Louis Edward Eliasberg, Sr. (February 12, 1896 – February 20, 1976) was an American
financier
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...
and
numismatist
A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...
. A native of
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, he is best known in the numismatic community for putting together the only complete collection of
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
coins ever assembled, with attention to coins in the best possible condition.
Although the set was not truly "complete" by modern standards (for instance, it did not differentiate between
proofs
Proof most often refers to:
* Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition
* Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength
Proof may also refer to:
Mathematics and formal logic
* Formal proof, a co ...
and circulation strikes as most modern collectors and set registries do, and die variations were not emphasized), it is still the most comprehensive U.S. numismatic collection to date.
![1913 Eliasberg Liberty Head Nickel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/1913_Eliasberg_Liberty_Head_Nickel.png)
There were no exceptions unless one considers the 1849
Double Eagle
A double eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. (Its gold content of 0.9675 troy oz (30.0926 grams) was worth $20 at the 1849 official price of $20.67/oz.) The coins are 34 mm x 2 mm and are made from ...
a coin. This is generally categorized as a
pattern coin
A pattern coin is a coin which has not been approved for release, but produced to evaluate a proposed coin design. They are often off-metal strike (using metals of lower value to test out the dies), to proof standard or piedforts. Many coin col ...
and only two were made: one is on display at the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
and the other was given to then Treasury Secretary
William M. Meredith
William Morris Meredith (June 8, 1799 – August 17, 1873) was an American lawyer and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served as the United States Secretary of the Treasury, during President of the United States, President Zachary ...
but its subsequent whereabouts are unknown. No one had ever accomplished this coin collecting feat before, and probably no one will ever accomplish it again. There were one or two coins unknown at the time of completion of his collection that were later discovered.
![NNC-US-1933-G$20-Saint Gaudens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/NNC-US-1933-G%2420-Saint_Gaudens.jpg)
Some of the highlights of the Eliasberg collection include a
1913 Liberty Head nickel
The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is an American five-cent piece which was produced in extremely limited quantities unauthorized by the United States Mint, making it one of the best-known and most coveted rarities in American numismatics. In 1972, one ...
known as the "Eliasberg Specimen". The coin was later bought by an unnamed California collector for US$5 million on April 25, 2007. Another is the 1873-CC no-arrows
Liberty Seated dime. This coin is also notable for being the last coin needed to complete the Eliasberg collection.
He possessed at one time a
1933 $20 gold coin (one of three then known to be owned by private collectors, including
King Farouk of Egypt
Farouk I (; ar, فاروق الأول ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 193 ...
). Upon learning that the government believed the coins had not been legally issued by the mint and was recalling them, Mr. Eliasberg voluntarily returned his coin to the government in 1952 without compensation. A trial jury in U.S. District Court determined in July 2011 that ten other 1933 double eagles claimed as property by Mrs. Joan Langbord had been obtained illegally by Israel Switt and were property of the United States government. This decision was subsequently upheld the following August.
A generous and knowledgeable correspondent with the coin-collecting public, which became aware of him after a ''
LIFE magazine
''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...
'' feature story, Eliasberg was presented with a special trophy by Numismatic Gallery Magazine in recognition of his unique achievement.
[May–June 1951 "Numismatic Gallery Magazine"]
He later divided his collection between his two children, who separately sold the collection in three landmark auctions.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eliasberg, Louis
1896 births
1976 deaths
Collectors
American numismatists