Over $1.3 million was realized at the Stack’s Bowers Galleries New York Americana Sale of the Stephen Winthrop Collection Feb. 6.
The entire proceeds will be given to the Stephen VanR. Winthrop ALS Fund at Harvard University to support research.
Winthrop was diagnosed with ALS in 2013. It is an infirmity also called Lou Gehrig disease after the Yankees baseball star.
Highlights included a 1799 Capped Bust Right gold $10 graded Professional Coin Grading Service MS-64. It sold for $188,000.
A 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition round gold $50 graded PCGS MS-64 brought $129,602.
The companion octagonal $50 graded PCGS MS-64 went for $111,625.
Bringing the same sale price of $111,625, was a 1799 Draped Bust silver dollar graded PCGS MS-64.
An 1806 Draped Bust half dollar PCGS MS-64 sold for $82,250.
A New England native, Winthrop began collecting as a child funded by his modest allowance.
After graduating from Harvard in 1980, he received an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MA from the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He spent three years working for a large management-consulting firm before starting his own practice specializing in financial management, fund-raising, grant writing and information management services for nonprofit organizations.
Meanwhile, his numismatic interests expanded to include mid-19th century Liberty Seated silver coinage, as well as selected gold coins, with a focus on rarity and high quality.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries donated in excess of $75,000 from its fees together with the proceeds from additional auction items.