Bangs, Brother & Company. CATALOGUE OF A VALUABLE COLLECTION OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN COINS AND MEDALS, IN GOLD, SILVER, COPPER AND BRONZE. New York, June 6, 1855. 8vo, contemporary brown half morocco with marbled sides; spine lettered in gilt; original printed pink paper covers bound in. 14, (2) pages; 12 + 230 + 2 bis lots + 1 manuscript lot ("Lot of American Generals and Commanders, 10 Pieces," written in ink at the end), priced in black with buyers' names throughout. Spine worn; back cover with paper sides torn and damage to leather; very good or so, with near fine contents. Adams 1 for the Bangs series. One of the earliest significant U.S. numismatic auction sales, the Peter Flandin collection was the first entirely numismatic auction to be held in New York City, and is the earliest catalogue included in John W. Adams's United States Numismatic Literature. The cataloguer of the sale is unknown and is a matter of some dispute, with Gengerke and Adams having attributed it to Augustus B. Sage in the past, but Q. David Bowers making a good case against this (as Sage would have been too young to have catalogued it) and suggesting Charles I. Bushnell as a possibility. Flandin (whose actual first name was Pierre, according to Pete Smith) was a collector as early as 1822. His collection consisted mostly of ancient and European coins, but did contain some early American coins and Washington material, as well as federal coins including a proof 1850 dollar. Total proceeds for the sale were $733.52. A scarce catalogue, especially priced and named. Flandin appears to have bought back a number of lots. While household names like Bushnell and Chilton are recorded after a number of lots, none of the dealers who burst upon the scene in the following decade appear to have attended the sale, and most of the other participants (Gsell, Carlisle, Burtis, Borg, Reiley, Creighton, Boardman, et al.) appear to have been of an earlier generation, and are little known today. Attinelli 10. Ex Kolbe Sale 100, lot 254); ex Cardinal Collection Library.