And you think YOU have a large
collection ?
Just noticed an article from 1912 written by the great
numismatist Imhoof-Blumer, about
his coin
collection.
In 1900, not wishing to have
his collection of
ancient coins split up by
selling it off at
auction, Imhoof complied with Theodor Mommsen's suggestion to donate
his collection to
Berlin museum.
In 1900 Imhoof sent
part of
his collection - 22,040 coins - to
Berlin. This
collection comprised of
300
gold coins7,000 silver coins
1,700 from greater
Greece2,200 from
Sicily5,900 from European
Greece9,300 from
Asia Minor2,840 from the rest of
Asia and
AfricaAll these from 1,030 different cities and 310 dynasts.
(Many of these coins which were on display in the
Berlin museum were looted by US and British forces in
Berlin at the end of WW2 which is why so many Imhoof coins are not in the
Berlin museum online
catalog)
Seven years later Imhoof sold
part of
his collection of
Roman imperial coins at
auction. 2,200
Roman imperial coins (of which 190 were gold and 1,110 silver), went under the hammer at a
Munich auction, as Imhoof said that he no longer required them for research purposes.
In 1912 Imhoof wrote that
his new
collection now comprised of
3,600 newly purchased
Greek coins,
110
uncirculated Roman imperials,
250
medieval, oriental and
crusader coins,
50 modern medallions
= 4,010 coins.
Compared to
his previous
collection which comprised of:
22,040
Greek coins2,200
Roman coins10,600 Swiss coins and medallions
3,400 foreign coins and medallions
Giving a total sum (without duplicates) of
his pre-sale and pre-donation
collection of
42,650 coins.
Just thought that this might be of interest.
