Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers are proud to announce that on April 30, 2022, we will be selling at auction the outstanding library formed by Sydney F. Martin. The Martin Library is among the finest formed on the subject of early American numismatics, and was painstakingly assembled over the course of more than thirty years. We are honored to have been asked to catalogue the library, having worked closely with Syd as he built it. While the focus of the library is on the early coinage of the Americas, Syd's interests were such that it by necessity includes many works on British, Irish, French and Spanish numismatics as well.

Some highlights of the sale include:

Lot 14: an exceptional, finely bound set of the Proceedings & Papers of the American Numismatic Society

Lot 63: Walter Breen's working drafts of his Complete Encyclopedia, with thousands of original handwritten annotations

Lot 91: Colin's King's plated copy of the 1884 catalogue of the Thomas Warner collection, with a letter from the Chapman Brothers presenting it

Lot 168: Charles Bushnell's copy of the extremely rare 1724 Defence of the Conduct of the People of Ireland in Their Unanimous Refusal of Mr. Wood's Copper-Money

Lot 117: a set of the C4 Newsletter, exquisitely bound in very high quality black half morocco with marbled sides

Lot 158: a handsomely bound set of the first fifty volumes of Penny-Wise, the publication of the Early American Coppers club

Lot 257: Mease's 1821 Description of Some of the Medals Struck in Relation to Important Events in North America, the first publication on American numismatics

Lot 270: Walter Breen's extensively annotated copy of Miller and Ryder on the state coinage of New England, with hundreds of comments, additions and corrections

Lot 303: Breen's copy of the revised 1970 edition of Overton of early half dollars, with every page of variety descriptions annotated in extraordinary detail

Lot 354: a finely bound copy of the legendary 1886 Maris collection sale, one of only a small number issued with six fine photographic plates.

Register early to bid online
Bids may be placed via post, email, fax or phone, as well as online. Kolbe & Fanning use Auction Mobility as our third-party online bidding platform. Auction Mobility is an app-based platform allowing users the ability to participate in the sale through phones, tablets and computers. To register for the sale, bidders must go to bid.numislit.com and sign up. Once you have set up an account, you may browse lots, place advance bids, or participate in the live sale online. Those wishing to participate on their devices can download the Kolbe & Fanning app through the Apple or Google Play Store. The sale will also be listed on Biddr and NumisBids in the near future.

The printed catalogue of the Martin Library will soon be mailed to all active customers on our mailing list. As international mail speeds have been slow in recent months, we encourage our international clients to consult the electronic catalogue in case their printed catalogue does not arrive promptly. A PDF of the printed catalogue has been posted to our main website at numislit.com for those who prefer that format. Bids placed via post, email, fax or phone must be received by April 29, the day before the sale, in order for them to be processed. Advance absentee bids may also be placed at any time online at bid.numislit.com. Live internet bidding will be available during the sale itself through the same platform.

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 at df@numislit.com. To register for the sale, go to bid.numislit.com. We look forward to your participation.

To read the .pdf catalogue, see:
https://www.numislit.com/images/upload/kolbefanningsale163.pdf