A five-piece set of 1871 Indian Princess patterns established the pace at the official auction of the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Atlanta Expo Oct. 6 held at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
The lot realized $184,000, including the 15-percent buyer’s fee. Overall, the sale, which was conducted jointly by American Numismatic Rarities and Stack’s, brought $1,528,031.45, including buyer’s fees.
With a provenance to the Garrett Collection sold by Johns Hopkins University in four sales held 1979-1981, the pattern set is described as original and kept together since the time of issue.
Created by the designer of the Indian Head cent, James A. Longacre, the patterns feature a seated figure on a globe on obverse with denominations on the reverse with “Standard” written above.
The patterns were graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. The half dime, dime, half dollar and dollar are Proof-66. The quarter is Proof-67.
Gold was also in the auction spotlight. A pair of 1795 gold $10s, Taraszka-1, Breen 1-A, and both graded AU-58 by NGC brought $52,900 and $70,150, respectively. The higher-priced piece had an additional description of having “excellent color.” Bidders obviously appreciated the distinction.
A small hoard of 17 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents individually went on the block at the sale. The top three pieces brought $3,680 each. The top trio all had grades by NGC of MS-64 Red/Brown, but so too did a total of 16 of the pieces. Other bids ranged from $3,162.50 to $3,450 each for these identically graded pieces.
A Professional Coin Grading Service EF-40 example rounded out the group and was bid to $1,092.50.
Another meat-and-potatoes rarity, an MS-64 1932-D Washington quarter graded by PCGS, brought $5,405.
The sale also featured some paper money lots, Colonials and the Lester Merkin Collection of enameled coins.
For more information visit www.anrcoins.com or www.stacks.com.
