The William Cutler Atwater Collection

Research Archive > The William Cutler Atwater Collection

The marvelous collection of William Cutler Atwater, sold by B. Max Mehl at mail bid auction on June 11, 1946, was one of the most important sales of the first half of the 20th century. Atwater’s collection was nearly complete for all U.S. coins from 1793 to 1920, missing only a few of the greatest rarities. However, Atwater had rarities of his own, including not one, but two, 1804 Silver Dollars, Proof-only examples of the 1884 and 1885 Trade Dollars, the 1838-O Half Dollar, an 1876-CC Twenty-Cent piece, and many others. All told, the sale contained just over 2,400 lots, which sold for a total of $153,514.60. While today, you could hardly touch a single rarity for that amount, at the time, it was the largest sum ever realized for a coin collection sold at auction in the United States. Ever the showman, B. Max Mehl added, “And as far as I know in the world.”

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