by Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

This is Part 6 of my review and analysis of the auction of the Millennia collection of world coins.

The sale was conducted on May 26, Memorial Day, by the firm of Ira & Larry Goldberg. The coins in the collection span more than two thousand years of history, and many coin-producing societies are represented.

Why is the sale of the Millennia Collection the all-time greatest auction of world coins?

1) It is the best collection of world coins to be auctioned in a single event. Though it was auctioned in just one day, it would be fair to refer to a single auction event as linked sessions occurring at the same location during the course of less than one week.

2) The Millennia collection ranks very highly, among all-time collections, in terms of the quality and breadth of the coins that fit into a thematic plan. The quality of many individual coins is covered in the first three parts of my review, and the themes of the collection are covered in Part 4 and Part 5.

3) Overall, the coins in the collection have tremendous historical significance, especially those coins that served as international monetary units or world currencies during their respective time periods.

4) The number of Great Rarities, many of which are among the finest known of their respective dates or whole types, is amazingly high and includes Great Rarities that are deemed to be especially important by experts in the respective fields. Several Great Rarities and many other rarities are discussed in the first three parts of this review.

The auction experience transcends the contents of the collection that is auctioned.

5) The combination of the rarity, quality and popularity of the coins in the Millennia collection contributed greatly to the excitement of the auction. In earlier parts of this review, I discuss many popular coins of Great Britain, Europe and the Spanish Empire.

6) Bidding went wild for high quality, historically important ancient coins.

7) There was tremendous collector participation ‘in person,’ via telephone, and through dealer-agents. The dedicated, zealous collectors in attendance spurred the bidding and emotionally propelled the proceedings. While there were more than a thousand Internet bidders, Internet bids were rarely successful. When I was in the auction room, almost all the rarer and more interesting coins went to floor bidders or telephone bidders. The enthusiasm of the collectors in the room created a special aura that is rarely experienced in the Internet age. (more…)

By Greg Reynolds for CoinLink

This is Part 5 of my review and analysis of the auction of the Millennia collection of world coins.

The sizeable core of the post-1300 AD coins in the Millennia collection is comprised of coins of the types that were used for international trade and for trade within societies that were far from the Mints that actually issued these respective coins. A coin issue becomes an international monetary unit by being accepted as a medium of exchange in several nations. A coin issue that is an international monetary unit becomes a world currency by circulating easily as money in many societies that are far from where the coin was minted. Of course, such coins played central roles in economic history.

In Part 4, I interpreted Ira Goldberg’s plan for the Millennia collection, and I discussed how Ira emphasized the historical importance of coins, including his preferences for large coins, for coins that were intended for circulation and for coins that showcased cultural aspects of societies. Almost all serious collections of rare world coins, however, contain a large number of coins that are historically important. My theory is that it is the theme of certain types of coins having served as international monetary units, especially those that became world currencies, together with amazingly choice representatives of these types, that distinguishes the Millennia collection from almost all other very high quality collections of world coins.

In past centuries, many societies around the world used coins of the British Empire, of The Netherlands along with Dutch possessions, and/or of the Spanish Empire, not just for international trade but often also for transactions within societies (internal trade). Societies that were politically fractured or were dominated by outside forces often did not attempt to Mint their own coins, or did so to a very limited extent. In many cases, there was no need for a society to mint its own coins and the costs of doing so may have outweighed the benefits.

In the 1790s, a large number of Americans opposed the creation of a U.S. Mint because they felt that coins from abroad, especially those of the Spanish Empire, served well and a Mint would be a financial burden on the taxpayers. In 1791, legislation authorizing a U.S. Mint barely passed the House of Representatives by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-one. As late as 1802, Rep. John Randolph, an influential Congressman from Virginia, introduced legislation to abolish the U.S. Mint. (more…)

Ira and Larry Goldberg will auction The Ted Naftzger Collection of United States Large Cents in 2008 and 2009. The collection will be sold in two parts, the first of which will be of Early U.S. Large Cents, held on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 in Beverly Hills, CA and on Ebay Live.

Chris McCawley of McCawley-Grellman, who is cataloguing the coins, says, “This is the finest collection of large cents ever assembled or sold, and they’ve been off the market for 20-30 years. They are of exceptional quality, and many are the finest-known of their variety, in high grade mint and gem state. “

The Early date coins range from 1793 to 1814. Middle-dates will be auctioned in February, 2009.

The PCGS Registry named The Naftzger collection of 1793 to 1814 large cents (Complete Varieties Set) and the “With Varieties” collection of 1816 to 1839 large cents by far the finest ever assembled.

In addition PCGS included the follow description of the collection:

The Naftzger Collection

“R.E. “Ted” Naftzger was the undisputed King of United States large cents. His collection was the result of a five decade scholarly and relentless pursuit of the best. He kept meticulous notes on all the cents in his collection and any other high grade specimens that he encountered.

Naftzger’s acquisitions in the 1950’s and 1960’s formed a formidable collection of early, middle, and late date cents. During this period, he purchased several noted collections intact including Sloss, Clarke, Taylor and Gallo. He added the best cents to his set and auctioned lesser grade duplicates. The acquisition that put his collection on top, and probably never to be exceeded, was his 1973 purchase of Dr. Sheldon’s Early Date set.

Naftzger continued his aggressive acquisition posture in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In one instance, he rented a plane, flew it himself, through a storm, to acquire a finest known Classic head cent that had just come over from Europe. The Naftzger collection of large cents included the most famous large cents known to the numismatic community, such as the 1793 AMERI. Chain cent graded Specimen 65 by PCGS, the 1793 with periods Chain cent graded Specimen 67, and the amazing Atwater 1793 Wreath cent graded Specimen 68RD by PCGS. The Naftzger large cent collection was one of the greatest collecting accomplishments in numismatic history. “

CoinLink will have a series of Articles on both the collection and some of the interesting history surrounding the collection and it’s owner in future articles, as we beleive that this sale will indeed be one of the more important auctions of Large Cents, ever.

by Greg Reynolds for CoinLink
This is Part 4 of my review and analysis of the auction of the Millennia collection of world coins.

The main purpose of Part IV is to cover the structure of, and the plan for, the Millennia collection. Several more coins from the collection will be discussed and related to the plan, with emphasis upon types that were not discussed in the first three parts.

The Millennia collection contained coins of many nations, and this collector never intended to complete a series of coins ‘by date.’ Also, there was not a plan to construct a type set of all denominations of any one nation.

Generally, for each nation or coin-producing society represented, there is a carefully selected group of high quality Crowns (large silver coins), plus a smaller number of gold coins, if any. Curiously, all the Belgian coins in the Millennia collection were gold coins.

A 4.22 gram (0.15 ounce) Belgian coin, a ‘lion of gold,’ which was minted in Bruges, is noteworthy. It is not extremely rare. It is important in an artistic and cultural sense. The growling lion and other symbols are carefully chosen and placed. It was probably minted in the 1450s, and it provides clues regarding the independent and defiant, as well as flamboyant, personality of the reigning Duke, ‘Philip the Good.’ It is also one of the few coins of the period that is not overcrowded with design elements. This coin has sizeable, carefully balanced fields. It is NGC graded MS-62, a high grade for a Belgian coin from the 1400s. It sold for $5750.

For Britain and for a few Latin American societies, there were more gold coins than Crowns in the Millennia collection. A substantial percentage of the gold coins that circulated worldwide from the 1730s to the 1850s were minted in Latin America within the Spanish Empire or by former Spanish colonies that became independent. It is thus logical that there were a large number of Latin American gold coins in the Millennia collection. To a meaningful extent, Ira Goldberg intended for the Millennia collection to reflect the large coins that were widely used, and characteristic of their respective societies, over the last two thousand five hundred years. Large coins usually weigh more than one-half an ounce. (more…)