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At Home With Holmes – Coin Collector
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The drawing room of Fetchin’s mountain retreat clearly shows his wide interests. Highlights of the picture are Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Federal and Antique Chinese
furniture. Paintings by Thomas Gainsborough (over the mantlepiece), Juan de Mirota (The Adoration of the Christ by John the Baptist circa 1620) to the left of the fireplace, and Bass Otis’ “Innkeeper Cobb” circa 1849 grace the room as does a Ming Vase in front of the window.
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When coin collectors get a bit older, they sometimes divest themselves of some of their holdings. Buddy Ebsen, the song and dance man of the 1930s and T.V. star of “The Beverly Hillbillys” and “Barnaby Jones,” built a fine collection of international gold coins. After a decade of collecting, he decided to move on to something else. His collections were sold and the money they brought was recycled into his other areas of interest.
My friend Fetchin Holmes, who has vast collections of everything classic and good, has decided to prune his holdings of world class coins. He goes through his custom made red leather boxed albums and pulls out all of his favorite coins. He neatly places them in order in coin file boxes and then passes the rest, his “weeds,” on to dealers who are best suited to dispose of his various lots.
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Fetchin absorbs other peoples collections. He feels that his collections should be spread around when he “pops off.” On the top shelf is a four-piece tea set owned by Andy Warhol. Former Senator George McGovern once remarked that Fetchin’s drawing room reminded him of Warhol’s New York living room. Other silver pieces date from
1641 to 1900. The Warhol tea service is by New York silversmith Peter Chitery circa 1820. The Boulle tea caddy is Louis XV period.
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Fetchin has done this many times. His huge collection, once vast, has grown progressively smaller, but strangely more impressive. He oddly houses his remainders in sixty-pocket coin wallets which he says are wonderful to handle and fit so well into his safety deposit boxes. He finds these coins more exciting as he looks at them: uncirculated, hammered coinage of the kings of England, thalers in their flips and beautiful mint state commemorative half dollars, as well as thousands of world coins.
He uses some of his newly freed cash from his coin hobby to fund his huge stamp collection, porcelain collection, folk art collection and rare book and document holdings.
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Fetchin loves folk art. The birds on the two top shelves are by James Lapham. On the shelf below are three-song birds by the great Elmer Crowell. Below is an ultra-rare shorebird by Boyd.
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On the subject of his coins, Fetchin states, “They give me the greatest pleasure. I’ve organized them into these nice sixty-pocket wallets. H.E. Harris, best known as “stamp people” when I was a kid, in the 1930s and 1940s, took care of my hobby wants. Now Harris provides nice wallets in soft brown plastic. Some wallets held ancient coins. Other coin wallets hold coins of the middle ages, English coins, world coins from 1600 to 1945 and United States type coins of course. I love my thalers, and some of them fit into the wallets if I place them in flips first. I wish Harris made wallets for thaler or crown-sized coins. That would make this old time collector very happy.”
“What about the coins and stamps?” I asked.
“They really don’t belong in a dusty museum. They should go on in active collections for hundreds of years. I’d rather give the stuff to you, “Fetchin said”. “Good collectors are the best custodians of these pretty things, not museums.”
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This corner of Fetchin’s office shows part of his stamp collection, which towers on shelves from floor to ceiling. This section contains only the stamps of the United States (1842 to 1940) and the British empire (1840 to 1952). Fetchin’s favorite Hepplewhite tiger maple dish top candlestand is next to great uncle Frank Mills’ wingchair. The 1790 stand was bought at a yard sale in 1967 for five dollars!
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Fetchin is a fan of many things, and he has given me his permission to share some of his treasures with you in some pictures.
It’s amazing to me that I’ve known Fetchin almost fifty years. It has been 47 years to be exact since we met in Fuzzy Furbush’s Coin and Stamp Shop in Framingham, Massachusetts. Good time – good times. I really feel sorry for people with no hobbies. Hobbies keep you young and vital.
If you want to catch up with me in late January and in February, you can do so at the following shows. On January 28, 2007, I’ll be at the Westford Coin Show, run by New England’s premiere Coin Show Promoter Ernie Botte, which will be run at the Westford Regency Inn from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. To get to the show, exit Rt. 495 at Exit 32 proceed to Rt. 110. The Westford Regency Inn is located right on Rt. 110.
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Fetchin tossed some of his coins around a Spanish treasure chest, circa 1550.
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On February 11, 2007, I’ll be at Ernie Botte’s Auburn Coin Show. The Auburn Show is located in the Auburn Elk’s Hall on Rt. 12. To get to Auburn get off the Massachusetts Turnpike at Exit 10 onto Rt. 12 then proceed south to the Auburn Elk’s Hall next to the Hampton Inn Hotel. Show hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
On Sunday, February 25, 2007, I’ll be back in Westford for Ernie Botte’s Westford Show. (Has anyone seen Buck Rogers in the 21st century?) Fetchin Holmes and I want to once again wish you a fantastic 2007.
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Fetchin’s country dining room features a
red painted batter bowl, a seven foot long farm table, Wallace Nutting chairs and a grand quarter columned red walnut Chippendale Philadelphia tall chest.
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A frosty morning in Fetchin’s country kitchen. Wonderful cooking equipment surrounds the fireplace. A Pollard print hangs over the fireplace from 1823.
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