MORE ON LOYE L. LAUDER

Last week Craig Sholley and Wayne Homren remarked that they were not familiar with Loye Lauder. I became aware of her in 1983 when her collection was put up for sale. The auction house, William Doyle Galleries was not known for numismatic auctions. The sale was promoted through Penny-Wise, the journal of the Early American Coppers Club (EAC). The large cents were catalogued by C. Douglas Smith, a well-respected member of EAC.

The 1915 New York Census listed her as Loyetta Lark. Her maternal grandmother was Loyetta Elizabeth Tressler (1848-1928). By the 1920 Census, she was listed as Loye E. Lark and Loyetta was never heard from again.

In the sale, lot 233 sold for $40,000. This was the 1792 silver-center cent, graded AU-55 at the time. This was subsequently owned by Alan Weinberg, and more recently by Robert Rodriguez. The previous sale had been by S. H. and H. Chapman in 1895. It is unknown how Lauder acquired the coin.

There are very few names of women in the pedigrees for 1792 pattern coins. Loye Lauder had a complete five-coin type set of the 1792 patterns including a Birch Cent, silver-center-cent, small cent without silver center, half disme and disme.

Her Birch Cent was only graded Fair 2, the lowest grade among the three varieties of Birch cent. However, it is the only piece to come up for auction during the time she was collecting.

This was reported in a 2018 Heritage auction catalog: "Loye Lauder was a mysterious figure, who shunned publicity and kept her collecting activities very low key."

I would have a different interpretation. She was involved in social service activities as chairman of volunteer workers of the Bergen Chapter of the American Red Cross and official of the Hackensack Hospital Auxiliary.

Let me tell you a story about the mysterious woman. As Loye Lark, she married Allison Laytham in 1941. Laytham had an old 95-foot boat named All Alone. He also had a 60-foot fishing boat kept in Florida. A February 2, 1950, article in The (Passaic) Herald-News shows Mr. & Mrs. Allison Laytham shunning publicity on the yacht All Alone in Palm Beach, Florida.

Perhaps the couple found the quarters too cramped or perhaps the yacht reflected poorly on their status in society. Whatever the reason. Laytham commissioned another ship. He took sixteen trips to Europe to oversee the construction.

 
The Vedersein

The Vedersein was designed by Geerd N. Hendel and built by Abeking & Rasmossen in Germany. It was 110 feet long with a beam of 19 feet. It was described as the largest wood-hull boat built in the past 26 years and was christened in June 1955. The crew, at various times, included five, six, or seven to keep it going. At Fort Meyers, the ship was too long to fit in the marina. She carried a tender for those necessary trips to and from a dock.

The finest of furnishings included a wood-burning fireplace. Every wooden ship should have one, what could possibly go wrong? A photo in the April 14, 1956, issue of The Miami Herald shows Mrs. Allison Laythan sitting in the salon near the fireplace.

 

The ship may have gotten more publicity than Mrs. Laytham. The ship was mentioned in the papers when it came into port along with frequent photos. Mention of the Laythams as owners may have been incidental.

Allison Laytham was only able to enjoy the ship for a little over a year until his death, without a will, on November 12, 1956. His wife, Loye, then became the owner. There was an interesting item in The Miami Herald on November 19, 1956: "annually they've docked their huge yacht Vedersein, out of Patterson, N.J., at the Flamingo where a friend, George Lauder III of Greenwich, docks his yacht nearby."

There is another story that might be told about Loye. She was remarried to George Lauder III (1910-1986) of Greenwich, Connecticut, on August 10, 1957. He was the treasurer of the Laytham Foundry and a collector of antique boats. He had conveniently been divorced from his first wife in July of 1957. That triggers my imagination for a story I cannot confirm. After the death of Loye in 1964, George Lauder was promoted from treasurer to president of the Laytham Foundry.

Loye Lark Laytham Lauder sold the ship in February 1961 to J. Larry Green who was from Lichtenstein. He took the ship to southern France. In recent years the ship has been named Sans Souci. It has some modern features but has been restored as much as possible to original condition. It was last offered for sale in 2022 with an asking price of $5.6 million. I might like to have this as one of my association items but I don't have room to store it.

Loye L. Lauder began the serious collection of coins after the death of her first husband, Allison Laytham. It certainly was not true that she shunned publicity, It is true that she avoided publicity as she formed her collection. As a wealthy widow, she probably made purchases through a trusted dealer.

An infusion of money into a narrow collecting field can cause prices to rise. For this reason and general security concerns, she may have chosen to be an anonymous collector.

George Lauder III was still living when his wife's collection was consigned for sale. Lot 345 was a 1796 cent, S-104, described as coming from the (Stack's) 1960 Holmes sale. This is the only coin I saw with a source listed. Perhaps other accession records were unavailable.

Next week: who was her dealer?

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
LOYE L. LAUDER (1911-1964) (https://www.coinbooks.org/v29/esylum_v29n03a20.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web