The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 30, July 25, 2004, Article 8

A PIG IN A POKE

  W. David Perkins writes: "Among other items, I recently
  acquired the bid sheet of a prominent early silver dollar
  collector (active in the 1950s and 1960s) for M. H.
  Bolender?s 196th Auction Sale,  November 12, 1959.
  Lot 1000 in this sale was titled ?PIG IN A POKE.?  I had
  not seen a reference to ?A Pig in a Poke? (lot) prior to this.
  The description for Lot 1000 reads:

   ?The Pig in a Poke?.  This means something big in a bag or
  sack, and you do not know what is in it.  When I was a young
  dealer half a century ago, a New York dealer who conducted
  coin auctions, would occasionally disrupt the regular sale
  proceedings and sell a ?pig in a poke? on the floor to room
  bidders.  Here is one for my mail bidders.  Only this brief
  description do I give.   There are more than 100 U.S. coins
  from half-cents to silver dollars, from good to uncirculated, no
  bids entered below $50.  the catalogue value is over $200.
  This lot is unconditionally guaranteed to be satisfactory to the
  buyer, just the same as every lot sold in all Bolender sales.
  Any lot in my sales may be returned within 30 days, for a full
  refund of the purchase price, plus shipping costs.  Now I?m
  hoping somebody can get a bargain.  Of course, nobody may
  inspect this lot.  That would spoil the fun.

  I don?t have the prices realized for this lot.  If any of our readers

  have this prices realized list, I would appreciate learning what
  it sold for."

  Bolender references copying this concept from a ?New York
  dealer? about 50 years earlier, thus the year was approximately
  1909.  Can anyone provide the name of this NY dealer?  Has
  anyone come across references to any auction lots referred to
  as ?The Pig in the Poke??

  Bonus Question:  There were four pages of bids for this sale.
  The bidder appears to have been the successful bidder for Lot
  1327, a 1795 ?draped bust centered? U.S. Silver Dollar with
  Brasher Counterstamp.  The bid was $216.26 [if someone
  has prices realized for this sale I?d also appreciate learning
  the winning bid amount for lot 1327.]   What was the name of
  the ?prominent collector??  Hint, this collector was the subject
  of a talk I gave at the NBS Annual Meeting a few years ago
  at the Philadelphia ANA Convention."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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