Nelson Bunker Hunt collection

Nelson Bunker Hunt and his brother William Herbert Hunt were the 'Cleos' of the 1970s and 1980s, paying high prices for the best ancient coins on the market. They collected in slightly different areas; William collected Byzantine coins and ancient bronzes, and Nelson collected Greek and Roman coins and Greek vases. They were among the wealthiest people in the world, until they lost almost everything trying to corner the silver market. It's a stunning story of hubris and nemesis. In the early 1990s their stunning collections were sold in a series of auctions at Sotheby's.

The sumptuous catalogs are good reference works, with introductions by David Sellwood and E.E. Clain-Stefanelli, but mainly they're just to drool over. It's hard to get a sense of their taste, beyond a desire for the BEST: *all* the decadrachms are here, plus the classic Greek rarities, and lots of big gold multiples. For those with a taste for antiquities, they had TWO vases by Euphronios!

I've been buying the catalogs piecemeal and I've got most of them now. A couple seem to have belonged to a journalist covering the sale, judging by the notes. He even sketched some of the bidders.


And noted that some coins had become less valuable following discoveries:

And here is one of the highlights, a forward-facing bust of Maxentius.


Anyone got any Hunt-provenanced coins?

 

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Funny you mentioned these as I was just flipping through the catalogues two nights ago. A couple of the coins stood-out as questionable to me. I've not had an opportunity to further research them yet, so I won't post them here. For now, I'll just say that high cost certainly does not guaranty authenticity!

 

Interesting. I was wondering the same thing. Some things more common after new finds, others less convincing after new finds. I’d love to hear more, when you’ve researched.

 

I have owned one ex-Hunt coin in my life, this Procopius siliqua, which I sold to @Valentinian many years ago:

(Oops. Shouldn't have sold it! )

 

Nice writeup, very interesting topic. Must be nice to have that kind of capital to build a coin collection.....

 

Depending on the auction house, I love perusing old catalogues. Those Sotheby's are right up my alley. Very nice.

 

The Hunt collection has some incredible coins, although it was assembled and dispersed under very atypical circumstances.

Here's my favorite ex-Hunt coin, a tetradrachm of Agathokles. These come in all ranges of quality but I find this pair of dies to be the most aesthetic of the type:

 

Gorgeous example @AncientJoe . Well done! Both obverse and reverse depictions have wonderful detail. Sicily / Syracuse had some incredibly beautiful coinage. Amazing such a gorgeous coin was produced by this tyrant...

Unfortunately, this is not a Nelson Bunker Hunt or a Lamar Hunt pedigree. I captured this one because of Agothokles history - being the first general to take a war against Carthage to their own soil:


Sicily Syracuse 317-289 BC AE 23 Hemilitron Agathokles Kore Bull Dolphin

 

Mention of the Hunt brothers reminds me of the Bruce McNall autobiography, which is a great read:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fun-While-...522936908&sr=8-1&keywords=fun+while+it+lasted

 

That would be a great coin for a CT giveaway.

 

Thanks - ordered!

 

Secret Santa. Can you imagine getting THAT in Secret Santa?

 

Just want to second this recommendation. The book's called "Fun While It Lasted," and it's the first thing that came to mind when I saw the title of this thread. Bookfinder.com lists many copies for less than $4, including shipping.

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?...20in%20the%20land%20of%20fame%20and%20fortune

 

Coins are only featured in the first part of the book but it is a unique peek into the seedier side of the business. Bruce was quite the character and I remember him well and bought many coins from him. David Sear worked for him back in those days and he always gave me better deals than Bruce. It is well worth the few dollars a copy commands.

Now, if only Rob Freeman would write a tell all. That would be someting!

 

https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/nelson-bunker-hunt-collection/

 

https://www.academia.edu/20412432/The_Nelson_Bunker_Hunt_Collection

 

https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/...ts-of-the-nelson-bunker-hunt-coin-collection/

 

This is my only one. Antiochos IV Ar Tetradrachm Antioch 168-164 BC Obv Head right diademed Rv Zeus seated left SC 1400 HGC 620 a 16.86 grms 32 mm Sothebys Hunt Auction 4 Lot 458 June 19 1991 In 1991 I was living in the "skid row" part of town and when I came home from work I see this large box sitting on my doorstep. "Oh I said they sent me a vase." Briefly I had visions of somebody making a mistake and sending me a whole group of coins. Yeah like why would they send one coin in a box 12 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches. Well I got just what was due to me and I was and am perfectly happy with this coin.

 

It's always nice when threads are resurrected. Here's my only Hunt coin from the first catalog, which was Hunt's "flagship" coins. I don't have the prices realized from Hunt but, based on the estimate, it wasn't much more expensive 30 years later:



One of the other benefits of pedigreed coins is ensuring they haven't been tampered with. I do pay a premium for toning in many cases and it is reassuring to know that this coin hasn't noticeably changed its toning in the last 30+ years: