Mikocki Collection - 1850 auction catalog.

Leon Mikocki (1809-1875), landowner and notary from Vilnius, from 1842 in Vienna. A collector of paintings and numismatic items, as well as a dealer in them.

Exhibited under his name in 1850, in Vienna, the collection is one of the earliest major auctions of Polish numismatic items.

The collection offered at it, which went down in history as Mikocki's collection, was in fact not, however, a collection created by him. J. Strzałkowski writes about it as follows: "... in 1848 he [Mikocki] bought the collection of J. Bochenko from Cracow, selected the best copies and put them up for auction in 1850...." That is, the collection we know as Mikocki's collection was probably largely that of Jan Bochenek (1810-1871), a Krakow banker and fabric merchant. Leon Mikocki, after selling his numismatic collection at the 1850 auction, probably encouraged by its success, purchased Ignacy Zagorski's collection as early as 1851, and then another, putting the collection up for sale again in 1869, but no longer under his name.

Leon Mikocki's 1850 auction catalog, thanks to the comprehensiveness and richness of the material gathered in it, and in the absence of catalogs and price lists at the time, became for a long time the reference catalog of Polish numismatics, both for collectors and auction houses. Even in the early 20th century it is still used and mentioned in auction catalogs, alongside Zagorski or Czapski.

The present piece in a simple utility binding of paper and thick canvas. Glued leather with gilded description on the spine. Its quality of workmanship is definitely higher than that of the present binding; it probably comes from the previous, older binding, which was replaced by this working one as a result of damage, retaining only the description from the spine.

The interior is well preserved. Paper clean, with some minor germs. On the pre-title page, the handwritten signature of Viktor Chominski in black ink, and his dry ownership stamp in the upper right corner. In addition, the stamps of L Majewski's collection, including the one under Chomiński's signature crossed out in black ink (visually the same as the endorsement), so this is probably an earlier provenance.Inside, Majewski's stamp a few more times.

Near quite a few items annotations, usually in black pen and sometimes in pencil. Initial items, up to c. 450 with prices carefully calligraphed in red ink (probably by W. Chominski).

Block format 205 x 141 mm, outer format 212 x 150 mm. Catalog pages 188, plates 4 and additionally one fold-out, with scale, and 12 pages of introduction. Polish collection to p. 156, items 1-3048

A classic item from Polish numismatic literature. Rare catalog.