KOLBE & FANNING SALE 176 MORE HIGHLIGHTS

The 50th anniversary auction of Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers is being held on Saturday, February 28, 2026. The sale celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first mail-bid sale held by our founder, George Frederick Kolbe, on February 28, 1976. The sale features a wide array of rare and out-of-print works on ancient, world and U.S. numismatics, including a selection of works from Kolbe's personal library.

Some highlights of the sale include:

  Lots 2 and 34

Lot 2: one of the most attractive antiquarian works of the first half of the 18th century illustrating Roman portrait coins, the 1736 Periodus Historica of Franz Wenzel Anton von Adlersfeld

Lot 34: a complete set of the preferred 1828 revised edition of Joseph Hilarius Eckhel's foundational eight-volume Doctrina Numorum Veterum

Lots 140 and 305

Lot 140: a finely bound set of Émile Pierre Norbert Dewamin's three-volume 1893–1899 Cent ans de numismatique française, one of only 250 sets issued, from the George F. Kolbe Library

Lot 305: an attractive copy of S.H. & H. Chapman's 1906 catalogue of the Harlan P. Smith collection, in the original binding and with 14 fine photographic plates

Lot 155

Lot 155: a very rare early printing of the 1840 Fortsas catalogue, perhaps the most famous hoax book auction, from the Julia Parker Wightman Library and later in the Kolbe Library

Lots 333 and 353

Lot 333: an 1875 first edition copy of Sylvester Sage Crosby's Early Coins of America, in a Nova Constellatio binding specially prepared for the author, from the Syd Martin Library

Lot 353: a bound volume of eight American auction catalogues of the 1880s, six of which feature photographically printed plates, from the library of Carl Würtzbach

Lots 338 and 342

Lot 338: William E. Du Bois's very rare 1846 Pledges of History, the earliest account of the holdings of the U.S. Mint Cabinet, ex the George F. Kolbe Library

Lot 342: the special plated hardcover edition of Tom Elder's important 1908 catalogue of the Peter Gschwend collection, with 17 photographic plates, from the Harry W. Bass Library

Lot 416

Lot 416: an extremely rare circular offering a reward of $2500 for coins stolen from the collection of Waldo C. Newcomer, with an inventory of the coins taken in the burglary.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web