WINSOR, RICHARD BROWN (1848-1889)

Winsor, Richard Brown (1848-1889), he was born on May 25, 1848, the son of Andrew Winsor (1818-1883), and Mary Jane Brown (1821-1904), and was named after his maternal grandfather Richard Brown. He was a descendant of Joshua Winsor of Providence in 1638 and also of "the Brown Family" with direct lineage to Chad Brown a colonial committee-man at Providence in 1640. He graduated Providence Public High School in the Classics Department in 1864. He graduated Brown University in 1868 with an M.A. He was a member of the Zeta Psi Fraternity. His maternal ancestry to Nicholas Brown made Richard Brown Winsor in the bloodline of the namesake of Brown University when it was renamed in 1804 from its original appellation: The College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

He was a member of the Franklin Society and of the Franklin Lyceum. He followed in his father's business as a lumber dealer and bookkeeper in the family firm of Winsor & Brown, Broad Street, corner of Pearl, Providence, Rhode Island, which was first established in 1854 on Hill's Wharf, Providence, Rhode Island, with his father Andrew and his brother-in-law Joseph Farnum Brown. Brown sold out in 1856 moving to Michigan, but was later reunited in the firm once again as a copartnership with Andrew Winsor and Joseph Farnum Brown, re-established in August 1865. After the death of Richard Brown Winsor in 1889 the firm was renamed by Richard's younger brother Andrew (1852-) in 1890 as Andrew Winsor & Company, Lumber Merchants.

Richard Brown Winsor's business envelope postmarked June 9, 1886, just three and a half years before his demise.

Three of his U. S. large cents were cited in the SS. Crosby and J. N. T. Levick plate and census of 1793 published inAmerican Journal of Numismatics, Volume III, No. 12, April, 1869. In that photographic plate his cents were Nos. 6, D, and 11, with the latter being the finest known uncirculated broken die Liberty Cap from the Mickley sale in 1867, lot 1934, purchased at $37.50. Also, at the Mickley sale he purchased other all uncirculated cents including lot 1954, a 1795 thick planchet lettered edge for $11; lot 1962, a 1796 fillet head for $17; lot 1972, a 1798 for $17; lot 2020, an 1822 for $1.75; and lot 2748, a collection of 62 Hard Times Tokens for $11. The priced and named catalogue for the Mickley sale misspelled Winsor as Windsor.

Two years later he purchased two coins for $47.00 : 1791 Small Eagle Washington Cent for $27.00 and the Washington 1805 Medal by Eccleston for $20.00 at the MacKenzie Sale in New York held by Ed Cogan on 9 June, 1869. In 1875, he was a subscriber to Crosby's Early Coins of America. In 1885 he joined the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Richard Brown Winsor died on December 5, 1889. Six years after his death his coin collection was sold posthumously by the family estate. His collection of 1353 lots was sold by the Chapman brothers on December 16-17, 1895. It contained 180 large cents including the NC-2 "Strawberry Leaf" variety, discovery coin. The Chapman sale of the Winsor collection realized $20,000.

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WINSOR, RICHARD BROWN (https://sites.google.com/a/numismaticmall.com/www/numismaticmall-com/winsor-richard-brown)

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