Did you know Stack’s
Bowers Galleries is featuring the Michael A. Demling Collection of
Massachusetts Cents in our upcoming official auction of the Whitman Coin &
Collectibles Spring Expo? Click here to
learn more about Michael A. Demling.
Massachusetts Coppers
Featuring the Michael
Demling Collection of Massachusetts Cents
Michael A. Demling received a Bachelor of Science degree in Building
Construction, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University, and
is currently an architect practicing in the state of New Jersey. He has been an
active collector from an early age and has enjoyed ancient Greek and United
States coins for many years. In 2011 he authored a book on New Jersey Coppers
entitled New Jersey Coppers: A Comprehensive Analysis and Attribution Guide of
New Jersey Colonial Coppers, pouring his love for that iconic series into the
guide. Over the last two decades he has acquired 125 of the 144 known die
marriages in the series, a gargantuan feat. To put this in perspective, the
superlative John J. Ford, Jr. Collection of New Jersey Coppers had “only” 121!
His interest in
Massachusetts coppers dates to the collection of Federal half cents that he
began over 20 years ago, when he also collected the Massachusetts half cents.
Shortly after embarking on a collection of Massachusetts cents, he decided to
do an attribution guide for the Massachusetts coppers series, patterned after
his masterful New Jersey Coppers attribution guide and published in 2015 under
the title Massachusetts Coppers: A Comprehensive Analysis and Attribution Guide
of Massachusetts Colonial Coppers. Mike collected 34 of the 40 known die
marriages of 1787 and 1788 Massachusetts cent, and of the six pieces missing
from his set, two of them are unique, and four are rated in the Rarity-7 range.
The more than 40 pieces representing Mike’s collection are in the lots to
follow, including many high quality and choice coins as well as very rare die
marriages. Also featured are some duplicates reflecting notable die states, as
well as some interesting counterstamps and an engraved Massachusetts cent.
Nearly all lots include Mike’s neatly annotated 2”x2” collection envelope as
well as any prior auction and collector tags that were with the coins.
