A pair of publications related to Canadian numismatics drew bidders’ interests during the April 30 sale of the Sydney Martin Library.
Martin, of Amelia Island, Fla., was the trustee and former president of the American Numismatic Society when he died on Jan. 19, 2021. Offered by Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers, the library was billed by auctioneers as one of the finest collections of early U.S. numismatic literature.
Among the Canadian highlights was Lot 299, a complete 33-volume set of the Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal, which the Numismatic & Antiquarian Society of Montréal published from 1872-1933.
Among the Canadian highlights was Lot 299, a complete 33-volume set of the Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal, which the Numismatic & Antiquarian Society of Montréal published from 1872-1933. Rarely offered, the journal serves as “an indispensable of information to those seriously interested in Canadian numismatics and history, early North American medals, Canadian colonial tokens, and so forth,” according to auctioneers.
It sold for $8,500 US (about $11,000 Cdn.), nearly tripling its estimate. Another Canada-related highlight offered a rare plated edition of S.H. Chapman’s 1920 sale of the W.H. Hunter Collection, which auctioneers called “exceptionally important for American and Canadian medals.” It brought $4,000 (about $5,180 Cdn.), nearly doubling its estimate as Lot 107.
The sale’s top-earning lot was Walter Breen’s personal, annotated copy of his 1988 Complete Encyclopedia, which brought $37,500 US (about $48,500 Cdn.), topping its estimate by more than seven times as Lot 64.