Kolbe & Fanning Auction 170 (15 June 2024)

K&F will hold their 170th auction with 508 lots. As many of you know, I pride myself on my ever expanding numismatic literature and catalog libraries. I even have a fancy name now to go along with those libraries, the S&S Library. All joking aside, numismatic books are an integral part of collecting. Those that endeavor to begin this wonderful journey can only go so far without the aid of a good library. I'm thankful for my friends David and Maria Fanning and their ability to bring us some pretty amazing sales. Anyone dealing in books has to be passionate. There is no way around it. The sheer weight of lugging books is enough to make you search for a great massage therapist.

This sale has another round of material from the Wayne Homren library. Wayne, is another bibliophile, who is the editor of The E-Sylum, He's the one that sends you that long list of numismatic news every Sunday night. He features a lot of news on upcoming available books as well which is always helpful.

Some lots of interest: Lot 4 which is a complete set of Ars Classica sales starting in 1922 until their last sale in 1934. Even better, it was in the library of E.S.G Robinson, a well known numismatist. Lot 86 is a lovely bound set of the Jameson collection. Lot 98 is a fully annotated catalog from the Voirol sale of 1968 from the auction house Spink. With lot 143 there are four lots of numerous bound volumes from the RBW collection of offprints. How often have you photocopied just one article from a book and thought, "now where am I going to put this if I want to read it again?" The late Rick Witschonke took that task to heart and bound books with important articles. A great idea!

For those interested in the side of numismatics, lot 324 contains the original records of a 1930's counterfeiting case of the Hogan family, photos and all. Lot 337 is slightly outside the realm of books. It is the Dunham-Clarke collection of encased postage stamps (minus the postage stamps!). The collection was sold but the important boxes remained and are now being offered for sale. This is from Wayne Homren's collection. Finally, lot 345, is the card catalog once owned by Louis E. Eliasberg. It contains records of his acquisition of world coins, U.S. coins and paper money. For those younger collectors, the whole idea of a card catalog is foreign. It was a laborious task to keep track of everything. Thank goodness for computers!

I'll be participating in this sale so get in touch if you need assistance.

Dunham, William F. CUSTOM-MADE BOXES PREPARED TO HOUSE THE WILLIAM F. DUNHAM COLLECTION OF ENCASED POSTAGE STAMPS AS PURCHASED AND EXTENDED BY T. JAMES CLARKE. Present are 331 boxes made by the T. James Clarke Box & Label Works, each of which consists of a small gold box lid [56 by 42 mm], into which is fitted a cloth-lined holder die-cut to hold one encased postage stamp. Most of the boxes have printed labels below the hole describing the variety enclosed, and larger blank labels on the backs, onto which is typically recorded by hand or in type the variety, source, amount paid (in code) and value. Boxes were prepared for the relatively few varieties not present in the collection, with each of these holding an insert with the relevant variety information recorded. In a small number of cases, only the insert is present. A few boxes have split seams, but most of them are fine.

A remarkable survival from one of the greatest collections ever formed of encased postage stamps. While the collection itself has long since been dispersed, these boxes, made by Craige to house his incredible accumulation of these pieces, have been preserved by a series of passionate collectors. Clarke purchased Dunham's collection, which accounted for most of his own collection. When Clarke's collection was dispersed in 1956, John J. Ford, Jr. came into possession of the boxes, which he preserved. Wayne Homren acquired them in the 1980s from Ford via Bob Kincaid. Homren used many of them to display his own impressive collection of these pieces, most notably at the 2004 ANA Convention in Pittsburgh (at which convention Homren served as General Chairman).

A fascinating piece of numismatic history, of considerable interest to the specialist. Ex Wayne Homren Library.

To read the complete lot description, see:
The Dunham-Clarke Collection of Encased Postage Stamps(https://bid.numislit.com/lots/view/1-91D1M9/the-dunhamclarke-collection-of-encased-postage-stamps)