The slim paperbound volume, 35 pages in length, described 868 lots of coins advertised as being a 'Large and Valuable Collection of Coins, Medals, and Tokens, comprising the largest collection of American tokens ever offered for sale in this country, containing over six hundred specimens, mostly in fine condition, being the cabinet of Edward Groh, Esq.' This description, all squeezed on the title page, went on to say that the event would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, February 28 and 29, 1860-- obviously a Leap Year event-- and would be at the venue of Bangs, Merwin & Co., No. 13 Park Row, New York.

Bangs, Merwin was a well-known auction gallery at the time, and would continue to be so for many years, eventually merging into the Anderson Galleries and American Art Association well known in the early 20th century, then into Parke Bernet Galleries, then, finally, to the present Sotheby's. Thus, Sotheby's office in New York City can trace its ancestry, at least in some small fraction, to Bangs, Merwin.

Mail bids could be given through a different party, Ezra Hill, who gave his address as Box 1205, New York City. Possibly Hill was the cataloguer of the sale, but it didn't say.

While the catalogue indicated that the contents comprised tokens, an inspection of the interior shows that while there were, indeed, many tokens, there were also a tremendous number of United States and world coins.

Today, in 1997, we have our terminology. Collectors of silver dollars of 1794-1795 note that the design comprises the Flowing Hair obverse with the Small Eagle reverse. Later on in the dollar series, beginning in 1795 and continuing through 1804, we have the Draped Bust obverse and the Heraldic reverse. And so it goes, down to the present time.

A few years back, Kenneth E. Bressett, editor of A Guidebook of United States Coins, thought that it was a shame that certain designs didn't have nicknames or at least popular names we could all know them by. Thus, single-handedly (I presume) he filled the gap. For example, among large cents 1793-1857 we already had the 1795 Jefferson Head, and the 1839 Booby Head and Silly Head. Enter Ken Bressett, and we were given in the large cent series such terms as Classic Head for the 1808-1814 style, Matron Head for 1816-1835, and Young Head for 1835-1857. The latter category has its own division of ladies, including such notations as Petite Head and Mature Head. Some of these terms have caught on, and others haven't, but perhaps all will in due course. Right now most people know that the 1808-1814 large cent can, indeed, be called a Classic Head, but I have yet to have someone send in a want list and ask for an 1843 Mature Head large cent.

But, I digress. Back to the 1850 catalogue of the cabinet of Edward Groh. This particular consignor, by the way, loomed large in the field of early American coins. In February 1860, the Civil War was not yet a reality, but it certainly was a gleam in more than one eye-- as dissension was rife throughout the north and south sections of the Union. In a few years, particularly 1863, many varieties of small bronze tokens would be produced, called today Civil War tokens, and divided into patriotic and store card categories. Groh would become involved in these in due course, and by 1865-1866 would be recognized as one of the foremost experts in Civil War tokens. His cabinet was given to the American Numismatic and Archaeology Society, today known as the American Numismatic Society, where it still rests and can be enjoyed, appreciated, and studied by scholars.

Back in 1860, terminology was not at all standardized. While the terms Silly Head and Booby Head had sprung from some source (unknown to us) to describe 1839 cents, such nomenclature as Classic Head, Capped Bust (a Ken Bressett name for the coinage of John Reich, circa 1807-1836), and the seemingly awkward Capped Draped Bust to Left (Ken Bressett's description of the 1807-1812 $5 gold piece) had yet to be devised. In fact, they were a century away. The cataloguer of the Groh catalogue relied upon his nomenclature and description, some of which are quite enchanting to read today. By the way, the term 'fine' as used in 1860, does not equate to the specific grade Fine-12 that we know today, but, instead, meant something like 'fairly nice coin, lightly worn, but quite attractive.' There were no grading standards. A coin listed as 'Very Fine' was supposed to be better than just 'Fine' but without any specific division.

To some interesting specifics, Lot 77, under 'Copper Coins of Germany,' offered a piece, not dated or otherwise identified, described only as 'An arm from Clouds, throwing Pearls before a Swine, very fine and very rare.' Lot 91 was described was described as 'Kamehameha III. 1847, Sandwich Island, fine.' Actually, it was not Kamehameha, the king of Hawaii, who himself was being offered, but, a copper cent of that date. Some of these descriptions required a little bit of knowledge to understand! Today, we have many reference books. Back then there were virtually none. In fact, I am not sure that there is any reference book at all where one could find out information about the 1847 Hawaiian one-cent coin.

Lot 123, under the general category of 'Old German Dollars:' was described as Willhelm, Landgrave of Hassiae, old Rix Dollar 1637, ob. View of a city, fine and curious.' It is not certain whether the coin itself was fine and curious, or whether the view was fine and curious. Such things were sometimes left to the imagination.

Lot 163 peaks the imagination, and under 'Old German Dollars' is something that certainly is not related at all to Germany, but what is it? The description reads as follows 'Guilder, East India Co. and a Beekman St. Pistareen, fine.' 'Pistareen' was a term for a Spanish fractional silver coin made in Spain, but, apparently, the reference here is to a copy or counterfeit produced in New York City on Beekman Street. It is known that in the early 19th century there were a number of enterprising Mints that turned out Spanish and, mostly, Spanish-American silver and gold coins in imitation of the originals. Such pieces have never been catalogued in detailed numismatic references, and the field is largely unrecognized today. However, in 1860 is a note of a little silver piece apparently made not far from where the auction itself was being held. As to the East India Company, that was a trading firm based in England, and likewise had nothing to do with Germany.

Lot 185, under the general heading of 'Copper Medals,' described as 'A Priest examining a Nude Female, rev. the Naked Queen of Hungary putting on Breeches, very curious and rare.' This does indeed seem to be rather curious, and one wonders why the priest is engaging in the activity mentioned on the obverse of the coin, and what the Queen of Hungary was doing before she put on her britches, the motif of the reverse. Perhaps if some reader of our publication would like to expand on this particular coin and send an illustration of it, we'll do a follow-up of it in a future issue!

For those who want to make their own coins, or at least work in that direction (one more die would be needed), Lot 195 offered this: 'The obverse die of Frederick the Great, Prussian Thaler.'

Now we come to some United States coins. Lot 196 was described as '1795 Dollar, Crow, very fine.' What the cataloguer described as a 'crow,' actually a very fine bird, we now call the Small Eagle reverse, an eagle perched upon a rock. However, in 1860 the cataloguer thought it looked more like a crow, which, in fact, it indeed might. It is quite difficult to know what an eagle really looks like in examining various United States coins, as they are so very different. Perhaps a close contender to reality is that on the 1837 Gobrecht silver dollar-- copied later on the 1856 Flying Eagle cent and the 1907 $20 gold piece.

Lot 201, a silver dollar, is described as '1798 Spread Eagle, fine.' The term 'Spread Eagle' refers to what we now know as the Heraldic or Large Eagle. It is, indeed, spread.

Under Lot 219, a half dollar, we find a coin described as 'nearly proof.' Today, in 1996, most numismatists feel that a coin is either a proof or it isn't. It cannot be 'nearly' proof, anymore than one can be 'nearly honest' or 'nearly pregnant.' However, back then the nomenclature differed.

Lot 244, a cent, was described as '1793 Palm Leaf, fair.' Presumably, the palm leaf referred to the little sprig or olive leaf (or whatever it is) above the date 1793. Today, we do not have any particular name for it at all, except that it certainly isn't a palm leaf-- which has long blades and is botanically quite different from that scene.

Lot 245, also a cent, is described as '1793 Link, poor.' Today, we call this the Chain cent.

Lot 282 is certainly intriguing, consists of a bunch of large cents, but not otherwise described, 10 pieces of 'Misc. overstruck Cents.' Presumably these are counterstamps with the names of people, slogans, or whatever, not overstruck with dies of other coins-- but who knows?

Lot 296 is described as 'Vermont Cents, Boys head, poor,' three pieces. Presumably this refers to three examples of what is now known as the Baby Head cent, a Vermont copper of 1786, but having three in one lot is unusual, for the variety then and, today, is fairly scarce. Seemingly, it was very difficult to be a mail bidder back then. There wasn't much to go on!

Lot 302 was described as 'Louisiana Cent, 1721, fine and very rare,' is today what we call a French Colonies copper sou. Louisiana was a French colony at one time, so perhaps the Louisiana name was appropriate.

Lot 336, under the category of 'American Tokens,' is a piece described as 'Father Matthew Administering the Pledge, tin, fine and rare.' The Pledge referred to the Temperance Pledge whereby people swore not to drink demon rum or any other form of alcohol. If they really had to indulge in such things, any number of patent medicines contained alcohol but were in the medicinal category and these didn't count.