Malter Galleries

A coin business begun in the garage of Joel Lawrence Malter's house in Venice, California, grew into an auction house for antiquities. According to PBA Galleries, Malter (1931-2006) traded first as Joel L. Malter & Co. Inc., then as Numismatic Fine Arts Inc., and finally as Malter Galleries Inc.⁵. The firm's Invaluable profile places it in Encino, calls it one of the oldest firms dealing in ancient coins, antiquities and related books, and says it had been a member of the International Association of Professional Numismatists for 39 years⁶.

Its auction catalogues are in the W. Benson Harer collection at California State University, San Bernardino, in a series covering 1993 to 2008⁷. They include Auction XLVI of 1991, Pre-Columbian and Classical art; Auction 50 of 13 December 1992²; Auction LXI of 1995, with Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Byzantine, Near Eastern and Pre-Columbian art⁸; and Auction 74 of 28 March 1999, issued as Joel L. Malter & Co. Inc.³.

A Christie's sale of 2001 names Malter Galleries of Encino as the source from which the collector Sid Port bought a Cypriot piece¹. The Joel L. Malter ancient-art library was sold on 17 October 2010, with Michael Malter as seller of record⁴.