THE PALACE COLLECTIONS OF EGYPT
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The One Hundred Greatest Items Of United States Numismatic Literature Rank: Number 93
Clain-Stefanelli 8013*, Davis 953
The greatest numismatic road-trip of all time, Abe Kosoff, John J. Pittman and others trekked from the United States to Cairo in search of plunder collected by the boy King Farouk. Such was the organization of the Egyptian government that the precise terms of sale were unclear even as the American collectors stepped onto their departing planes. What was clear was that Farouk had been raiding the Egyptian treasury in order to fund his collecting addiction, meaning that all manner of goodies were possible for the anxious Americans. For all who dared the rewards were rich – the American portion of the sale was poorly catalogued and the uncertainty of the arrangements substantially impacted the results, which would been have far more spectacular had the sale been held in London or New York. The Judd-1776 hammered at $3600, the 1913 Liberty nickel at $3900, while a set of three dollar gold pieces including 1875 and 1876 proofs brought $4500. Nearly everything was catalogued in group lots, one lot of thirty-six pattern dimes selling for a song at $180. The 1933 double eagle, also in a group lot, was famously pulled from the sale at the last minute. Of the last much ink has been spilled with much more to come. A mandatory companion to the Farouk catalog are Kosoff’s recollections of the sale, which were preserved in Abe Kosoff Remembers and also in Bowers’ Abe Kosoff: Dean Of Numismatics.
Standard Edition
Photo courtesy of Thomas Wetter Numismatic Library.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Wetter Numismatic Library.
Sotheby & Co. THE PALACE COLLECTIONS OF EGYPT: CATALOGUE OF THE HIGHLY IMPORTANT AND EXTREMELY VALUABLE COLLECTION OF COINS AND MEDALS – THE PROPERTY OF THE REPUBLIC OF EGYPT AND SOLD BY ORDER OF THE GOVERNMENT.
Cairo: Sotheby's, February 24-March 6, 1954
306pp, 2,798 lots, 72 plates, price list issued
Octavo: 24.5 x 18.5 cm
Softbound: Green printed card covers
Reprint Edition
n.p.: n.d.
306pp, 2,798 lots, 72 plates
Octavo
Softbound: Green printed card covers
The unidentified reprint can be distinguished from the original by the lack of ribs on the spine, the original is ribbed, the reprint is flat, slightly yellow tinted green card covers, and even worse plates than the original. [1]
References
- ↑ Charles Davis, American Numismatic Literature. An Annotated Survey Of Auction Sales, Quarterman, 1992.