Richmond Collection

[Merc]

Could somebody tell me more about the Richmond Collection? I see NGC has some of the coins photographed on the main page. There is a short paragraph stating :

The Richmond Collection is one of the greatest U.S. coin collections ever assembled. With over 3,600 coins, the collection comprises a near-complete set of U.S. coins from 1839 to 1955.

 

I see DLRC is auctioning the collection but their web site tells little more.

 

I just bought a NGC graded Proof V-nickel from the Richmond collection. Now I'm curious to know more about it. I'll post a picture of the nickel when it arrives. here is the picture from DLRC

http://www.davidlawrence.com/viewimage.cfm?Inventory=97557

[EZ_E]

I closely checked out the images of the proof 19th century coins from the Richmond collection. There are some great coins there but there are also many problem, low grade proofs. But, now is the time to buy because these bargain prices will not stay that way for much longer, IMO.

 

P.S. What did you Liberty nickel grade? There is a hint of a cameo, too. PR 65?

[Tradedollarnut]

The Richmond Collection is one of the most extensive collections in recent times. The owner's goal was to complete the Redbook. He probably came as close as anyone recently to matching Eliasberg, but gave up well short of the goal. Curiously, he duplicated MS and PF in many series.

 

His buying area was PF/MS63 or so. Just about anything higher than that was purchased raw or upgraded after the purchase [with a few notable exceptions, such as the Stack specimen of the 1894-S dime].

[Merc]

It graded PF65. The auction price was almost as high as the PF65 Cams. It seems to have a Cam apperance. I'll know more when it comes.

[Oldtrader3]

Nice Liberty Nickel. I do not know much about the Richmond collection except that: it was assembled over three decades, contained approx. 3500 lots of coins including all issues of US Gold coins except the 1854-S Half Eagle and the 1933 Double Eagle. David Lawrence Rare Coins has broken the sale into (3) parts, two of which have taken place. Sale Part III is scheduled to take place during February 23-26th at Long Beach.

 

Although many of the coins were lower grades, the collection was a very complete set of US coinage. There are many Richmond Collection coins on this site in NGC Registry sets.

[Merc]

The 1905 nickel arrived. It looks amazing but not like the picture in the link to DLRC. The mirrors are watery, deep, and flashy like a silver proof from that era. Nickel is a hard metal so it is more difficult to get a good mirrored surface on the proofs. Many still have some cartwheel luster with some mirror proof luster. This 1905 has only the nice mirror luster with no cartwheels. Then the picture did not show the color. The thing is gold! It looks a bit like a gold proof. I took some pictures but I can't get the look quite right. I'll post them tonight.

[Hoot]

Congratulations, Merc, on what sounds like a nice coin. I find that the DLRC photos are among the worst out there for depicting anything about the coin. Hope you can snap a nice photo and put it up here.

 

Hoot

[michael]

wow

 

cool coin that liberty nick and i can see photos can be really deceiving

 

i would love to see a better scan of the coin

[Elcontador]

I have an 05 in PF 6. PF coins I think between 1901 and 1908 tend to be brilliant, not cameo. Many of them come with uneven, ugly yellow-orange toning. The nicest ones have an even color, and if it's toned, the toning is even and does not impede the coin's luster. A light golden color is not uncommon. Carbon spots / stains can also be a problem.

 

Your coin looks like it has fairly clean surfaces and fairly even color. Re this series, NGC coins often sell at a noticeable discount to PCGS counterparts. For this reason, you may be able to get an attractive coin in this series in an NGC holder.

[Oldtrader3]

Nickels tend to tone a yellow/golden color because of the alloy. Many Liberty nickels have a slight copper wash look to them. I have owned a couple that have this toning. It is typical for this series.

[Merc]

This coin was hard to photograph. I took many pictures to get a few that were ok. None really capture the real look of the coin. Anyways, here are the picts I promised.

 

[Merc]

I'm not sure how to add several pictures at once. Here is #2. the coin is not as gold as in the picture, but this ones shows off the deep watery mirrors the best.

 

[Merc]

The reverse has a good cameo, but it fades a touch on the lower part of the V. The obverse has some cameo especially on the upper half of Liberty's head.

[davidlawrence-migration]

Thanks for asking about the Richmond Collection. As TradeDollarNut mentioned, this collection is one of the most complete US coin collections ever assembled. He was essentially aiming to complete the Redbook (or more precisely, he used a 1989 PCGS Population Report as a checklist!) set -- essentially the same thing. But he wanted proof and mint state coins in every series with some exceptions.

 

Our original press release offers a bit more info:

 

http://www.davidlawrence.com/richmond/pressrelease013104.cfm

 

 

The third of 3 live auctions will be held on March 7 in Baltimore containing the Seated and Barber coins from the collection. The depth here is incredible as very few people have ever successfully completed Seated coinage sets in ANY denomination...much less all of them. In general, he was not after the finest graded coin, but a nice choice uncirculated coin would do where possible. When this could not be found, we'd get an XF or AU coin. This was quite necessary in the Seated series.

 

Regarding our pictures: we do the best we can considering the volume of coins we handle here at DLRC. Based on the images posted above, you can see the problems that one has photographing coins. i.e. the lighting is very hard to get correct and we couldn't possibly calibrate this correctly on a coin-by-coin basis. It's an art to be sure. Generally we use flatbed scanners for out images which produce a consistent image, true to color, yet somewhat lacking in luster. At least this "undersells" the coin, rather than the reverse.

 

One last note: NGC's imaging dept handled the imaging of 90%+ of the Richmond Collection for us. We think they did a great job but by it's nature, the images are different than the ones we create.

 

Thanks for the post and please visit our current online auction of Richmond Coins.

 

http://www.davidlawrence.com/auctions/auctioninfo.cfm?AuctionID=6

[davidlawrence-migration]

p.s. there are approximately 900 more coins in the Richmond Collections which were not valuable enough for the live auctions. We will sell those via web auction in late March/early April. Stay tuned!

[Leothelion]

Pcgs has certified one hundred and eleven, 111 MS65FS 1962 Jefferson nickels and you have two such dates on your website at $250 each. Is that correct?

 

Leo

[Oldtrader3]

John: I just received my Richmond III catalog and thank you for it. I have just started going through it and deciding which coins would fit in my collection. As you may be aware, I am a regular customer of your firm and I am looking forward to bidding in this auction. I think that the scope and quality of the collection is a pretty amazing accomplishment in this day and age.

OT3

[Merc]

Thanks David Lawrence for responding to my question about the Richmond collection. Is the collector named Richmond, or is just from the Richmond area and wishes to remained anomyous?

 

I live near Baltimore so I will be back for the March auctions. Coin photography can be tricky since the look of the coin changes with the angle of reflection. I understand how a single picture in a catalogue can only show so much.

[davidlawrence-migration]

The Richmond Collector is Bradley Hirst, from Richmond, Indiana. He originally sought to remain anonymous but became indifferent after time. He is a very modest individual who was/is a great patron of numismatics.

 

Merc: I look forward to meeting you at the auction!

 

OT3: let me know if I can assist you in any way as you prepare your bids

[michael]