The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 24, June 11, 2006, Article 10

THE HOMREN COLLECTION SALES

Many thanks to all of you who wrote about the items I consigned
to the June American Numismatic Rarities sale.  Here are a few
samples:

George Fuld writes: "Your ANR consignment is awesome!!"

Joel Orosz writes: "I've always admired your ability to convert
your knowledge into cool collectibles.  It definitely shows in your
library, and also now in your exonumia collection.

Could be a downside though--in the future, when you introduce
yourself as Wayne Homren, some folks will say, "Oh yeah, you sold
all that--that--STUFF in the ANR sale!"

Nick Graver writes: "What a beautiful catalog!   You and your
family should be so proud of the way things are presented.
Congratulations on the whole idea of collecting those interesting
pieces, then giving them new homes, and helping your college fund."

John Kraljevich, Dave Bowers, John Pack and the whole team at ANR
did a great job, and I'm still getting used to the idea of being
a consignor.  It was an unusual feeling to see an ad for the
upcoming sale with a number of my pieces pictured.

But as the TV hucksters say, 'but wait ... there's more!'

My collection of Pittsburgh Obsolete Currency is consigned to
the July R.M. Smythe sale.  The notes will be available for viewing
at the Memphis paper money show next week.  I've seen a draft of
the catalog text and they've done a nice job as well (thanks, Bruce!).

This is another collection I've assembled over a 25-year period.
A conversation I had with paper money dealer Tom Denley at the
Pittsburgh ANA convention confirmed what I'd learned over the years:
Pittsburgh notes are RARE!  In an article he wrote for the Civil
War Token Journal about some Pittsburgh cardboard scrip, Larry
Dziubek pointed to what may be the reason - flooding.  The Pittsburgh
area has been hit with a number of devastating floods over the years,
and this could account for why so few examples of early paper money
of any kind have survived.

Some of the Bank of Pittsburgh notes (including the uncut sheet of
1815 scrip) came from Emerson Smith.  Emerson was a banker, and one
of his first assignments was to liquidate the assets of the Bank of
Pittsburgh when it went out of business in the Great Depression.
After supervising the sale of the bank's real estate, furniture,
safes & etc., there were several boxes of records left unsold.  He
asked his boss if it would be OK to buy them himself.  He got the
OK and hauled them home.  Inside were piles of correspondence dating
back decades.  He sold these to stamp and autograph dealers.  He also
found a few uncut sheets, some cancelled notes and a few other pieces
of obsolete currency, which he kept after selling duplicates to
friends and dealers.

My favorite note is probably the 25 cent scrip by the Butchers of
Allegheny. This is the plate note in the Hoober book on Pennsylvania
Obsolete currency.  I may be proven wrong, but to the best of my
knowledge it's unique.  I did some digging in the microfilms of local
Civil-War era newspapers and found a wealth of articles about the
scrip, which was recalled after a lawsuit was filed.  I wrote the
story up for The Clarion, the journal of the Pennsylvania Association
of Numismatists and The Historical Magazine published by the Historical
Society of Western Pennsylvania. There was no room for any of this in
the auction catalog, but I'll make the information available for anyone
who wants to further research the note.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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