Weber Sale

[bill]

I attended the Holabird-Kagin's sale of the Bill Weber so-called dollar collection in Reno, Nevada yesterday (Dec 2). What an exciting event. About 40 bidders in person, mail bids, and 4-5 phone bidders at any given time. Weber built his collection over 50 years and helped Kappen with his California and So-Called Dollars catalogs. He was working on a catalog of $50 dollar gold slug facsimiles, but never finished it before he died. The so-called dollar section was not comprehensive, rather it was focused on California and the West. Unfortunately for me, the 1894 California Midwinter Exposition attracted spirited bidding and I was only able to win two lots of interest. My A list for bids went by the wayside when the pieces drew 2 to 6 times current market value. The good news is that it freed my budget for my B list and I acquired a few rarities that I didn't think I would be able to get. Nevertheless, the bidding was exceptionally strong and the absentee bidding left many floor bidders shaking their heads in disbelief. Do not mistake what I am saying, the quality of the pieces was exceptional (stunning was a note I often made in my catalog), but the strength and depth of the bids was phenomenal. I'll post the seven medals i won over the next week or so (two were unknown prior to the publication of the catalog) and all but one are rare. I cannot complain about the prices I paid, but I was only able to be successful because I was only able to snag one piece from my A list (and I paid almost 3 times what I budgeted to get that piece). That allowed me to be more agressive on other pieces I wanted, but didn't think I could afford. One has to stop and think about our current economic situation, clearly the quality numismatic market is not taking as hard a hit as the rest of the economy.

[halfdollar]

Excellent report and I wish I could have been there

And, glad that the numismatic market is still thriving

[constanius]

Looking forward to see what you acquired Bill. Thanks for your very well written & informative report, enjoyed reading it.

[bill]

I'll post the Weber pieces here and in the appropriate Museum thread. The first piece is a so-called dollar from the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. I don't specifically collect the PPIE, rather this piece fits in my aluminum collection. The Weber sale featured four uncirculated pieces. (Weber purchased this piece from Bowers and Merena in November 1985.)

 

[bill]

I managed to win only two pieces for my California Midwinter International Exposition collection. I may have won a third in the mail bid onl portion of the auction, but here too the bids were exceptionally strong for Midwinter pieces. In some cases, the mail bid pieces went for more than those in the live auction even though they were not quire as nice as the others.

 

The first is an unlisted so-called dollar, although it is generally known as a Midwinter collectible (Weber purchased this piece 1/10/97):

 

 

The second piece does not specifically mention the exposition and it too is unlisted. I am not aware of other known pieces and I may have been able to snag this piece because it is not immediately linked to the fair. In fact, it is similar to several other pieces in style and the Sunset City reference is a direct reference to the fair. I believe it is a Midwinter piece, maybe a trial piece that was not adopted for regular production. It is the most expensive piece that I managed to acquire and i consider it to be among the rarest of the pieces offered.

 

[bill]

The last batch are all California state seal pieces struck by Moise of San Francisco.

 

A Moise store card:

 

 

Truckee Ice Carnival:

 

 

Native Sons of the Golden West 1896:

 

 

and a Beckert $ Kieso store card (Weber purchased this piece from Larry Elman at the 1983 ANA convention):

 

[constanius]

Wow, looks like Christmas has come real early this year for Bill.

[YeOldeCollector]

Superb examples Bill, informative descriptions. I do enjoy reading about other lines of collecting as well as seeing the beauties, so well done and thank you.