Nearly Complete Hardcover ANR Catalogues

American Numismatic Rarities. AUCTION CATALOGUES. A nearly complete set of twenty-two auction catalogues (2003–2006), as bound in twenty-one. All 4to, original blue cloth, gilt (see comments); original pictorial card covers bound in. Fine. A nearly complete set of the hardcover catalogues issued by this Wolfeboro, New Hampshire firm, lacking only the final three catalogues for completion. In 2003, Bowers & Merena Galleries and Q. David Bowers parted ways, with the latter stepping aside for a year while many of his longtime employees set to work under the ANR banner. Bowers was able to join the new firm the following year, and the ANR series provides a most interesting stepping-stone between the Bowers & Merena and Stack’s Bowers Galleries periods. This set includes the 2005 Eliasberg world gold collection bound in the standard blue. It was originally issued bound in black, in contrast to the rest of the firm’s hardcovers. It is said that a small number were bound in blue in response to complaints from collectors, who apparently disliked the mismatched binding. This copy has ANR staffer Mary Tocci’s name impressed on the front cover in gilt (that volume only is ex Charles Davis’s auction of October 17, 2009, lot 371).