Chapman, Henry. Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of United States and Foreign Coins of the Late Matthew Adams Stickney, Esq. June 25-29, 1907. Philadelphia. Fine, or better.
Original hardbound in white half cloth and white boards, with 20 original fine photographic plates and the original prices realized list bound in. Partially hand-priced in blue, almost completely through about lot 1500, and then sporadically thereafter. A fairly sound copy. There are loose internal areas between some signatures, but it is intact. Rubbed and somewhat chipped on the edges, with some handling patina on the cloth spine and covers -- the marks of an often consulted volume. Matthew A. Stickney, born in 1805, formed his magnificent collection somewhat quietly, it would appear. According to Henry Chapman, writing in the preface to the sale, "this celebrated collection has for many years been a mystery, as hardly any one of the present generation had seen anything of it." However, Stickney is also credited therein for generously allowing Sylvester S. Crosby access to study his holdings as he prepared his landmark work, Early Coins of America, published in 1875. The sale realized $37,859.21, the largest amount ever for a numismatic collection sold in America. This was in no small part due to a new record price for a single coin, $6,200 for lot 236, a Brasher doubloon. Just three of Henry Chapman's 51 sales were ranked as "A+" for content by John Adams, including this one. The Pogue library copy realized $2,640 in our August 2020 sale.
From the Library of R.E. "Ted" Naftzger, Jr.; Ira & Larry Goldberg's Sale 98, June 2017, lot 672.