The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is pleased to announce that a notable collection of 19th and 20th century Canadian tokens will be offered at a showcase auction held by Heritage Auctions on December 4, 2023, for the benefit of the Society. The tokens are all duplicates of specimens from the Society. The entire proceeds of this significant sale will go to the Newell Fund, which allows the ANS to continue acquiring important objects while also providing funds to support collections management.
The auction will offer 171 lots of over one thousand Canadian tokens, with excellent specimens coming from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Upper and Lower Canada, and the Wellington and Blacksmith series. Many of the tokens were donated by the Norweb Family – in particular Mrs. Emily May Norweb and Ambassador Raymond Henry Norweb, Sr., who were major benefactors of the ANS and contributed a large number of coins to the Society, including the famed Brasher Doubloon. Their collection of American and European coins and tokens was one of the greatest collections of the 20th century. Other tokens from the auction—some of which have been off the market for over a century—are pedigreed to several prominent Canadian numismatists, including A.B. Baird, Alfred Z. Reed, P.O. Tremblay, and W.R. Powell.
On the sale, ANS Executive Director Dr. Gilles Bransbourg said, “We are very grateful to Heritage Auctions for their long standing support and friendship with the ANS, for offering this important collection of Canadian tokens and providing outstanding cataloging and photography for the auction which will greatly benefit our research and educational mission.”
ANS members and friends are invited to support the Society through participating in the auction: for more information, please visit the auction overview page from Heritage Auctions. The live session will begin at 7:00 PM Central Time on December 4.
The American Numismatic Society, organized in 1858 and incorporated in 1865 in New York State, operates as a research museum under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is recognized as a publicly supported organization under section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) as confirmed on November 1, 1970.