Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers are celebrating our 150th Auction by offering highlights of the John W. Adams numismatic library on July 14, 2018.

The Adams Library includes one of the finest collections of American numismatic auction catalogues ever assembled. Among the extraordinary offerings are the catalogues of Thomas L. Elder.

Tom Elder believed strongly that coins had to be appreciated within their historical context, and gravitated toward those areas of Americana where such context was most obvious: tokens and medals, especially politicalpieces. He also had a finer appreciation of antiquity than did many of his generation, with ancient Greek and Roman coins frequently appearing in his sales. While his best-known sales are usually most important for theirAmerican offerings, there are exceptions, such as his 1920 Henry C. Miller sale, which is highly important for its Roman silver coins and early English pieces, as well as for the Connecticut coppers for which Miller wrotethe standard reference. The Adams Library features a nearly complete run of Elder catalogues, including almost all of his plated catalogues.

A few particularly noteworthy Elder catalogues include:

--Lot 127: the extraordinarily rare J.B. Chase sale (1907) with photographic plates

--Lot 133: an extremely rare plated copy of Elder's Sale 37, featuring fine, full-tone photographic prints depicting U.S. pattern, regular issue, and private coins, as well as foreign and ancient coins.

--Lot 137: the 1910 Ebenezer Gilbert sale, in original state with plates

--Lot 161: the very rare Wright-Person sale with five photographic plates

--Lot 164: the "Private Collection" with 14 superb plates

--Lot 166: a superb Craig Clare sale with thirteen photographic plates

--Lot 169: a copy of the Lewis C. Gehring sale with photographic plates

--Very rare plates for Elder's 34th sale, 36th sale, and his 1926 sale of the G.W. Lee collection of large cents

--Nearly every other plated Elder sale, including: Virgil Brand's copy of Elder's first plated sale; the 1908 Gschwend sale; the James B. Wilson sale of the same year; the 1910 Peter Mougey sale; the 1911 William H.Woodin sale; Elder's Sale 66, held in September 1912 and featuring two plates of ancient Greek coins; two plated copies of the 1917 Henry Miller large cent sale, one of them S.H. Chapman's bidbook; the 1917 George C.Carlton sale; Lyman Low's copy of the Hewitt & Bartlett catalogue; the McCoy, Brown, Ezekiel sale; the 1920 Miller sale; Elder's own copy of the 1921 McMullin sale; the very rare Lynch, Walker & Tilden sale; andthe Dr. George Alfred Lawrence sale.

--Rare unplated catalogues missing even from most advanced collections of Elder sales, including: his very rare 1903 mail-bid sale held in Pittsburgh; Sales 89, 97, and 158; the famously rare series of five "smallbeer" sales of 1915 (Adams 107, 109, 113, 115, and 116), some of which we are offering for the first time ever.

The extensive, full-color catalogue is now available at bid.numislit.com. The sale will feature live online bidding using Kolbe & Fanning's custom third-party online biddingplatform. Printed catalogues will be mailed to established customers. Bidders wishing to make an appointment to view auction lots are invited to contact David Fanning at df@numislit.com.

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers LLC is a licensed and bonded auction firm in the State of Ohio. For more information, please see the Kolbe & Fanning website at numislit.com or email David Fanning atdf@numislit.com