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<p>[QUOTE="IanG, post: 4939626, member: 109252"]I don't have a coin from the Stoecklin or Naegeli collections but I do have a number that were formerly part of the collection of another great numismatist, Elvira Clain-Stefanelli. I know that I will be far from alone in this respect because so many coins formerly belonging to her have been sold over the last few years by Naville Numismatics and others. </p><p><br /></p><p>Many people will know that together with her husband, Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli, she built up the American National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution from approximately 60,000 pieces in 1956 to over 960,000 pieces in 1982. She was a fine scholar who wrote a number of books on coinage. What fewer people will know about is her extraordinary life before she went to the United States.</p><p><br /></p><p>Born in Bucharest, Romania, at the beginning of World War I, she and her family were forced to flee their village to avoid invading troops. At the end of the war, she returned home to the disputed territory between Austria and Romania. She would later earn a master's degree in history from the University of Cernauti in Romania.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1939 she married Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli, a postgraduate student in Rome, who specialized in ancient coins. The couple was researching coins in Germany in 1942 when Vladimir was arrested by the Gestapo because his passport had been stolen and "used by an enemy of the state." He was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp where he remained "a guest" until the end of World War II. Although pregnant, Elvira chose to join her husband in the camp. She later was released so their child would not be born in prison; however, after experiencing the bombings in Berlin, she returned to the camp to be with her husband. She didn't realize Buchenwald, also the site of a V-2 rocket factory, was a target for Allied bombings!</p><p><br /></p><p>Somehow they survived Buchenwald and the war. The family arrived in the United States in 1951 and the couple worked in New York for several years for Hesperia Art, then later for Stack's Rare Coins. In 1956 Vladimir became curator of the Smithsonian's Division of Numismatics; a year later, Elvira became his assistant. Two years after Vladimir's death in 1982, she became the department's first executive director.</p><p><br /></p><p>It's a privilege to own coins formerly belonging to this remarkable lady and here are a couple of them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Celtic, imitating Alexander III or Philip III of Macedon.</p><p>Uncertain tribe. Lower Danube. Drachm 2nd century BC.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1187311[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Bruttium, Rhegion. Onkia, circa 450-425 BC.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1187316[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="IanG, post: 4939626, member: 109252"]I don't have a coin from the Stoecklin or Naegeli collections but I do have a number that were formerly part of the collection of another great numismatist, Elvira Clain-Stefanelli. I know that I will be far from alone in this respect because so many coins formerly belonging to her have been sold over the last few years by Naville Numismatics and others. Many people will know that together with her husband, Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli, she built up the American National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution from approximately 60,000 pieces in 1956 to over 960,000 pieces in 1982. She was a fine scholar who wrote a number of books on coinage. What fewer people will know about is her extraordinary life before she went to the United States. Born in Bucharest, Romania, at the beginning of World War I, she and her family were forced to flee their village to avoid invading troops. At the end of the war, she returned home to the disputed territory between Austria and Romania. She would later earn a master's degree in history from the University of Cernauti in Romania. In 1939 she married Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli, a postgraduate student in Rome, who specialized in ancient coins. The couple was researching coins in Germany in 1942 when Vladimir was arrested by the Gestapo because his passport had been stolen and "used by an enemy of the state." He was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp where he remained "a guest" until the end of World War II. Although pregnant, Elvira chose to join her husband in the camp. She later was released so their child would not be born in prison; however, after experiencing the bombings in Berlin, she returned to the camp to be with her husband. She didn't realize Buchenwald, also the site of a V-2 rocket factory, was a target for Allied bombings! Somehow they survived Buchenwald and the war. The family arrived in the United States in 1951 and the couple worked in New York for several years for Hesperia Art, then later for Stack's Rare Coins. In 1956 Vladimir became curator of the Smithsonian's Division of Numismatics; a year later, Elvira became his assistant. Two years after Vladimir's death in 1982, she became the department's first executive director. It's a privilege to own coins formerly belonging to this remarkable lady and here are a couple of them. Celtic, imitating Alexander III or Philip III of Macedon. Uncertain tribe. Lower Danube. Drachm 2nd century BC. [ATTACH=full]1187311[/ATTACH] Bruttium, Rhegion. Onkia, circa 450-425 BC. [ATTACH=full]1187316[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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