Antique Coin Boards with David W. Lange – www.coincollectingboards.com …..
For Collectors of Antique Coin Boards
Number 54 — Spring 2020
Greetings from the Chairman of the Board! Spring brings the latest roundup of coin board developments, as well as a new list of boards for sale. In a related matter my book on Whitman coin folders and albums 1940-78 will be going to layout in April, and I hope to have it in print by late summer. This is Volume Three in a series documenting coin album publishers and their product lines, and it will likely be my biggest book yet.
MARKET ACTIVITY
This was a particularly active quarter for coin board listings. Most were fairly routine offers of common boards over a variety of grades, but there were a few standouts. Oberwise boards rarely attract aggressive bidding, but one seller’s offering of several scarcer titles brought impressive prices. The best of these was an example of O25ȼCk for Standing Liberty quarters I graded F-VF that brought well over catalog value at $92. This easily can happen when two buyers both lack a particular title. It was one of several boards from that seller featuring the vendor stamp of Sioux City Stationery Co. (see below). I bid on all of them for resale but was successful only on the Early Nickel board. Interestingly, the seller is located in Sioux City, too.
There were several Lincoln Printing and Oberwise boards that would have made nice additions to one’s collection, but their inclusion of many coins pushed the prices realized well above that of the boards alone. A seller in Washington State listed two large lots of coin boards, one of which included a very choice example of Kent Company’s Second Edition Lincoln cent board, but with so many coins the lot brought over $1,000. Many times I’ve bought coin-filled boards when the price was right, but there’s a lot of work involved in carefully removing the coins and then unloading them. Reluctantly, I had to pass this time. Let’s just hope that the new owners of these two lots appreciate that the boards are of value in and of themselves and don’t trash them while removing the coins.
SPREADING THE GOSPEL
Fellow coin board and album collector Donald Kocken has been featured in Coin Board News several times, and now he’s sharing his collecting experience in a charming little book. Titled Collecting Vintage Coin Boards, Albums, and Folders, it is 49 pages spiral bound and illustrated in full color.
While all of these items will be featured in greater detail in later volumes of my own book series, this guide serves as a great introduction to what’s out there to collect. Don’s book is priced at just $10, plus $4.40 for shipping and handling. Contact me for more information.
BOOK UPDATES
Despite a great many eBay listings this quarter, there were no new discoveries that merit addition to my book. A possible exception is written about below, but the jury is still out on this one.
MYSTERY BINDER
A couple months ago, while doing my daily eBay searches, I spotted the item below that had just been listed. Though the BIN price seemed high, the old rule of “buy it when you see it, or you’ll never see it again” kicked in and made me bite. It’s a large, heavyweight ring binder with a richly grained texture and the words UNITED STATES COINS printed on the front cover. Two common Whitman Second Edition boards dated 1938 are included, these being punched four times each for mounting. The boards are in absolutely pristine condition, aside from one partially damaged opening in the cent board. It’s doubtful that this was a publisher-made product from Whitman, but it is clearly of the period and quite interesting.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Unless we’re all quarantined by a Covid-19 pandemic, I’ll be at the Central States Numismatic Society convention April 22-25. I’m getting my coin show assignments later than was the case in the past, so the June 4-6 Long Beach Expo and the June 18-20 Whitman Baltimore Expo are both likely but unconfirmed. I am scheduled to co-instruct my longtime class on Collecting United States Type Coins at the ANA’s Annual Summer Seminar, June 27-July 2.
PARTING SHOTS
I’ll leave you with a few charming coin board images on the following page.
The first is an ad from the September 1938 issue of The Numismatist for Colonial Coin & Stamp Company boards, though not so identified by name. Next is a 1944 ad for Oberwise boards and folders from R. A. Wilson’s premium book, The American Catalog. Following that is the new vendor stamp mentioned earlier in this issue.
The last image is a photo of your editor taken at the recent Long Beach Expo holding a 100-ounce gold nugget from Australia that coin dealer Bob Campbell brought to the NGC booth for some weight-lifting fun.
Best Regards,
—David W. Lange, coincollectingboards.com
The author’s desktop, featuring Gramercy coin boards as his computer wallpaper. Photo courtesy David W. Lange
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Newest Coin Board Book
Continuing his highly acclaimed series of books about coin boards and albums, numismatic researcher David W. Lange has written Coin Collecting Albums – A Complete History & Catalog Volume Two: The Library of Coins and the Treasury of Coins. In addition to providing detailed catalogs and photos of both coin album lines, this book provides a history of their publisher, The Coin and Currency Institute, and an entertaining biography of the company’s founder, famed coin dealer Robert Friedberg. Richly illustrated, this new book has 144 heavy and coated pages, including 64 pages in full color. It is a deluxe, hardcover volume that will last for many years. The price is $34.95, plus $5 for priority mail shipping in a rigid, protective box.
Also available from Lange’s PennyBoard PressTM are his two previous books:
Coin Collecting Albums – A Complete History & Catalog Volume One: The National Coin Album & Related Products of Beistle, Raymond & Meghrig.
Coin Collecting Boards of the 1930s & 1940s: A Complete History, Catalog and Value Guide, published at $39.95, is now just $14.95 plus $5 shipping.
All books purchased from David W. Lange will be signed, unless requested otherwise, and personalized inscriptions are available upon request. Payment may be made by check to David W. Lange or via PayPal to [email protected]. David W. Lange may be contacted at POB 110022, Lakewood Ranch, FL 34211 or by telephone at (941) 586-8670. His website providing a history of vintage coin boards and from which he buys and sells such items, is coincollectingboards.com.
