Tyrant Collection owner revealed

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by AncientJoe, Mar 12, 2022.

  1. AncientJoe

    AncientJoe Well-Known Member

    After keeping his collection quiet for 17 years, billionaire defense contractor Dan O'Dowd has publicly announced that he is the owner of the Tyrant Collection:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...nveils-collection-coins-minted-every-english/

    The article is behind a paywall but here are a couple quotes:

    FNpYzm7VEAQTKr_.jpg

    FNpZcWvUYAMb5P5.jpg FNpaYYCVcAALAzg.jpg

    His collection website is slow to load (ironic considering his business is focused on high performance software) but for those who might have not seen it: http://thetyrantcollection.com/

    His ancients are undeniably great but I'd argue that his US coins are a more cohesive and better presented set; well worth spending the time viewing!
     
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  3. The Meat man

    The Meat man Supporter! Supporter

    That's really cool. Though even with all the secrecy it must have cost him a pretty penny!
     
  4. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Great collection and thanks for sharing.
     
    panzerman likes this.
  5. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Interesting- I've always found it fascinating that people like Gates, Bezos, or Musk could effectively corner the ancient coin market and not even make a dent in their fortunes.

    If I had millions in expendable income, I'd likely do the same.
     
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  6. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Pssht. "Completed", and his US type set doesn't even contain a 1916 SLQ. :rolleyes:

    (Yep, I drooled through the entire US type set, and that's all I've got.)
     
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  7. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    It's a heck of a collection. One of the best gold coin collections ever assembled. But you gotta pay to have that distinction.

    I'm happy with my humble collection & I am sure all of us are too.:cool:
     
  8. pprp

    pprp Well-Known Member

    That's fake news I think @panzerman is the tyrant :)
     
    I_v_a_n, Hrefn, Theodosius and 13 others like this.
  9. ominus1

    ominus1 Well-Known Member

    welp, i reckon he's one of us...he's felt everything like we have trying to get coins for his grail-trail...but of course, he didn't miss any buys for lack of cash:smuggrin: (@John Anthony ..hey...can you fix me up with this guy for secret Saturnalia? ><)
     
  10. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    He's cointalks "Jr. Tyrant":cigar: & were glad he's nice enough to share his acquisitions. :D
     
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  11. Gavin Richardson

    Gavin Richardson Well-Known Member

    An astonishing, albeit slow-loading, collection. A strange, indiscriminate application of the term “tyrant” to these rulers, though. The word tyrant meant something very specific in the ancient world. But when you have all that money, who cares about semantics?
     
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  12. Pickin and Grinin

    Pickin and Grinin Well-Known Member

    Anyone else see the 64SMS set? Too bad for the fingerprint on the Half dollar.
    And geez he doesn't even have a 1895 PF Morgan?
     
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  13. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    One mystery resolved on my list; now I have to discover who is Banksy, D.B.Cooper, Jack the Ripper and above all Clio !
     
    Voldemort, Andres2, Kavax and 6 others like this.
  14. Al Kowsky

    Al Kowsky Well-Known Member

    A.J., Thanks for sharing this news :happy:. For the longest time I thought the Tyrant Collection was acquired by a consortium of millionaires, otherwise how could a single collector afford so many rarities o_O? So this news answers that question :smuggrin:.
     
  15. Cucumbor

    Cucumbor Well-Known Member

    Not that I would compare myself to Dan O'Dowd :D, but I act the opposite : since I collect on a niche (Dombes principality for those unaware), not hidding from others leads people to contact me with the examples they want to sell because I am probably the only one on earth wanting to buy them. They are glad they can get rid of their "junk" with me :)

    Q
     
  16. IdesOfMarch01

    IdesOfMarch01 Well-Known Member

    I admit to being more than a little surprised that his Julius Caesar aureus is the A.Hirtius type, not the posthumous coin struck by Octavian with an actual Julius Caesar portrait. But possibly he wanted a lifetime coin not a posthumous one.

    His Colosseum sestertius is stunning.
     
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  17. John Anthony

    John Anthony Ultracrepidarian

    You'd be disappointed. All the fun of collecting is in the hunt, not only for coins but for knowledge and aesthetic enjoyment. If you could own every coin, imagine the boredom...
     
  18. nerosmyfavorite68

    nerosmyfavorite68 Well-Known Member

    I enjoyed the article's snarky comment about the page's slow load times. :smug::wideyed:. I guess that explains the contractor part :wacky::woot:.

    The collection looks to be superb, but it's so slow-loading, I've only scraped the surface. He's got both Olybrius and Priscus Attalus, so it must be pretty good :joyful:.

    I do notice that quite a few usurpers & the Gallic Empire (as well as Licinius) are missing. Given his deep pockets, this must be intentional. What's the criteria? I would say possession of Rome, but Julian of Pannonia never occupied Rome.

    It's certainly a collection to bow down before. Even with the 56k modem loading times, it was very nice of him to share the collection with the world.
     
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  19. nerosmyfavorite68

    nerosmyfavorite68 Well-Known Member

    I do understand where you're coming from. In any hobby, it's slightly less fun when one's actually acquired it. My coin collection sucks in the grand scheme of things (but I get enjoyment out of it). My old radio show collection is where it's at, and there are far richer collectors than I out there. One of the first radio shows I ever listened to, Charlie Chan (1990 When Radio Was rebroadcast), eluded me for years (well, that version, I've had other versions forever). One day, a buddy of mine offered me some original transcriptions out of the blue.

    However, having such a collection as he owns would bring massive bragging rights; if one dares to brag. While thieves aren't going to hop on oversized specialty records, gold and silver are different matters.

    Per coins, I'd like to be bored :(. No two ancient/medieval coins are the same, and there's so many types, there's always something else to collect. Say, by patina, for one example.
     
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  20. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    It looks like he's got a very nice display room there; I'd assume he's got security staff.
     
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  21. Curtis

    Curtis Well-Known Member

    Thanks for sharing that! Did he collect other types of coins that he didn't hide and that people were aware of?

    He gives a very interesting reason for anonymity that I hadn't previously considered: If dealers know what you collect, they gain a lot of leverage since they'll know how important certain coins are to you. (In bidding, though, it could be an advantage; others, knowing how committed you are and how deep your pockets, might not even try to bid against you.)

    I'm sure it's especially true at his level of wealth, but also that it's true of ordinary collectors, too. Of course -- the other side -- being a "generalist" collector means you can't be leveraged into paying a lot for a rarity. (Or using a "generalist" collection as a cover so people don't realize how crazy you'll go for, say, the minutest variations on fallen horsemen or "captives" AE3s.)

    I can't imagine collecting as a solitary pursuit for that long. Of course, now he's made it public and he'll be permanently remembered (or for a long time, anyway) in the numismatic world, and it's become a very public social activity.

    If accurate, it's true dedication:
    "PSEUDONYMITY":

    I have a number of pseudonymous collections like that, for which I'm always wondering about the sources.

    If a collector makes it clear they wish to keep it a secret, including initials even if well known, I do my best to NOT name them. (E.g., BCD has specifically signaled a desire for his coll. to remain such.) But it can be hard to determine intentions:

    Many people I'm sure know who G.M.R.H. is; he has used his first/last name on sales of his "inventory," but coins from his collection seem to be "initials only" (as GMRH's coins are recorded in the provenance notes on BCD's tags, a common place for collectors to encounter them, discussed in CT 281007, BCD choosing not to disclose the name there either), so I'll leave it that way. But wouldn't you want to see your name alongside the following:

    Troas Abydos AE Prowe-Egger 596 CNG 493, 296 GMRH Coll, Bank Leu, Jacob Hirsch.jpg
    Ex Fedor Ivanovich (Theodor) Prowe (1872-1932) Collection;
    Brüder Egger Auktion XLVI (Wien, 11 May 1914), "Sammlung des Herrn Theodor Prowe, Moskau" (Part 3), Lot 596;
    Jacob Hirsch (1874-1955) Estate (Collection or Inventory?), aqc. by Bank Leu after his death;
    Bank Leu, February 1980, private sale from Alan S. Walker (per coll. tag);
    G.M.R.H. Collection (REDACTED!);

    On other occasions, collectors leave enough hints that it seems they don't really mind being recognized. For some, I've been able to use context to develop hypotheses about who is behind the name.

    For instance, this little Orontas AE10 struck at Mysia, Adramytteion from the Sammlung eines Geschichtsfreundes ("Friend of History Collection") sold by Künker, and previously Winzer 16.5 plate coin (though misdescribed there as Sphinx and a great unpublished unicum ["Unikum von grösster Seltenheit" p. 44]):
    Mysia Orontas Adramytion Winzer 16-5 (dies Exemplar) Ex Kunker.jpg

    There are many others about which I'm curious -- I do not wish to "out" anyone who doesn't want to be "outted," but if the names behind these collections become public I'd definitely like to know!

    "Crescent Collection":
    sold at CNG e-auctions beginning in 2021 at e-483 with Greek, moving on to RRC and some RPC in e-485 & 486, then RIC in 493, 503, and 509.​
    Hadrian Tetradrachm Cilicia Aegeae Lorber,.jpg Perseus Pseudo Rhodian Drachm Stasion.jpg Carinus Captives Antoninianus.png

    "Rocky Mountain Collection of Alexandrian":
    Alexandrian Coins (Roman Egypt); dispersed at CNG beginning in 2020 with Auction 115 (no summary in catalog) and e-Auction 474, more significant runs in 484 and 503-506 (one lot in 507, an unacknowledged reappearance after selling in CNG 115). Collection seems to have been built 1990s to 2010s, including important prior collections (Dattari, Staffieri, Wetterstrom, etc.).

    (Another “Rocky Mountain Collection” includes high end American coins and sold at Stack’s auctions. There is a dealer “Rocky Mountain Coin” (RMC) in Denver. Any relation? “Rocky Mountain College” also has a digitized collection, but I doubt that’s it!)​
    CNG Maximinus Tetradrachm.jpg Dattari Severus Alexander Elpis photo rubbing no background.png

    Sammlung Dr. W.R. "Roma Universa":
    A vast collection that's been sold in at least 6 parts now (I believe), beginning with Kunker 312 (in 2018). Each part has focused on a different regional subcollection. Collection was “started over 50 years ago” (as of 2018). Includes many coins from colls. of Dieter Klein (such as mine below) and BCD.​
    Pakoros.jpg
     
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