Greatest Coin Collections ever

From all I've read and heard, Farouk's collection was the most complete ever assembled by an individual as opposed to a museum.

But as others have indicated, the "greatest" label defies precise assignment. That's true of many things, not just coin collections. For example, I defy anyone to identify the "greatest" portrait artist in history, or even the "greatest" cheesecake recipe of all time.

 

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British Museum Collection is probably the largest coin colelction ever assembled by humans. Its ancient holdings are the most extensive, but they also have collections of every period and civilization. For US, I would vote the Smithsonian.

 

I would have to agree that this is quite subjective , and I would also have to agree with Farouk

 

It can be very hard to say because you have to some how define what you mean by greatest. And are you only including collectors or does it include nuseums as well? If you go by size then it would probably be the Smithsonian which has over 1.5 million items. The British Museum collection is also immense and there are othe very large museum collections as well. By collectors usually Virgil Brand is considered to have had the largest collection with over 350,000 items. But much of his may have been duplicates because Brand would buy entire collections to get one piece he wanted and then didn't sell off the extras so he would often have multiple examples of coins considered to be major rarities.

There are collections that only contain very high grade coins, and there are extensive specialized collections that could easily be considered great. Say the Jules Reiver Collection which although it contained many lower grade and/or problem coins, it was almost complete by die variety for all of the pre-steam press US coinage for all the denominations. Or Russell Logan who only did the Early silver bust coinage but he was almost complete by variety and much of it in higher grades.

 

King Farouk I think just bought coins and didn't really care about them right? Sorry coinmaster1. Farouk also cleaned his.

 

I'm not too sure how well he cared about his coins. He was at least somewhat knowledgeable about them and he knew what he had. he did supposedly work with his coins daily, yet at the time of his overthrow there were a lot of his coin purchases that had never been unpacked from their shipping packages. Coins from his collection have a reputation for being cleaned, but were they cleaned by the King, or by the unknowledgeable people who took care of them after the coup? Plus reports from people who attended the sale seem to be somewhat divided over how many and how badly the coins were cleaned. The one thing they all agree on is the terrible handling of the coins by the Egyptian staff in charge of the coins.

 

Blue collar is a real term people. Its used in conversation in some place (like here). lol

And yours simply cannot be the greatest ever because mine is!

Seriously though, I have to go with Farouk and/or the Smithsonian.

 

And yet they have had ALL that experience with their Antiquities?? Go Figure!
Steve

 

I am going by single collector, like Eliasberg, Farouk, Du Pont, Norweb etc. Another criteria is number of coins in collection

Charles "Bud" Dodge had a very expansive collection:

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=791041&STARTPAGE=1

 

I would suggest that it takes less true numismatic skill to compete for the "greatest" set when sets are measured by price and/or grade.

The thought being the competition at that level is far smaller than for someone with a more limited budget. Anyone with enough money and a fair eye can decide what's coin better and do pretty well over time.

Frankly, I am more impressed with a complete set of Lincoln's with a matched look, or a circulated set of Barber's that all look the same, as it likely took a great deal more time and numismatic effort to accomplish what practically any whale with a good set of dealer contacts could accomplish.

The "greatest" collections, at least by my standards, were collected by people you've never likely heard of.

All of the above IMO, of course.

 

Very well put.

 

Agreed. It's easy to spend a lot of money if you have it (whether on coins, autos, art, antiques, whatever). Far more difficult (and rewarding, I think) to assemble a meaningful set of something with more modest means.

 

i second your opinion.