Eric P Newman - Decoding The Provenance

That's interesting. It would be a shame if the key to the 'code' was lost. I did look for an address for Mr Newman's Foundation but didn't find anything listed, otherwise I would have written.

There is a very good chance the key is lost. The mux, most likely is not a code of who it was bought from, it is much more likely the price code of the dealer it was purchased from and it represents what THAT dealer paid for it. Every dealer/shop had their own code and they didn't normally share them with others. If you have enough examples of a given dealers price code, and you know when the coins were purchased and what the general values were at the time you might be able to work out the code but good luck with that. Or if you can come up with enough examples the code can be worked out like a jumble puzzle. A difficulty here is that some dealers will throw in "nonsense" letters that have no meaning. In a few cases we do know the codes of some well known dealers, but unless we knew that this coin came from one of those dealers that doesn't help

I've managed to talk to a gentleman who is numismatic advisor to the Eric P Newman Education Society and obtained some further interesting information. Also background which may help other purchasers of these coins.

"mux" (as has been suggested) is indeed a cost code, used by a St. Louis coin dealer Burdette G Johnson to represent his buy-in price of $1. Eric P Newman paid the stated $4 for the coin, from him.

A large number of EPN's coins apparently came, via Mr Johnson, from the Estate of "Colonel" E H R Green. My coin is not one of these, but the story of these coins, and the records kept, make an interesting read:

B G Johnson's Ledger: http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n13a12.html

"Colonel" E H R Green: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward...binson_Green

It is believed that my coin came from Armin Brand, son of a another noted collector Virgil Brand, but apparently they don't have absolute proof. Proof, though, may lie in papers held by the American Numismatic Society which are open to consultation. Here: http://numismatics.org/Archives/Vmbrandbio


Maybe a task for another day!

Often serious numismatists will keep the envelopes that previous owners kept the coins in. In EAC it is not unusual for a purchase of an important coins to come with half a dozen envelopes of previous owners, often with lots of hand written notes and comments on them. (Unless purchased from a major auction house as most of them simply discard the old envelopes and holders.)

Totally agree, Conder. I'm impressed that HA are passing on the envelope with the coin. I've bought a number of items from other houses, ex. Well-known collections, but completely lacking tickets, which must have been discarded. All the tickets I have will stay with the coins.