Monday, May 23, 2016

Long Beach Expo Tokens & Medals Signature Auction

Heritage Auction present a large and important gathering of tokens and medals from two dozen consignors in Long Beach Expo Tokens & Medals Signature Auction on June 10 & 12. The Auction led by more than 600 lots from the incomparable Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society and another 400+ lots from The Rev. Dr. James Gore King McClure Collection.

1776 Medal

A Signature Floor Session on Friday, June 10 at 10:00 a.m. (PT) will offer live floor bidding, while a Signature® Internet Session on Monday, June 13 will complete the offering.

The Selections From the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society represent Mr. Newman's special interest in Missouri tokens and other exonumia, but the breadth of surprising and intriguing pieces touches many specialties including Civil War tokens, Civil War patriotics, Civil War merchant tokens, Hard Times tokens, U.S. Trade tokens, Betts medals, Early American tokens, U.S. Mint medals, Expositions and Fairs items, So-Called dollars, Washingtonia, and miscellaneous pieces - all collected many decades ago. Multiple Mint State examples are included of many issues, with off-metal and silver representatives as well. Several new die combinations and varieties have surfaced from the collection.

One of the multiple surprises found in the Rev. Dr. James Gore King McClure Collection was the astounding attention to detail in the tokens and medals segment of the collection. There is literally something for every exonumia collector, most in high grades. Clearly, Dr. McClure was fascinated with tokens and medals and while it may be inaccurate to say all are rare, most are conditionally so with the typical grades ranging from MS64 to MS67.

The consignor of The Twin Cities Collection of Medals purchased this memorable collection of medals intact several years ago, although the collection itself was put together over a 30+ year span. Primarily U.S. Mint medals, Washingtonia and other areas of medallic interest are included. In all, the collection includes 129 medals, most encapsulated in oversized NGC holders.

We call special attention to the Signature® Internet Session, to be held on Monday, June 13, since many of the token and medal lots will be part of this fast-paced online session. The Cosmique Collection will make up a large contingent of So-Called dollars in the auction, with 130 HK varieties - each carefully assembled with attention to high quality and eye appeal. Many are Gem quality in Prooflike or Deep Prooflike format.

Just a few of the individual highlights in this auction include:

  • Rare and important 1781 Capture of St. Eustatia, Betts-581, AU58 NGC. Silver
  • Impressive 1783 Treaty of Versailles, Betts-612, Silver, AU58 NGC
  • America's First Medal, "1776" Washington Before Boston Medal, Baker-47B, Betts-542, Julian MI-1b, MS62 Brown PCGS
  • Three inch diameter 1976 National Bicentennial Medal, Swo-521Aa, MS63 NGC, 538.64 grams .900 fine gold
  • Famous 1838 Am I Not a Man and a Brother Hard Times Token, Low-54A, HT-82, High R.7, XF40 NGC, four known
  • 1863 White and Swann, Huntsville, AL token, Fuld 425A-12d, R.10, MS64 NGC, only three known in copper-nickel
  • 1863 A. Cohen, Leavenworth, KS token, Fuld 550A-1a, R.6, MS63 Red and Brown NGC, one of the finest of about two dozen known in copper
  • 1863 A. Cohen, Leavenworth, KS token, Fuld 550A-1b, R.8, MS61 NGC, rare brass example with less than ten thought to exist
  • Undated Union Forever Civil War Token, Fuld-241A/417Aa, R.10, MS64 Brown NGC, clearly the finest of four known examples of the die pair
  • 1858 Capt. William L. Herndon MS63 Brown NGC, purportedly presented to Herndon's widow by the state of Virginia


It has been many years since we last had a tokens and medals auction at Long Beach. Such a large offering is truly unusual, and the fact that the majority of pieces come from old-time collections and have never changed hands by public auction or any other means makes this a dream come true for token and medals enthusiasts. This auction is open for bidding now at www.HA.com/coins