Harvey Stack took to the rostrum Jan. 9 to help sell the Stack family library at the George Frederick Kolbe/Fine Numismatic Books auction held in New York City.
The sale realized $1,003,950, which according to Kolbe, is just the second time a single-day literature auction has grossed over $1 million.
Going on the block in the sale were 400 highlights from the Stack family numismatic library and 100 duplicates from the American Numismatic Society.
Estimates for the 500 lots, Kolbe said, came to $540,000, so results far surpassed this level. Every lot found a buyer, Kolbe pointed out, and the per lot average of $2,000 is the highest ever achieved.
Sixty-eight registered bidders filled the room. There were a dozen telephone bidders and over 30 Internet bidders.
As he came to the podium to call the first few lots in the sale, Stack, who joined the family firm in 1947, received a hearty round of applause. He returned to the podium a little later, to auction Lots 79 and 80.
Lot 80 was Joseph Stack’s three-volume photographic record of the fabled collection of $2.50, $5 and $10 U.S. gold coins from the collection of Col. E. H. R. Green; it and Lot 79, original inventory records and other materials relating to the acquisition by Stack’s of Green’s gold coins, shared top honors, each realizing $80,500.
Results reported include a 15 percent buyer’s fee.
The Stack family’s complete bound set of Stack’s auction sale catalogs brought $63,250. Their complete bound set of Coin Galleries publications, estimated at $5,000, brought $29,900.
Henry Chapman’s 1883 Andrews work on large cents realized $3,220 on a $300 estimate, Kolbe reported, and the 1911 Henry Chapman Siedlecki sale with plates sold for $5,750 on a $3,000 estimate.
The 1915 United States Coin Co. sale of the H.O. Granberg collection with plates was estimated at $4,000 and realized $5,750.
For more information, visit the Web site at www.numislit.com. A limited number of illustrated catalogs, including a prices realized list, may still be ordered by sending $35 to George Frederick Kolbe/Fine Numismatic Books, P.O. Drawer 3100, Crestline, CA 92325-3100.
A second Stack Family Library sale is planned for June 2010. Catalogs may be reserved by sending $10 to the above address.
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