Polish collector who specialized in Probus before WWII

[djmacdo]

Years ago I read of a Polish collector who specialized in Probus before WWII.  He had supposedly 10,000 variants of Probus' coinage, a number I find hard to believe, but it does make a point.  There are a very great number of varieties of Probus' coinage -- and many of them are rare.  A coin of Probus may be a rare variety, but rare varieties of Probus are common.

[Barnaba6]

Years ago I read of a Polish collector who specialized in Probus before WWII.  He had supposedly 10,000 variants of Probus' coinage, a number I find hard to believe, but it does make a point.  There are a very great number of varieties of Probus' coinage -- and many of them are rare.  A coin of Probus may be a rare variety, but rare varieties of Probus are common.

Are you sure it was not an Austrian collector? I have never heard of a Polish Probus collector who gathered more than 10,000 Probus coins (before WWII or after). In the 19th century there was however a famous Austrian collector named Alxander Missong who indeed gathered almost 13,000 different Probus coins. His collection is now in the Vienna Munzkabinett and it remains the biggest Probus collection ever gathered. Sadly, to this day it has not been published:(

See also the link below:

https://www.wien.gv.at/wiki/index.php/Alexander_Missong

There are indeed a great numer of rare varieties of Probus but I would not go as far as to say they are common. Despite this great numer of rare varities it is still much more probable to come across a common variety of Probus rather than a rare variety...

[quadrans]

 

Q.

[djmacdo]

It probably was that Austrian collector--I hear the story maybe twenty years ago and my faulty memory seems to have mixed up the details.  Thank you for the correction.  Can you imagine 13,000 Probus!

[areich]

What I cannot imagine is a collector still having fun with such a collection. It seems like tedious work.

[Barnaba6]

Indeed it takes a lot of work to build such a collection and many would probably agree to call such work tedious work. I suspect however that Alexander Missong did not perceive it that way. I suspect collecting Probus coins meant the world to him, he loved it and simply could not stop hunting for new variaties!

[djmacdo]

Many collectors, I among them, are rather compulsive personalities and collecting and organizing provides an opportunity to burn off some of that compulsiveness that would otherwise interfere with everyday living.

[Molinari]

I tend to think he had fun- or at least got some enjoyment out of it.  Working with MFBs is loads of fun but sometimes overly obsessive.  I wish I had 13,000 but I'll have to settle for just writing about lots of them and collecting pictures.

[Fitzwilk]

Many collectors, I among them, are rather compulsive personalities and collecting and organizing provides an opportunity to burn off some of that compulsiveness that would otherwise interfere with everyday living.

That goes for collectors in general I would imagine.   I've always been a compulsive collector of various things, starting with 'Itty Bitty' rubber animal erasers when I was a little kid in the early seventies.  That soon progressed to a massive beer can collection long before I was of legal drinking age.   

[Aleph]

What I cannot imagine is a collector still having fun with such a collection.

I tend to think this is when a collection is the most interesting.  Details often only become apparent in large sample sets.  Tedious, perhaps, but this is when you can progress to a point few have reached and new discoveries can be made.  Of course, if it's not fun anymore, its time to move on.  It's a hobby and not a job, after all.