YE OLDE CURIOSITY SHOPPE

uriosity hoppe where unique items worthy of any museum or institution collection can be found that cannot be found elsewhere. All items were acquired by Professor John N. Lupia, III on his travels throughout United States of America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Please visit our other stores here at the NumismaticMall.Com. Look at the Side Bar Menu on the left and click on the link to the store you wish to visit. Look often as new items are posted daily.

The owner is a numismatist, philatelist, antiquary, and bibliophile for over 50 years. He is also a former professor of art history and archaeology and has published numerous articles in various journals and books for many decades. Also, he was the principal of one of the largest appraisal firms on the east coast appraising real and personal property for many banks, lawyers, collectors and for the private sector.

Estimates of value are sometimes found in lot descriptions. For reference purposes comparable values are found in the appropriate auction prices realized. Contact john@numismaticmall.com for further information.

For both the numismatist and philatelist you will be pleased to know that John N. Lupia has amassed an extensive collection of covers and letters to coin and stamp dealers from the 1860's to the late 1940's, comparable to that of the late Steven R. Belasco that was sold by Siegel Auction Galleries. Also he has amassed one of the largest collections known of the Chapman Family Archive, the preeminent coin and stamp dealers from 1875 to the retirement of Helen Chapman and her manager Ell B. Wright in 1948. The massive size of this monumental collection that contains at least 27,000 or more pieces of mail rivals that of the great John Friedrich Seybold.

Many items are available are not found on this webpage but can be found in over 200 biographical sketches found on this website by looking at the menu on the left side of this webpage. If the illustration caption reads "Courtesy of the Lupia Numismatic Library" then it is in my inventory and available for sale unless otherwise indicated by the notice "Sold". Contact john@numismaticmall.com for further information.

All offers considered. Write john@numismaticmall.com

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There are thousands of items available not yet posted on this website in any of the stores. Please send your inquiries of interests to john@numismaticmall.com

John N. Lupia, III, Dealer in Stamps, Postal History Covers, U. S., Foreign & Ancient Coins, Medals, Tokens, Paper Money, Scrip, Rare Books, Numismatic & Philatelic Literature, Maps, Art, Antiquities, Antiques, and Curios. Appraising, Buying & Selling Since 1964

APS #220936, APRL Life Member, ANA #1139579

john@numismaticmall.com

Let us know what you want to buy or sell at any time.

[23 Lots]

Large Collection of 600 Comic Books in Mint Condition to about 1995.

Three comic book cases loaded with rare comic books in plastic sleeves with white card stock boards. Some still in unopened sealed encapsulated plastic, some signed by artists, and several of very high market values. A treasure trove for any dealer or collector. Always willing to make reasonable deals. Write john@numismaticmall.com

Postcard of the Columbian Exposition's Agricultural Building, 1893

Harry A. Gatchel (1863-1919), founder the Pennsylvania Engraving Company. This exquisite design dating to at least 1893 (postmark January 10, 1894) depicts an imaginary portrait of a man composed of gears and various machinery and mechanical components composed in the style of Giuseppe Archimboldo (1526-1593). The unique composition utilizing machine parts of a human figure pre-dates the early Dada movement with works by Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 (1912) by about twenty years. This completely unknown artist in the field of art history proves to be a very competent artist and innovator. Gatchel is known as an engraver and innovator in the photoengraving process little known at the time. Excessively Rare. Estimate $200-$300

A Medieval Psaltery Leaf In Heavy Gold With Acrostic

Flemish Psalter, circa 1250. Verso of vellum leaf with illuminated Vulgate Latin text of Psalm 16,14b-15; 17,1-5

14b Diomine a paucis de terra divide eos in vita eorum de absconditis tuis adimpletus est venter eorum Saturati sunt filiis et dimiserunt reliquias suas parvulis suis

15 Ego autem in iustitia apparebo conspectui tuo satiabor cum apparuerit gloria tua.

PSALMI 17

1 in finem puero Domini David quae locutus est Domino verba cantici huius in die qua eripuit eum Dominus de manu omnium inimicorum eius et de manu Saul et dixit

2 Diligam te Domine fortitudo mea

3 Dominus firmamentum meum et refugium meum et liberator meus Deus meus adiutor meus et sperabo in eum Protector meus et cornu salutis meae et susceptor meus

4 Laudans invocabo Dominum et ab inimicis meis salvus ero

5 Circumdederunt me dolores mortis et torrentes iniquitatis conturbaverunt me

Flemish Psalter, circa 1250. Recto of vellum leaf with illuminated Vulgate Latin text of Psalm 16,

7 Mirifica misericordias tuas qui salvos facis sperantes in te

8 A resistentibus dexterae tuae custodi me ut pupillam oculi Sub umbra alarum tuarum proteges me

9 a facie impiorum qui me adflixerunt Inimici mei animam meam circumdederunt super me;

10 adipem suum concluserunt os eorum locutum est superbia

11 Proicientes me nunc circumdederunt me oculos suos statuerunt declinare in terram

12 Susceperunt me sicut leo paratus ad praedam et sicut catulus leonis habitans in abditis

13 Exsurge Domine praeveni eum et subplanta eum eripe animam meam ab impio frameam tuam

14 ab inimicis manus tuae.

Just imagine, the calf whose skin was used for this Psaltery/Breviary once grazed upon the gentle rolling verdant hills of medieval Flanders during the time of the Crusades. This Psaltery or Breviary was a small portable book carried about by the devout nobles or clergy to pray the Divine Office or Hours. On the verso the Initial Letter "D" is gilt with heavy gold leaf bearing fancifully designed serifs enclosed in pale blue and mauve frame the borders the text on the left margin and serves as a post for other Initial Letters of the verses "D", "S", "E", "P", "L", and "C" in blue and gold. On the recto the Initial Letters of the verses "M", "A", "S", "I", "P", "S", "E" are in blue and gold like those similarly formed on the verso. These Initial Letters on the recto are actually an acrostic cryptogram that spells M.A.S., the name of the scribe with M most probably signifying "Magister", i.e., Master with the initials A. S. with the A signifying a male scribal name like Antoninus, or, Alcuin, etc. and "S" his surname, and with the Latin word IPSE which spells in Latin the word "himself". Consequently we have a cryptogram within the text that identifies the scribe as Master A. S., (also a pun on MAS signifying Masculus "the man") himself, who wrote this text. The scribes pinpricks made for the ruler in writing the text can be seen in the margin. From Holland. A rare and unusual find of this sort. Estimate $300-$600 USD + S&H + insurance. Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

A Beautiful Renaissance Breviary Leaf

Rouen Breviary Vellum Leaf (verso) with Ornate Decorative Arabesque Floral Border Panel comprising a variety of flora and berries in a bright prismatic cheerful arrangement, circa 1500. Text in angular gothic Latin minuscule inscribed in brown and rubric red ink with orifices of capital letters filled in with yellow on a heavy vellum.

Rouen Breviary Vellum Leaf (recto) with Ornate Decorative Gilt in Historiated Initial Letters with heavy Chrysography.

Estimate $350-$500 USD + S&H + insurance. Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

Church of England Pamphlet of 1641

Centenary International Philatelic Exhibition Station cancel mark at New York, May 19, 1947 on a cachet FDC Centenary of United States Postage showing a Pony Express Rider silhouette in the radiant field with a then modern railroad train reminiscent of Rockwell Kent artwork in the foreground. A nice piece of postal history. The diagonal shading lines visible is the leaching and oxidation of the pungent glues used to manufacture envelopes at this period and so is typical.

American Schoolbook of 1812 owned by John Allen

Herman Daggett, The American Reader : Consisting of Familiar, Instructive, and Entertaining STORIES, Selected for the Use of Schools. (Poughkeepsie : P. Potter, 1812) 237 pages + 3 pages of Table of Contents, 1 page advertisement of P. Potter, (1). Used for many generations in the public schools demonstrated by numerous drawings and writing with original schoolboy and schoolgirl poems penned in the flyleaves over the years, with one student carving a V-shaped chunk of leather out of the edge of the backboard. Among the names of these illustrious students who inscribed their names are : John Allen, Stephen L. Baldwyn, and Stephen G. Cranes. John Allen bears the same name as the great numismatist and bibliophile (1777-1863) whose surname was alternately spelled Allan (as it was on his probate of his will 9 December 1863) and possibly his son John Allen (1803-ante 1863). John Allan's daughter Margaret (then Mrs. Margaret Stewart) was his only surviving child at the time of his death. A charming piece of Americana. Rare. Estimate $150 -$300 USD + S&H and insurance. Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

Jean Gerson, Incunabula Leaf of 1488

Jean Gerson (1363-1429), Secunda pars operum Iohannis de Gerson [Opera, Vol. 2.] (Strassbourg : J. Pruss, 1488) Incunabula Leaf. Estimate $250 Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

Processional Leaf of 1602

Early 17th Century Last Rites and Funeral Processional of 1602 for Augustinian Use. One Illuminated French vellum leaf professionally mounted to be easily removed for personal inspection. Contains 3 verses of chants written in Latin with music notations on a four-line red stave. Decorative initial letters in blue, red and gold. Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details. Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Psalm 139 (138): 1-3 Domine investigasti me et cognovisti tu cognovisti sessionem meam et surrectionem meam intellexisti malum meum de longe semitam meam et accubitionem meam eventilasti. "O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up, you understand my thought afar off. You know my way and my steps and you have investigated all my ways." Estimate $150-$300 Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

Medieval Troyes Psaltery Leaf c. 1400

Breviarium Trecensis (Book of Hours of the Diocese of Troyes), Illuminated Vellum Leaf, Psalm 102,9-16. Normandy, France, before 1450. Leaf dimensions : 5-3/8" x 7-1/2", text block 2-1/2" x 3-7/8" with ample margins. Gothic batard script. Inital Letters heavy gold gilt. Splendid obolus, or line fillers that are intricately decorative and ornate with mauve grounds with white filigree. Similar to Birdwell MS 18 (Birdwell Library) Estimate $250-$500 Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

Strabo, Glosses, Incunabula Leaf of 1498

French Scholastic Pocket Bible : Bible illuminated vellum leaf from the Book of Numbers, 9:5-23; 10:1-36; 11:1-35. Offered here are three membra disjecta or detached leaves from a French Bible produced in Paris during its Golden Age of Scholasticism with the rise of the Universities among them the Sorbonne of the Université de Paris, The Victorines of the Abbey of St. Victor, Sainte-Geneviève, the Franciscan Schools of Paris, all inextricably connected with Parisian scribal schools, circa 1200-1250 in the production of biblical and theological texts. Absolutely breathtakingly astonishing illuminated Bible leaf composed and crafted on the finest quality velin, which is tissue-thin ultra-fine ultra-thin vellum historically called "uterine vellum" or abortivum, was believed as its name suggests made from fetal calves, i.e., the skins of stillborn or unborn animals. However, modern scientific research has revealed these could equally have been the results of an advanced production process allowing skins of maturing animals from several species to be fabricated into vellum of equal high ultra-quality and ultra-fineness. The ornate initial letters have elegantly designed cadel, i.e., a fine decorative calligraphic flourish extension of the letters' descender and exaggerated in an extremely long fanciful design. Estimate for each $250-$500 Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

French Medieval Pocket Bible Leaf c. 1200-1250

French Scholastic Pocket Bible : Bible illuminated vellum leaf from the First Book of Maccabees, 6:55-7:25; 7:26-8:7a. Offered here are three membra disjecta or detached leaves from a French Bible produced in Paris during its Golden Age of Scholasticism with the rise of the Universities among them the Sorbonne of the Université de Paris, The Victorines of the Abbey of St. Victor, Sainte-Geneviève, the Franciscan Schools of Paris, all inextricably connected with Parisian scribal schools, circa 1200-1250 in the production of biblical and theological texts. Absolutely breathtakingly astonishing illuminated Bible leaf composed and crafted on the finest quality velin, which is tissue-thin ultra-fine ultra-thin vellum historically called "uterine vellum" or abortivum, was believed as its name suggests made from fetal calves, i.e., the skins of stillborn or unborn animals. However, modern scientific research has revealed these could equally have been the results of an advanced production process allowing skins of maturing animals from several species to be fabricated into vellum of equal high ultra-quality and ultra-fineness. The ornate initial letters have elegantly designed cadel, i.e., a fine decorative calligraphic flourish extension of the letters' descender and exaggerated in an extremely long fanciful design. Estimate for each $250-$500 Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

French Medieval Pocket Bible Leaf c. 1200-1250

French Scholastic Pocket Bible : Bible illuminated vellum leaf from the Book of Wisdom 13,13 - 15,16. Offered here are three membra disjecta or detached leaves from a French Bible produced in Paris during its Golden Age of Scholasticism with the rise of the Universities among them the Sorbonne of the Université de Paris, The Victorines of the Abbey of St. Victor, Sainte-Geneviève, the Franciscan Schools of Paris, all inextricably connected with Parisian scribal schools, circa 1200-1250 in the production of biblical and theological texts. Absolutely breathtakingly astonishing illuminated Bible leaf composed and crafted on the finest quality velin, which is tissue-thin ultra-fine ultra-thin vellum historically called "uterine vellum" or abortivum, was believed as its name suggests made from fetal calves, i.e., the skins of stillborn or unborn animals. However, modern scientific research has revealed these could equally have been the results of an advanced production process allowing skins of maturing animals from several species to be fabricated into vellum of equal high ultra-quality and ultra-fineness. The ornate initial letters have elegantly designed cadel, i.e., a fine decorative calligraphic flourish extension of the letters' descender and exaggerated in an extremely long fanciful design. Estimate for each $250-$500 Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

American Magazine of 1791

Titian Ramsay Peale Letter, 1853

Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885) was a son of Charles Wilson Peale (1741-1827) and a famous American painter. Postal Stationery Being A Very Rare Nesbitt First Issue. Die 1A. Watermark No. 1. Three Cents Red. Scarce Postal Marking 5 Cts Due. Rare Postmark Clarke 63a used only 6 months (July 1-December 3, 1853) with a late use of October 30, 1853. Estimate $250-$500 USD + S&H and insurance. Write john@numismaticmall.com with bids and for details.

Siegmund Lubin Motion Picture Machines, 1908

RARE SHORT LIVED FILM MOTION PICTURE COMPANY ACTIVE DURING WWI FROM 1916-1919.

Early Silent Film Era Movie Stars in Vitagraph Films Featured :

Bessie Love (1898-1986), Starring in The Enchanted Barn as Shirley Hollister, David Smith, Director (Vitagraph 1919)

Earle Williams (1880-1927), The Highest Trump James Young, Director (Vitagraph 1919)

Gladys Leslie (1899-1976), Fortune's Child Joseph Gleason, Director (Vitagraph 1919)

Harry T. Morey (1873-1936), Silent Strength Paul Scardon, Director (Vitagraph 1919)

Corinne Griffith (1894-1979). The Girl Question Kenneth Webb, Director (Vitagraph 1919)

Bessie Love (1898-1986), Starring in The Wishing Ring Man as Joy Havenith, David Smith, Director (Vitagraph 1919)

Estimate $100-$200 Write john@numismaticmall.com

Franklin D. Roosevelt Cover, Christmas Envelope and Card, 1945

Beautiful cachet engraving of Hyde Park Home, the place where Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882. Cover franked by a strip of two, pair of Roosevelt postage stamps. Scott 930, A377, blue-green one cent, rotary press printing, issued July 26, 1945. Postmarked December 2, 1945, Los Angeles, California, 2 P. M. Two Cinderellas on back flap, i.e., non postal stamps, Christmas Seal of 1945, and American Dental Association. Enclosure, A United States Coast Guard Christmas Card. Sent by Bertha Kirkwood to Harry A. Bradley of Dubuque, Iowa. Estimate $15-$30. Write john@numismaticmall.com for details.

Meyer Robert Guggenheim Letter, 1904

Meyer Robert Guggenheim (1885-1959), at age 19 he was at Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany when this letter was sent from New York addressed to him at the Seligman Brothers, London, (in-laws of Benjamin Guggenheim) on a two cent postal stationery envelope (Thorp-Bartels #1888a) uprated with three additional postage stamps for ten cents in postage : Scott 300-A115 blue-green one cent Franklin; Scott 301-A116 carmine two cent Washington; Scott 304-A119 blue five cent Lincoln. The London addressee forwarded the letter to Germany. From 1953-1954 Guggenheim served as the U. S. Ambassador to Portugal. Estimate $45-$90 USD + S&H and insurance.