NEWMAN PORTAL SEARCH: GEORGE SEAVEY

This week a user searched the Newman Portal for “George Seavey.” Seavey was a 19th Massachusetts collector of whom little is known, although David Stone demonstrated in 2009 that he was a public figure who was open with his collection. Pete Smith’s American Numismatic Biographies adds that he was active in his family’s metal products business.

William Strobridge’s catalog of the Seavey collection (1873) is the catalog of a public sale that never took place. Strobridge explains all on page 2, where it is learned that Lorin Parmelee had purchased the collection en bloc and, for the purposes of posterity, Strobridge thought it proper to publish the catalog anyway. Originally scheduled for sale beginning June 18, 1873, collectors had to wait another 17 years until the Parmelee sale (1890) before the Seavey coins were publicly available. John Adams rates the Seavey sale as A-, and it’s easy to see why. While the colonial and federal coverage is strong, the sale is lacking in rarities, save a Virginia shilling and an 1802 half dime.

Link to Seavey (1873) sale catalog on Newman Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=511772&AuctionId=512114

Link to David Stone article in the July-September 2009 Asylum:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/510155?page=7

Link to Pete Smith’s American Numismatic Biographies:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/304?page=270

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