Adams, Edgar Holmes (1913)
Book Summary
The first substantial attempt at a comprehensive catalog of United States patterns, Adams-Woodin created a template that has been used ever since: year-by-year overview commentary followed by an annual listing of patterns. (See also the Robert Coulton Davis listing, published serially in the Coin Collector's Journal beginning in 1885.) A total of 1752 patterns are herein enumerated, many from the Adams collection, though to be sure other provenances are integrated, notably of Granberg and Brand, and specimens from the Mint Cabinet are also detailed. The Woodin collection was essentially released en masse by the Mint Cabinet in 1909 in exchange for two gold half union patterns, and forms the basis of this work. Said to consist of two large crates, a formal inventory of the 1909 Mint group has never been revealed, leading to speculation regarding exactly what Woodin acquired at the time. In any case, the present volume is likely the closest that we shall ever come to such an inventory. Voted #40 of the top one hundred items of numismatic literature by the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
