Andrew Tuttle was an enigmatic character and inveterate collector. He was killed in an automobile accident in 2003 and in his handwritten will left his collections to the city of Defiance with the stipulation that the city establish a museum named in his honor. This has been done, although his bequest took everyone by surprise. He had no family, and I was told that when he died the emergency contact found in his wallet was for a high school classmate he hadn't seen since their graduation in 1937. He was a traveler, and there are some interesting letters from abroad displayed in the museum. One is from a dissatisfied coin dealer in Sri Lanka putting a curse on him.

The colonials are displayed in two cases in the vault of the museum which once housed a bank. There is a nice representation of colonial material, but not all of the holdings are on display. Also, the colonials are only a small part of the coin collection. In an adjacent case are some "odd and curious" items. Displayed along with the coins are Tuttle's annotated 2 X 2 envelopes. Many of them show Stack's and Coin Galleries provenance. The Virginia piece was from the Donald L. Rhodes sale of 1958 with which I was not familiar. Most of what is in the cases appeared to have been collected in the late 50s into the 60s.

I spoke with the City Historian and one of the curators. They were receptive to having a more thorough study of the collection done. They said that that know little about the coins and would welcome information. I left them a spare copy of Crosby. I was also told that Mr.Tuttle had formed his collection with the assistance of Steve Davis. He's helped the museum deaccession some material, no colonials, and another auction is scheduled for later this year.

I thought things were well chosen by Mr. Tuttle. The Virginia and Rosa Americana were uncirculated. The Baltimore was lower grade. Most of the rest of the copper was nice VF-XF looking with good surfaces. Whether the coins not on display are equal in condition, I'll have to wait to find out.

A draped bust dollar was included as example of an early U. S. mint coin. It looked F - VF, and I have no idea if it was a scarcer variety.

It was essentially a nice type set. Single examples of state coinages (Vermonts, African Head, A NJ I recognized but don't know), Nova Eborac, Kentucky, a Pillar 8 R, a George III guinea, a small U. S. Constellatio. The photos show the Virgina halfpenny, Rhode Island Ship Token, Rosa Americana, and the Lord Baltimore pieces. Those were probably the nicest coins. I didn't try to identify anything by variety except for the few I knew. No MA silver, no St. Pat's, nothing I saw as really rare, on display at least.

The people were very nice. Who knows what might be there. In any case it's good to know a place like this exists. It certainly helps bring colonial coins to an audience that may otherwise never know of their existence.

Steve Davis of Numismatic Auctions L.L.C. adds:

To visit the Numismatic Auctions web site, see:
www.numismaticauctionsllc.com

Jeff Starck of Coin World adds:

To read the complete article, see:
ORDINANCE NO. 7663 (www.cityofdefiance.com/main/images/council/legislation/2014/9-23-14.pdf)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
DEFIANCE BANK BUILDING HOUSES TUTTLE MUSEUM (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n14a24.html)