Our October 17 auction with consignments from Mssrs Vlack, Lorenzo and Hodder brought, with the buyer's premium, $102,000. Highlights included Hodder's presentation set of the 21 Ford sales which brought a not surprising $7,187.50. What was surprising was the contemporary photocopy of Bob Vlack's unpublished work on Hibernias @ $3,450, and Thomas Paine's "Thoughts on the Establishment of a Mint in the United States" @ $2,300 after the cataloguer, in his ignorance of never having seen a copy before, estimated it @ $200.

Ephemera, as usual, is impossible to estimate as shown by the Chapman announcement of the Stickney sale which drew three bids over $600 and settled at $685. Not surprising, the interest in large format Chapman catalogues, whether with reprint or original plates, remains strong. The price list is posted on our Vcoins website. Unsold items are available at 70% of estimate with no buyer's premium.

To read the complete article, see:www.vcoins.com/ancient/charlesdavis