The history of the Traveller Collection is so remarkable and fascinating that it could easily be the inspiration for a film script. Due to the legitimate desire of the collector’s family for privacy, the name of our collector and some details which could make it possible to trace their identity have been omitted, but this by no means detracts from the charm and thrill of the story.
Our Collector’s interest in coins probably began at the start of the 1930s as a simple consequence of the onset of the Great Depression of 1929 and the distrust of the banking system. Whilst his first purchases were concentrated on modern gold coins, then of purely bullion value, his interest quickly evolved into an overwhelming passion for numismatics.
He had inherited a thriving company which, upon the death of his father, he had decided not to manage directly, but to sell in part due to family disagreements. This resulted in him not only having an enormous sum of money at his disposal but also, and above all, time which allowed him to travel tirelessly alongside his young wife, who accompanied him on a honeymoon which lasted several years. Staying at the best hotels of the European capitals, the happy couple would also sail to the Americas and beyond! As readers may deduce, this is the reason behind the family’s choice of name for the collection.
Most probably these travels were not only the fruit of a desire to see the world, but also in response to our collector’s ambitions to expand his collection. Before the widespread proliferation of auctions and, more recently, the internet, travelling to meet dealers and collectors was the best way to purchase coins. The details of the Traveller’s voyages were all recorded in a diary where he had not only jotted down the names of the people he met and their respective addresses and telephone numbers, but also the hotels where he had stayed and the restaurants where he had dined.
The end of these wanderings coincided with the arrival of his only daughter. Our collector decided to settle in a European location which enabled him to continue visiting the major European capitals, allowing him to regularly meet with his favoured coin dealers (Spink & Son, A.H. Baldwin and B.A. Seaby in London and J. Schulman in Amsterdam). It is evident that the Traveller developed a privileged relationship with the legendary director of Spink, Leonard Forrer, since his name appears repeatedly as the buyer of many of the coins which our collector had purchased in the public auctions of the time.
Judging by the number of coins and his painstaking classification work, our collector must have dedicated thousands of hours of work to his passion. This love for coins unfortunately would go on to cost him, in a sense, his life. When the threat that the Nazis might invade the place where he was residing became a reality, instead of fleeing he stood firm despite clearly having the financial means to do so. Perhaps forced by the impossibility of transporting his collection, he decided not to separate himself from his beloved coins, choosing to bury them in a field on his property instead. Sadly, when the Nazis arrived, our collector had a stroke and died shortly after.
This tragic event inevitably marred his wife and daughter’s feelings toward the collection – the coins remained buried for over 50 years. Only when his wife, the sole remaining witness to the coins’ burial, feared that their hiding place might be lost forever if she didn’t act, were the coins retrieved and transferred to a bank vault.
The first time we were approached by the heirs of the collection to produce an inventory and valuation was over 15 years ago. We were informed that whilst our collector kept the majority of the collection with him, he had decided to store a small part of it in three different locations on three different continents! In the years that followed, and after our father Roberto’s passing, we valued and documented the coins conserved in each different location, but it was only in September 2022 that we were invited to value the component which was always described to us as the largest part of the collection. When we planned our trip, we had assumed that a week’s work would have been more than sufficient to complete the valuation, yet never would we have imagined what awaited us. The first coin that was shown to us upon our arrival was the 100 ducats of 1629 and, in that moment, we understood that our father was right once again! Indeed, over the years, without knowing what was stored at the other locations, our father had always remarked that he felt that this coin collection was one of the most important ever assembled. When he told us, we were rather sceptical. What we had valued up to that point was an interesting group, but certainly not comparable to other collections which NAC had sold. Evidently our father’s experience and intuition had made him see what we couldn’t even remotely imagine.
For over 15 months with Alberto de Falco and another close friend of ours, A.D., we took turns at the collector’s property, spending on average 10 days a month in order to complete the inventory of the collection: a task which would be any numismatist’s dream.
Every morning, we were presented with two or three cigar boxes (used as containers), filled with coins in paper envelopes. These had been extracted from the metal boxes in which they were buried, without knowing the contents. The coins were occasionally divided by geographical area but most often they were found in the order in which they had been purchased, especially the latest acquisitions.
Going through the coins evoked an indescribable emotion as we kept being surprised and delighted by what emerged. The further we progressed with the valuation, the more our astonishment grew as we became fully aware of the incredible importance of the collection. No geographical area was overlooked and there were countless exceptionally rare coins, often in a state of conservation never seen before. The coins not listed in Friedberg or Krause, or described therein as “very rare” or “extremely rare” because they had never appeared in a post-war auction, were so numerous that one day Alberto exclaimed amid general laughter: “after this collection Arthur Friedberg will have to re-do his catalogue”!
This Traveller Collection is without doubt the most important collection of world coins ever to be offered at a public auction in the entire history of numismatics. Its total value surpasses that of any other cabinet that has been formed including that of L.E. Bruun. Moreover, unlike the Bruun collection, which is almost entirely focused on coins from a limited geographical area (Scandinavia), the Traveller Collection comprises coins from all over the world, spanning all time periods; from a very interesting group of ancient coins to coins struck in the years the collection was being formed. Not since the legendary sale of the collection formed by King Farouk of Egypt (Sotheby, 24 February to 3 March 1954) has such a diverse and important offering of coins appeared on the market. Remarkably, the vast majority of the coins in the Traveller Collection were classified by our anonymous buyer who meticulously kept an archive which has survived in almost complete form. This document records not only where and when the collector acquired his coins and the price paid, but also contains a wish list of further pieces required.
It is an enormous honour for Numismatica Ars Classica to have been entrusted with the dispersal of the Traveller Collection. Not least because this series of auctions will undoubtedly be a milestone in the history of numismatics. It will offer an unmissable opportunity for institutions and collectors alike to purchase exceedingly rare coins or more common pieces which formerly belonged to the most important coin collection ever to be offered at public auction. We are sure coin enthusiasts will take great pleasure and delight in seeing this immense collection being revealed as each catalogue is released, just like we were over the course of the last few years.
In agreement with the family and in honour of the collector, we have decided that the collection must be presented according to rigorous numismatic criteria and with monothematic catalogues divided by historical eras and geographical areas. In order to accomplish this monumental task, we will integrate our staff with a group of highly renowned and competent consultants.