Posted by slang on July 27, 2009
King Farouk the First of Egypt, reigned from 1936 until 1952. He was a prolific collector. His coin collection included an estimated 8,500 gold coins and medals. King Farouk made most of his coin purchases in the 1940s, in an era when a numismatic dollar and an Egyptian pound went a long way.
An interesting aspect was that when the American dealers supplied the king with coins worth more than $10,000 it usually took a long time to receive payment, as it has to be routed to the Egyptian treasury, whereas the king had the authority to authorize payment of the smaller invoices. Not surprisingly, the American dealers soon learned to limit the invoices to less than $10,000. This is also one major factor that King Farouk had amassed one of the largest, most important collections of coins in the history of numismatics at the minimum costs.
On July 23, 1952, the military overthrew the government of King Farouk. Although he never reigned, his 17-year-old son succeeded him and became the last king of Egypt.
The famous Palace Collections of Egypt coin auction, featuring the numismatic collection of the former King Farouk of Egypt, took place at Koubbeh Palace, Cairo, in February and March 1954.
Posted by slang on
William Hunter 1718-1783
His coin collection forms the nucleus of Scotland oldest museum the Hunterian in Glasgow.
The core of the collection remains the Cabinet of Dr. William Hunter, probably the finest ever put together by a private individual. Hunter’s own account book shows that he began to collect coins about 1770 and over the next 13 years, until his death in 1783, he spent a fortune of over £22,000 in this endeavour. Given his commitments to medical matters and his wide collecting interests, he depended on the advice of a small group of eminent numismatic friends.
Generally Hunter bought complete collections with a view to integrating these into his own cabinet. However, he added only those coins which he did not possess already or which he possessed in poorer quality. Duplicates were sold at two major auctions. He purchased extensively in England and Italy; from fellow collectors or their heirs, at auction, from dealers, medallists and the Royal Mint. George III gave him the then unique gold coin struck during the siege of Athens in 296 B.C.
One of his biggest purchases took place in 1782 in Vienna when Hunter acquired the Hess collection whose chief glory was its Roman Imperial gold coins. There were approximately 700 of these which, when added to Hunter’s own, created an outstanding series of such coins. The price was £2,400.
Sometimes the account book mentions the purchase of individual coins which can still be pointed out in the collection. In 1780 Hunter paid £21 for a “Scotch David” which must refer to David II’s gold noble and the same year saw the purchase of “a Saxon Queen”, the penny of King Offa depicting his wife Cynethryth.
It was thus that Hunter built up his coin cabinet which was reputed to be second only to the French Royal Collection. His collections, bequeathed to Glasgow University, came to the city in 1807. They were brought by ship with a naval frigate as an escort except for the coins which were considered too important to risk at sea. These were transported by road escorted by six carefully chosen and armed men sent from Glasgow. The coins were housed in the specially built Hunterian Museum on the Old College site in the High Street but were not publicly displayed. Indeed at one time it required the presence of three professors each with a different key to open the coin cabinet.
In 1870 the University left its medieval site to move to the present edifice on Gilmorehill, overlooking Kelvingrove Park. The coins were stored for six years in the vaults of the Bank of Scotland until a new safe was ready to receive them. In 1884 the construction of the Bute Hall included a new coin room where the coins have remained ever since.
Posted by slang on
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy has its magnificient coin collection in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome
Brief History of Victor Emmanuel III (1869-1947)
He was king of Italy from 1900 to 1946.
Victor Emmanuel was born on Nov. 11, 1869, in Naples. After his father, Umberto I, was assassinated in 1900, Victor Emmanuel succeeded to the throne
In 1896 Victor Emmanuel married Princes Elena of Montenegro. They had five children, among who were Umberto, the last legal king of Italy, and Mafalda, whose death in 1944 at the Buchenwald concentration camp enrolled her among the list of victims of that Fascist holocaust her father had helped to unleash upon Europe.
Victor Emanuel is remembered as a numismatist, having collected a vast number of coins and his collection preserved in the twenty volumes –
Corpus Nummorum Italicorum. Primo tentativo di un catalogo general delle monete medievali e moderne coniate in Italia o da italiani in altri paesi. 20 vols. A. Forni, Bologna, A reprint of Rome, 1910-1943. Hardbound. The most comprehensive collection of Italian coins dating from the Middle Ages up to 1900 ever published, a catalogue of the extensive collection of King Victor Emmanuel, now property of the government of Italy.
In Italy, the impact of World War I produced shifts in the political spectrum. On the left arose factions, some of whom sympathized with the Russian Bolsheviks. To the right emerged the figure of Benito Mussolini, once a prominent Socialist journalist, now the leader of ultranationalist called Fascists. World War II followed, until the capture of Mussolini and his death.
In 1943 Victor Emmanuel, while retaining his title, handed over what was left of the royal power to his son. In May 1946 he abdicated, but the monarchy outlasted him by less than a month.
Victor Emmanuel died in exile in Egypt on Dec. 28, 1947
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/images/sp_en_6.gif)