The Norweb Collection - An American Legacy

APPENDIX I

Albert Holden's Inventory

(A Reconstruction)

This reconstruction of Albert Holden's coin collection includes only United States federal and colonial era coins. At the same time he possessed large collections of Canadian, foreign, and ancient pieces as well.The listing is based upon the card files and inventory ledgers maintained in later years by the Honorable and Mrs. R. Henry Norweb, which record purchase dates, prices, and vendors; and various priced and annotated auction catalogues of sales in which Albert Holden participated through agents. No correspondence to or from Holden concerning his coin collection has been preserved, so far as the authors are aware.

Every attempt has been made to verify the accuracy of this reconstruction. A number of errors were detected in the card files and corrected, but it is likely that other errors were not detected.

Albert and Liberty Holden owned an impressive collection of Washington medals and coins, as well as early American medals listed by C. Wyllys Betts. These have not been listed here as they are not part of the collection consigned to Auctions by Bowers and Merena, Inc. for auction.

Some obvious gaps can be seen in the reconstructed inventory, such as the small number of silver dollars and double eagles. Denomination or type series missing, or seemingly underrepresented, should not suggest Holden's lack of interest but, rather, the loss of his original records.