Pogue collection could realize 200 million dollars

By the time the action ends May 18, 2017, for the seventh and final auction session for the D. Brent Pogue Collection, some numismatists predict the cumulative prices realized will exceed $200 million.

The collection is being dispersed through seven auctions scheduled through 2017 in a collaborative venture between Stack’s Bowers Galleries and Sotheby’s.

Totaling more than 650 lots, the Pogue Collection, assembled over more than 35 years, represents the gamut of United States coins, from the 1792 Flowing Hair half disme to gold $20 double eagles.

Many coins in the collection are condition rarities, often the finest known pieces, while others are the only known example in private hands or the only known example, period.

Stack’s Bowers and Sotheby’s have been jointly promoting the collection, including taking selections from the Pogue Collection for display at U.S. coin shows and recently to Sotheby’s London auction galleries.

The first of the Pogue auctions begins May 19 in New York City. The remaining sales, also currently scheduled for New York City, are slated for Sept. 30, 2015; Feb. 18, 2016; May 19, 2016; Sept. 22, 2016; Feb. 16, 2017; and May 18, 2017.

The May 19, 2015, session offers 127 lots — 33 half dimes from 1792 through 1837, 16 dimes from 1796 to 1807, 44 quarter dollars from 1796 to 1838, 21 half dollars from 1794 to 1807, and 13 gold $2.50 quarter eagles from 1796 to 1808.

Among the 127 lots offered are a 1794 Flowing Hair half dime graded Specimen 67 by Professional Coin Grading Service, a PCGS Mint State 63 1806/5 Draped Bust half dollar, and a PCGS MS-62 1796 Capped Bust, No Stars quarter eagle.

1794 Flowing Hair half dime

The 1794 Flowing Hair dime, according to the auction lot description, exhibits evidence of its special preparation with prooflike surfaces and fully struck details. The coin was struck at the Philadelphia Mint.

“While many early strikes show some level of reflectivity this coin displays purposeful polishing of the planchet that reflects both planning and a high level of interest of this particular specimen’s aesthetics from before the die faces met it surfaces,” according to the lot description.

The coin, previously part of the Greensboro Collection, sold in Heritage’s Oct. 18, 2012, sale where it realized $367,775. It has an estimate of $350,000 to $450,000 in the upcoming auction.

1806/5 draped bust half dollar

Once part of the famed Garrett Collection, the 1806/5 Draped Bust, Knobbed 6 half dollar is the Overton 101 variety. Varieties are cataloged in Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836, by Donald Parsley, expanded from the original work of Al C. Overton.

Two different 1806/5 obverse dies were paired with four different reverse dies to create four 1806/5 die varieties.

The Overton 101 example in the Pogue Collection carries an estimate of $25,000 to $40,000.  Stack’s last sold the coin in an Oct. 15, 2002, sale where it realized $11,000.

1796 capped Bust, No Stars $2.50

Also once part of the Garrett Collection, the 1796 Capped Bust, No Stars quarter eagle has been offered for sale twice since 1883 — in 1980 and 1999.

The original mintage of the No Stars subtype is believed by researchers to be 897 coins, with roughly 100 examples extant.

Later in the production year for 1796 quarter eagles, the obverse was modified to incorporate 13 six-pointed stars on the obverse.

The Pogue 1796 No Stars quarter eagle, with an estimate of $400,000 to $550,000, was previously sold by Stack’s in the Oct. 15, 2002, sale where it realized $299,000.

Decades in the making

The collection was begun in the 1970s by D. Brent Pogue, with the active participation and encouragement of his father, Dallas real estate developer A. Mack Pogue. From the outset, Brent built a large library and learned about early federal coins with emphasis on the issues from 1792 to about 1840.

In 1979, Brent Pogue was on hand to preview the Garrett Collection. 

In 1982 he previewed the Eliasberg Collection of U.S. Gold Coins, and acquired from that auction the only examples of the 1822 Capped Bust $5 gold half eagle and 1854-S Coronet half eagle in private hands. 

In 1996 and 1997 he acquired Eliasberg copper, nickel, and silver coins, and in 1999, from the Childs Collection, he acquired the finest known Class I 1804 Draped Bust silver dollar.

For more information on the sale, visit the Stack’s Bowers Galleries website or the Sotheby’s website.

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