THE SAMUEL H. AND HENRY CHAPMAN CLIENT LIST

Among the rarest and least frequently encountered documents in numismatic literature are dealer client lists. The Newman Numismatic Portal is pleased to announce the availability of the Chapman brothers client list, now available on Internet Archive. We are grateful to Dan Hamelberg for making this important resource universally available to researchers and collectors.

The Chapmans were Philadelphia dealers, who, together and separately, conducted auctions from 1879 to 1932. The pair introduced a new standard for auction catalog production and are especially noted for their high quality photographic plates. As a result the Chapman series is heavily pursued by literature collectors today. Several weeks ago we announced the availability of a large number of Chapman bid books, loaned to us by Dan Hamelberg, and this client list further enables researchers by explicitly identifying these bidders and supplying addresses for them.

This particular list was assembled c. 1904-1906, with several addenda following the alphabetical listing, including a “list of frauds,” “foreign dealers,” and an enumeration of “persons wanting priced catalogues of all sales.” The client list includes many names that are no surprise – Clapp, Earle, Deats, Gies, Granberg, and so on, many of whom ended up being consignors to Chapman sales. The entire list comprises several hundred names and addresses.

A sales list key at the beginning of book can be used to determine which catalogs were sent to each client. In addition, two mail pieces, “Circular announcing dissolution of Partnership, August 1, 1906” and “Announcement of Henry Chapman, Jr., Sept. 4, 1906” are noted, and these were widely distributed to the client base. The presence of the “Announcement” suggests that this particular volume remained with Henry Chapman following the split of the two brothers in 1906.

In conjunction with other resources, there are a few tidbits here. In 1904, the wife of collector William Boerum Wetmore wrote to the Chapmans that Wetmore would no longer be collecting as “his means will not permit such an outlay” (this, from the Chapman/Wetmore correspondence file at the ANS – see the Asylum article “The ANS Chapman Files: Major William Boerum Wetmore,”

In the client list, the Chapmans have added the note “no cats.” next to the entry on Wetmore. Clearing up another mystery, this ledger also resolves the identity of Frank H. Stewart, who appears in the Chapman bid books – was this the same Frank H. Stewart who worked in Philadelphia and owned the first United States Mint property? Remarkably, no. The Chapmans list only Frank H. Stewart of Grand Rapids, MI, a warning that matching less common names does not always confirm identity.

To view the Chapman mailing list, see:
Samuel Hudson and Henry Chapman Mail List (https://archive.org/details/chapman_mail_list_images)

To read the Earlier E-Sylum article, see:
CHAPMAN BID BOOKS DIGITIZED BY NEWMAN PORTAL (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n43a02.html)

To read the Wetmore article, see:
The Asylum: Quarterly Journal of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society Volume 24n2 (https://archive.org/details/asylumquarterlyj24n2numi)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web