Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 166 25 Feb 2023
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The Jack Collins Archives on the 1794 Dollar
Collins, Jack, Walter Breen, et al. MANUSCRIPTS, TYPESCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, CORRESPONDENCE, CENSUSES, AND OTHER ARCHIVAL MATERIALS RELATING TO JACK COLLINS'S RESEARCH ON THE 1794 DOLLAR AND THE BOOK HE INTENDED TO PRODUCE. Consists of several boxes of material, including: 1. A specially bound binder containing full-color printouts of his ongoing project [(12), 74, (4) pages], with actual photos and other materials. His personal copy, and a remarkable tribute to the man and his work. 2. One hundred twenty-two sheets of typewritten descriptions of different 1794 dollars, to each of which is clipped photographs of the coin in question (usually black and white, occasionally color). Annotated in pencil and various inks throughout. 3. Eighty-six sheets of typewritten descriptions of different 1794 dollars, to each of which is pasted photographs of the coin in question (black and white). Annotated in pencil and various inks throughout. These are probably an earlier iteration than the similar ones listed above. Also included is a printout of the condition census section of his manuscript, with photographic prints pasted in place. 4. Large group of pre-publication materials. Includes hundreds, quite probably thousands, of pages of computer printed drafts and revisions. More importantly, includes some draft materials marked up by hand by Collins, Michael Hodder and others. Also includes correspondence regarding the proofreading process and regarding the condition census (of which there are many drafts present). While some of this material is doubtless present in more than one copy, there appear to be multiple generations of drafts present here. There are also some photographic contact prints and original negatives present, and other materials concerning the illustrations in the Collins book. 5. Another large group of correspondence, photocopied articles and other materials. Includes file folders holding drafts and correspondence with Del Bland, Dick Doty, Jim Elman, R.W. Julian, Marvin Lessen, Michael Hodder, Scott Rubin, Eric P. Newman; 26 files containing photocopied articles and other information from a variety of identified sources, including mainstream numismatic books and periodicals as well as more obscure historical, governmental and financial publications; more drafts of the book itself, with handwritten notes and corrections; files on the 1776 Continental Currency dollars, 1794 patterns and related subjects. 6. Final group of photographs, drafts and various files of relevant materials. Most important among the materials present is a thick file folder containing hundreds of pages of original and copy correspondence on the 1794 project among and between Collins, Bowers (much of this), Breen, Hodder, Newman, Denis Loring, the Princeton University libraries, David Perkins, Robert Stark, Mark Van Winkle, Tom Mulvaney, Harvey Stack, Douglas Mudd, Alan Weinberg, David Tripp, Jules Reiver, Carl Carlson, Les Elam, Alex Zdanovich, Jonathan Kern, Rick Bagg, Dan Drykerman, Graham Rayner, Russell Vaughn, Bill Ulrich, Gary Sturtridge, Fred Sweeney, Don Partrick, Don Groves, David Lange, Dan Demeo, Freeman Craig, Douglas Saville, John Kleeberg, Paul Rynearson, Dan Hamelberg, Ron Landis, Larry Goldberg, John J. Ford, Remy Bourne, Emery May Norweb, Alan Meghrig and others. This file of correspondence is of considerable importance and interest on its own. All told, the archives fill three or four boxes and include exhaustive documentation on the production of the Collins & Breen 1794 dollar book, as well as hundreds of letters to and from Collins, Breen, and dozens of important numismatists. Generally well-preserved. An extraordinary archive, being Jack Collins's primary research material for his work, carried out in conjunction with Walter Breen, on the 1794 silver dollar. The manuscript was nearly complete at the time of Collins's death in 1996 (Breen died in 1993); the project would have died with him but for the efforts of George Kolbe and Alan Meghrig, who managed to recover the files and publish the manuscript in 2007 as 1794: The History and Genealogy of the First United States Dollar. The published work includes chapters exploring the history of the dollar, its American adoption and adaptation, the people behind the creation of the first U.S. dollars, fakes and fantasy pieces, and, perhaps most importantly, a condition census for the 1794 dollar that sought to not only describe but illustrate every surviving example of this foundational coinage. The pre-publication archives here present include numerous drafts, many of them annotated by hand by the parties involved, photocopies of works consulted, handwritten, typewritten and computer-printed notes, hundreds of photographs and many letters. The correspondence is especially interesting, as it includes many of the foremost American numismatists of the day. A fascinating archive, illustrative of a serious numismatic research project in the days before the internet. Acquired privately from Kolbe & Fanning in 2013; ex Cardinal Collection Library.
Estimate: 5000 USD
Collins, Jack, Walter Breen, et al. MANUSCRIPTS, TYPESCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, CORRESPONDENCE, CENSUSES, AND OTHER ARCHIVAL MATERIALS RELATING TO JACK COLLINS'S RESEARCH ON THE 1794 DOLLAR AND THE BOOK HE INTENDED TO PRODUCE. Consists of several boxes of material, including: 1. A specially bound binder containing full-color printouts of his ongoing project [(12), 74, (4) pages], with actual photos and other materials. His personal copy, and a remarkable tribute to the man and his work. 2. One hundred twenty-two sheets of typewritten descriptions of different 1794 dollars, to each of which is clipped photographs of the coin in question (usually black and white, occasionally color). Annotated in pencil and various inks throughout. 3. Eighty-six sheets of typewritten descriptions of different 1794 dollars, to each of which is pasted photographs of the coin in question (black and white). Annotated in pencil and various inks throughout. These are probably an earlier iteration than the similar ones listed above. Also included is a printout of the condition census section of his manuscript, with photographic prints pasted in place. 4. Large group of pre-publication materials. Includes hundreds, quite probably thousands, of pages of computer printed drafts and revisions. More importantly, includes some draft materials marked up by hand by Collins, Michael Hodder and others. Also includes correspondence regarding the proofreading process and regarding the condition census (of which there are many drafts present). While some of this material is doubtless present in more than one copy, there appear to be multiple generations of drafts present here. There are also some photographic contact prints and original negatives present, and other materials concerning the illustrations in the Collins book. 5. Another large group of correspondence, photocopied articles and other materials. Includes file folders holding drafts and correspondence with Del Bland, Dick Doty, Jim Elman, R.W. Julian, Marvin Lessen, Michael Hodder, Scott Rubin, Eric P. Newman; 26 files containing photocopied articles and other information from a variety of identified sources, including mainstream numismatic books and periodicals as well as more obscure historical, governmental and financial publications; more drafts of the book itself, with handwritten notes and corrections; files on the 1776 Continental Currency dollars, 1794 patterns and related subjects. 6. Final group of photographs, drafts and various files of relevant materials. Most important among the materials present is a thick file folder containing hundreds of pages of original and copy correspondence on the 1794 project among and between Collins, Bowers (much of this), Breen, Hodder, Newman, Denis Loring, the Princeton University libraries, David Perkins, Robert Stark, Mark Van Winkle, Tom Mulvaney, Harvey Stack, Douglas Mudd, Alan Weinberg, David Tripp, Jules Reiver, Carl Carlson, Les Elam, Alex Zdanovich, Jonathan Kern, Rick Bagg, Dan Drykerman, Graham Rayner, Russell Vaughn, Bill Ulrich, Gary Sturtridge, Fred Sweeney, Don Partrick, Don Groves, David Lange, Dan Demeo, Freeman Craig, Douglas Saville, John Kleeberg, Paul Rynearson, Dan Hamelberg, Ron Landis, Larry Goldberg, John J. Ford, Remy Bourne, Emery May Norweb, Alan Meghrig and others. This file of correspondence is of considerable importance and interest on its own. All told, the archives fill three or four boxes and include exhaustive documentation on the production of the Collins & Breen 1794 dollar book, as well as hundreds of letters to and from Collins, Breen, and dozens of important numismatists. Generally well-preserved. An extraordinary archive, being Jack Collins's primary research material for his work, carried out in conjunction with Walter Breen, on the 1794 silver dollar. The manuscript was nearly complete at the time of Collins's death in 1996 (Breen died in 1993); the project would have died with him but for the efforts of George Kolbe and Alan Meghrig, who managed to recover the files and publish the manuscript in 2007 as 1794: The History and Genealogy of the First United States Dollar. The published work includes chapters exploring the history of the dollar, its American adoption and adaptation, the people behind the creation of the first U.S. dollars, fakes and fantasy pieces, and, perhaps most importantly, a condition census for the 1794 dollar that sought to not only describe but illustrate every surviving example of this foundational coinage. The pre-publication archives here present include numerous drafts, many of them annotated by hand by the parties involved, photocopies of works consulted, handwritten, typewritten and computer-printed notes, hundreds of photographs and many letters. The correspondence is especially interesting, as it includes many of the foremost American numismatists of the day. A fascinating archive, illustrative of a serious numismatic research project in the days before the internet. Acquired privately from Kolbe & Fanning in 2013; ex Cardinal Collection Library.
Estimate: 5000 USD