Well, prior to modern times, it was the literal truth, since the only people with the time, the inclination and the money to form serious collections of historically significant coins were members of the nobility (there might have been a rich merchant or something here and there, but if so, they were exceptions to the rule).
This might be of interest to somebody here: https://barper.com/hr/aukcija/predmet/jelačić-gulden-1848-ag---941-g-26-mm-xf,22430.html#ad-image-0
I think that was the right foto/ but you can tell its NOT MS. The 500 Kuna I have with Croatian leader (Ante Pavelic) is MS/ and has no wear from circulation. I think most were kept for collections/ not many went into circulation. At least they were not holed! I am home/ rain again mixed with snow/ got soaked/ may call it a day! But I made $2000 in six hrs/ for coin budget
The gold 25 banica coin ended up selling for 4200 EUR: https://www.biddr.com/auctions/mdcmonaco/browse?a=4421&l=5244832 Are you the winning bidder?
I am waiting for that auction too, but that hasn't stopped me from bidding on and winning coins at other auctions in the meantime, namely: At the Istra Numizmatika auction: At the Numismatik Naumann auction:
Haven't you started working again? Also, what happened to selling the butterfly collection? You should be "rolling in the money"...
Well/ the bugs so far paid for the Vespasianus Aureus and the 1488 Demi Noble/ Brabant= 31.5K Euros. Also/ I started work 4 weeks early! If I had the $$$$ Donald Trump has/ I would have lots of fun bidding on super nice coins. Alas/ I am not a member of the 1 percent club/ just a guy who maintains lawns/ gardens for rich folk Now off to cut grass!
I have thought about this and my opinion is the complete opposite, having a billion USD to spend on coins would take all of the fun out of auctions, you would just put 100000 USD or 500000 USD or 1000000 USD pre-bids on every coin and be guaranteed to win each one, there would be no strategizing, no anticipation, no real excitement once you won the coin, etc.
If I had a trillion USD, I would spend the vast majority of it on finding cures for serious diseases, improving space technology (for example meteor detection and defensive capabilities to protect Earth from such threats), building up a world-class private healthcare system in Croatia, etc., I would spend maybe a few million USD on my coin collection.