Colonel Green (Edward H.r. Green) Coin Collection Inventory

I have been cataloging catalogs. Tedious work.

So far the earliest is 1859 but several date to the Civil War. I can't locate the 1842 that I noticed while packing.

I also found the bill of sale for one of the Whale Ships that I believe was used in the Great Stone Fleet in 1863 or so. I need to research the name but I recall the Ship Samuel Arnold as being involved.

Even if it just a plain old whale ship - how many 1863 bills of sale for ships still exist. Because documents were tucked everywhere I am forced to look through each catalog page by page.

On the subject of catalogs I discovered one - a Chapman Sale catalog that had an exact counterpart in the Kolbe sale of Jan 2010. The catalog sold for $2,400. So much for the catalogs being worthless junk.

I completed the early Bowers materials today - I sleeve each one separately and record outline data on each. (I have bought over 800 page protectors so far and I have to go back soon). The best so far is a copy of an early newsletter that brought over $100 on ebay. It is interesting to see Bowers and Rudy as very young men back in the 1960s. The collection includes multiple copies of many of the older newsletters and one which has pictures of each man at his desk is autographed by the pair.

Today I am changing to early letters and documents that are loose in a box. I am getting bored with catalogs anyway. No telling what I will find there.

Yesterday, I indicated that I was switching gears and looking at the Covers and papers in a couple of small boxes. Well, I found some very interesting items which I posted on the Stamp Forum. (You have to join that separately but can use the same ID and password to make it easier. You just have to apply. It took me 2 or 3 minutes.) Some of the comments are interesting.

I posted pictures of 12 of the more interesting covers (interesting to me) and the comments indicate they are possibly quite valuable.

The oldest so far is a Ship cover mailed in 1821 from the Brig "Thomas" of Boston. But there are also printed envelopes (advertising and political), early stamps and strange (at least to me) postmarks as well as legal documents of all types. There are Bonds, Stocks, receipts, Promissory notes, First and Second Bills of Transfer, Treasury Bills of Transfer, Diplomatic correspondence (one with a nice embossed seal from Brazil ca:1850), court records, Contracts, Deeds, Patent Transfers, Letters, Covers, Ship mail, Death Mail (black borders) and old School papers from the 1850s. A real mixed bag of interesting - possibly valuable stuff.

The most interesting "find of the day" are two official "Prize Claims". They were folded but I carefully opened them to see what it was about. They arose from the capture of a Confederate Ship on the high seas during the Civil War and these are applications to the US Government for part of the Prize. The applicant was serving under an alias - so there are affidavits to establish his actual identity.

So now the tally of materials in the estate includes far more than books and catalogs.

PS: I found two more bills of sale for ships. So I guess more than one survived from the Civil War era.

LMR59 Hello - nice to hear from someone back "home" so to speak. I also have a bit of a status update on my sort of all the material. I have spent over 200 hours cataloging and separating the collection so far and I am almost ready to begin the final count of items by category.

I think I am finally arriving at the last few boxes of old letters and documents. I was actually working on one this evening.

To date, I have sorted and filed over 6000 envelopes and letters and perhaps 1000 historical documents. I have sorted out about 1600 stock certificates and 2000 checks most with revenue stamps. The valuable letters number approximately 1500. They are divided into stampless covers and letters, war time letters, advertising letters and odd cancellations. I have distinct files for the black border letters of mourning, ship mail and whaling related mail. I have sorted the common cancels into boxes by stamp type and postal location. I have about 50 interesting autographs of political and entertainment figures (this area is still active and will require more research). There are three large boxes of loose used stamps - one US, one Revenue and one foreign and six boxes of envelopes with pre printed postage again sorted by type of stamp. I have two boxes of foreign envelopes dating back to the 1850s but most are much newer 1900 -1950. The oldest with letters are from Portugal and the Atlantic Islands (Cape Verde and the Azores).

I have 47 Banana Boxes full of Coin, Stamp and Numismatic Literature Catalogs which are of very minimal value but 50 or so Catalogs (like the Chapman Catalogs from the early 1900's) which are quite valuable. The books in the collection have been sorted. There are about 100 better than average books like a first edition of Maris with the plates and a few other scarce colonial coin books several of which Mr. Perkins paid over $100 for 20 years ago. They will be auctioned as a group.

I have yet to decide how to dispose of the innumerable Stack's catalogs and other low value material. I also have many of the middle years of Red Book and several hundred other books of minimal value. There are a few hundred Numismatist issues and many years of the Numismatic Scrap book.

The coins have all been inventoried and appraised with all of the bulk items and bullion items already disposed of to cover expenses to date (roughly $3500). The colonial material will be consigned but the mid range coins will likely be sold on ebay or on this forum.

In the material I was filing tonight (which consists mostly of legal files) there were a few interesting cases - one was a claim made against one whale ship by another for the loss of a whale. It seems the whale was harpooned and killed by one boat but something happened and the other vessel took the whale in tow and extracted the oil. The suit is for the value of 40 barrels of whale oil. There are affidavits from both sides signed and an arbitrators filing.

Another case involved an underage boy who sailed on a whale-ship against his parents wishes.

I have a case of a Ships Cook who was being sued after the voyage because his on board living expenses were $41 more that his salary for the whole voyage. Nothing like working a few years and owing the company money.

Another case involves an unseaworthy whale ship in Honolulu which had to be sold at auction in the 1840s. This is when Hawaii was a Kingdom. The documents are from the US Consul to the Kingdom.

Another involves the loss of a whale ship in an Arctic ocean storm. Each case file is many pages along so I can't take time to decipher them all, but it is very interesting stuff.

There are also a lot of old deeds back to 1807 so far. One is for a 2 acre farm on Ricketson's Neck in Dartmouth that sold for $135 in 1816. I bet those couple acres are worth millions today!

I also have got 3 different Bills of Sale for shares of the Charles W. Morgan. The Whaling Museum said these were actually common and of little monetary value.

There are also a lot of Rail Road documents of various types including one for free passage on the Boston to Albany Rail Road. It was not used. I wonder if I could use it now.

There is also an interesting application for damages against the same rail road for problems in shipping glass producing materials to the Mount Washington Glass Company - the Pairpoint Glass Co.

I am also fascinated by the distinctive letter heads and what they referred to - whale bone - buggy's and other period items long gone. Interesting historical materials of little cash value outside of the New Bedford area.

Most of the "historical" materials with no value as philatelic collectibles will likely be sold to the whaling museum in New Bedford as a lot. This will preserve the historic value at a location where it is of most value for study.

Items of significant philatelic or numismatic value will be consigned for sale after the first of the year.

I will entertain suggestions about how to dispose of the other stuff.

coppertop5150 Ethically and contractually, I believe I am bound to return to the estate 85% of the value of the material sold (my fee is 15%) less expenses that I incur in making the sale. That is my written agreement with the lawyer and the executor of the estate.

The fact that I was able to salvage material before it hit curbside is to my way of thinking a real non-issue. Nothing in the estate becomes my property at any point, and it would be unfair of me to profit at the heirs' expense simply because they were unaware of the value of the material. The fact that I saw some value in what the heirs considered to be trash was the main point I was trying to make.

I also believe that under Massachusetts law it is illegal to remove trash placed at either curbside or at the dump site. But I do have written permission to remove all of the material from the house. If I got it off a bookshelf or out of the garbage barrels in the garage I am treating it in the same way.

I also have permission to dispose of any material that has NO cash value.

Thanks for the detailed and fabulous information you shared, Swamperbob! If I was looking through all your boxes I probably wouldn't have slept for weeks. I agree with you that many items, while not of significant monetary value, certainly have curiosity value.
I'm delighted to hear that you're in contact with the New Bedford Whaling Museum. I am a member, and they're a great repository of historical records such as those you describe.
I am one of several residents on the grounds of the Colonel's old estate that help maintain a small museum/artifact case with items relevant to Round Hill and Col. Green. We all sort of keep our eyes open for any interesting items, and share them with our community. In that spirit, I must say that "yes," I have an interest in taking a look at whatever you have, at whatever price talk deemed fair to the seller whom you represent. It would be my personal mission to try to bring some of the Colonel's records back home to his estate grounds where our community can enjoy taking a look at them.
If it's appropriate to do so, please let me know that it's OK to contact you, and I will do so. I would be happy to come to your area to take a look at what you have.
It's snowing and 29 degrees up here today. Healthy holidays to you!

Before I jump in my sleigh...
I tried to e-mail you with my numbers, but it wouldn't go through. My e-mail is LouMR22 at gmail dot com, if you could establish direct contact by e-mailing me.
Best regards, and I hope to hear from you,
L

--E-mail address edited by the staff

Nothing new - just more of the same kinds of things. I have completed all of the boxes and I am still in the process of placing documents in holders and sorting everything into three sub-groups for sale. The third group is the one containing material that is of no value as coin or stamp related. That material is to be disposed of as I see fit.

Temps here are higher - 40s so I am glad I am not in NE.

I do not understand what prevents you from contacting me directly. Perhaps there is a forum limitation on contacts based on the number of posts you have.

Thanks