Heritage January 2023 FUN US Coins Signature® Auction Among the Top Numismatic Events Ever Held

Elite private collections will be offered in Heritage’s January FUN US Coins Signature Auction.

Among the top attractions is the collection of Bruce Sherman, the chairman and principal owner of the Miami Marlins who also is a passionate historian with a keen interest in numismatics.

“Bruce Sherman’s coin collection stands as one of the most remarkable achievements in numismatics, a testament not only to his passion but to his extraordinary eye for quality and rarity,” says Heritage Auctions President Greg Rohan. “We are immensely proud to present these treasures to the collecting community, as this once-in-a-lifetime offering is sure to captivate and inspire collectors around the world.”

Among the top offerings in the collection is an 1894-S Barber Dime, Branch Mint PR66 PCGS. CAC that is a classic rarity in American coinage, often grouped with the 1804 dollar and the 1913 Liberty nickel as “The Big Three” of United States numismatic rarities. The 1894-S also is the most famous, mysterious and elusive coin in the entire Barber series. No more than nine, and possibly only eight, examples of the 1894-S are known to collectors today, and the coin offered in this auction is tied for finest-certified at PCGS, an important consideration for Registry Set purposes. Its provenance is extraordinary, with previous stints in the collections of John M. Clapp, Louis Eisenberg and James A. Stack.

Also from Sherman’s collection comes a 1792 Silver Center Cent, Judd-1, SP45+ PCGS CAC, a bimetallic coin that is as historically important as just about any American coin. This coin was discovered by a contractor during a building renovation in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1965. Just 12 examples are known to collectors, making the Silver Center cent a landmark rarity in the pattern series. One is included in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, further reducing the availability of the issue.

Also in play is an exceptional collection of $20 gold coins from the Mississippi Collection of Double Eagles built over more than half a century by a collector who understood the importance of condition, completeness and rarity. Double eagles are of utmost importance to serious collectors of elite American coins, who will find all of the key dates, and in top condition, in this collection.

Among the top offerings in the collection is a 1927-D Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, MS65+ PCGS. CAC that is the rarest regular-issue copper, silver or gold 20th-century American coin. It is one of just seven examples likely within reach of the collecting public, and one of an entire surviving population of just 12 or 13.

Also available is the second-finest among just 92 proof-only examples struck of an 1883 Double Eagle, PR66 Deep Cameo PCGS that first surfaced in Ed Frossard’s catalog of the Howard Newcomb and Edmund R. Wolcott Collections in May of 1901, in which it was described simply as, “1883 Brilliant proof.” It was sold for $22 to Clapp, whose collection was passed down after his death to his son, John H. Clapp, who kept it until he died in 1940. The Clapp Estate sold the collection intact to Baltimore financier Louis E. Eliasberg in a record-setting private transaction in 1942.

Only one example of the 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle is legal to own, making the 1932 Saint-Gaudens Twenty, MS64 PCGS CAC the final collectible issue of the extremely popular series. Despite a substantial reported mintage of more than 1.1 million pieces, the 1932 double eagle is one of the most elusive issues of the entire series. The offered example is one of just 33 graded in 64 (four in 64+), with only 43 finer.

Don Kutz California Collection

What started as a childhood fascination with Buffalo nickels grew into an exceptional trove that produced 41 lots of Indian Head gold pieces in the auction. Kutz would pay his friends six cents for every Buffalo nickel they found and brought to him, a hobby that sparked a deep passion for higher-end coins. The auction includes his prized Indian gold PCGS Registry sets: his Indian Head $2-1/2 Gold Basic Set, Circulation Strikes (1908-29) collection has been named No. 1 All-Time Finest (All Eras) and No. 1 Current Finest, and his Indian Head $5 Gold, Circulation Strikes (1908-20) collection is ranked No. 3 All-Time Finest (All Eras) and No