonderful large cents. Many of the coins appeared years later in various Mehl sales and others changed hands for considerably less than the original asking prices. Doubtless, the beginning of the Depression was not a good time to sell coins. On balance, however, with this attractive production Mehl raised the importance of the fixed price catalogue to a new level and helped to further broaden interest in this staple of American numismatics. A very important copy. Howard Newcomb's copy of the deluxe edition was sold in our 2018 New York Book Auction for $7000 hammer. Ex Kolbe Sale 67 (1996), lot 1558 at $1250; ex Jim Neiswinter Library.
(Estimate: $1500)