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Who is the best collector of all time?
Gazes
Posts: 2,315 ✭✭✭✭✭
Simple question. My vote--John Jay Pittman. He was not a man of enormous wealth but was not only passionate and dedicated but knowledgeable. Had to mortgage his house to travel to Egypt for an auction. Used a budget to buy extraordinary coins and in the end had a $30 million dollar collection some years ago.
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Me. I'm awesome.
Also, how cool is it that he was able to mortgage his house and go to Egypt to bid on coins? He couldn't have been married, right? Not a snowballs chance my wife would let me go to Egypt for an auction...much less mortgage the house for coins.
Pittman is certainly up there, but I have to vote for Eliasberg who had just about everything in the U.S. series so far as the Red Book is concerned.
Eric P. Newman has to be high on the list too. He has left an on-line research legacy for collectors, which more than anyone else has done, so far as I know.
King Farouk of Egypt, 8500 gold coins, all 5 1913 Liberty Nickels, complete set of St. Gaudens double eagles including the 1933. Hundreds of U.S. pattern coins, many of which were unique. It goes on and on.
Jim
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Did Farouk own all 5 '13 nickels at one time? I know Eric Newman did. My vote would be for Virgil Brand.
That is a loaded question.
There are people with enough money to acquire lots of rare coins as trophies or investments. There are people who own a modest specialized collection that might be a leader in their niche field. There are others who inspire or teach others. There are others who write reference books that the rest of us rely on.
"Best Collector" is not a label I would want to have to bestow. Best at what?
Yes, it depends on how one defines "best".
Who assembled the "best" collection? Who gave back the most to the hobby? Other criteria?
What makes one the "best" collector?
...easy peasy
Caesar. Even Jesus made mention of his collecting status.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
I would have to say.......me.
@JBK said: "Best Collector" is not a label I would want to have to bestow. Best at what?"
The forum is DEAD today so maybe this discussion is just for grins and a way to recognize collectors. Perhaps it just means "Best at collecting coins."
Never know, she might buy the ticket.
how hard is it to be a coin collector on a king's salary? Eunuchs be bringing you coins on silver platters all day long. Poor guy had it rough
I hereby nominate insider2 as best collector of forum disagrees . When you do your acceptance speech don't forget to thank Bill
each person can define "best" however they like. I chose Pittman because his collection and pedigree have long survived after him. He did it on regular salary. Cared about condition before it was fashionable. Plus he was very knowledgable and unbelievably passionate. And to the best of my knowledge was one of the few collectors who never sold a coin.
Whoever assembled the Tyrant collection has to be in the running.
10-4,
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My registry sets
I’d go with Eric Newman. Not only did he have a fabulous collection but he also gave so much to the hobby with his research.
I would say the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans have claim to that.
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
Exactly my point. King F had a great collection, but was he a numismatist? (Maybe he was, I don't know). Did he inspire others or add to the body of knowledge? Or did he just have one kick-arse auction after he was gone.
I’d have to say Ford would be in the running...though not everything he collected would be considered a coin depending on how strict your definition is...and certainly none federally issued. I recently bought a copy of the Ford auction catalogs and the breadth of that collection is hard to wrap your head around.
I'm partial to giving the all-time laurel to Virgil Brand. Brand had both quality AND quantity.
Mrs. Norweb is certainly a contender in the more recent division.
To respond to an earlier comment, Mr. Pittman had a wife and at least one child in the early 1950s (when he went off to the Palace Auction Sale).
My pick also.
too many to name
Mrs Norweb
I am NOT kidding-TDN
My all time #1 pick is a tie-Lord St Oswald (not his real name). OMG, I buy EVERY one of his coins. Ted Nafztger-there will NEVER be another copper set like his
The average guy filling albums from change 50 yrs ago.
Latin American Collection
Col Green. Deep pockets of course but had an insatiable appetite for hoards of rarities.
Ford was "ethically challenged." That has to count for something.
I am in the Newman camp, what he left behind and contributed to the hobby will teach and be enjoyed for many years to come.
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I would place Hillyer Ryder and F.C.C. Boyd WELL ahead of Ford as far as colonial collectors go. Check out the pedigrees in the Ford sales. Ford relatively added a small handful of coins to the phenomenal collections of Ryder/Boyd. Ryder was brilliant. He was buying varieties of colonials in all sorts of series before many reference books were written.
Dead or alive? Who is or who was? Collecting coins or hoarding coins? Pittman, Newman, Farouk, Ford, the Ocean, or Insider2..........too many to choose!!!!!!!!
Eliasberg gets my vote.
If Mr. Hansen reads this thread he may find some extra motivation in his current collecting efforts.
How about the Smithsonian. It has a fairly nice collection of US Coinage.
King George V, as he "owned" 23%+ of the total land mass of the world, and the "stuff" in it, larger than anyone else in history.
The most entertaining was probably Buddy Ebsen.
It depends on what your definition of "best collector" is. Best collection? Biggest contribution to numismatics?
IBill Jones has to at least be in the running for sharing both his enthusiasm for the hobby as well as his knowledge.
Eric Newman
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
I gotta agree with @Gazes just because I was fortunate enough to rub shoulders with him at the Rochester Numismatic Association meetings when I lived there from 1973 - 1975. He always had a smile on his face, would share his knowledge with anyone who seemed interested and was just a "regular" guy. Years later up until his death I would run in to him at ANA conventions and he would be there with his big smile, shake my hand and act as though he actually remembered me.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Ahaa.... the IRS!
No. He did have 2*, ( he was bidding on one, when he bought another. Although he was he winning bidder, he never actually took possession of the second)
Eric did not own all 5 either. He got them in a partnership. Not sure he really owned more than the single finest.
The best is the one having the most fun at it. It could be a kid stuffing change into albums or some high-roller super-secret stealth buyer. You can have a perfectly good challenge and plenty of fun at any price point.
The most insightful and intelligent post that I have EVER read on this forum.
Number 1: Garrett
Number 2: Eliasberg
Number 3: Norweb
not even a question.
All of them built over multiple generations within the family.
Alright, so those are the best collectors of all time....who are the best collectors here in the forum? And do dealers count? Are they actually collectors too or are they just buying and selling? I suppose you could be both. But does a true collector really keep selling prized coins? Should the term be DEALLECTORS?
Along those lines, maybe the Secret Service. They've "collected" a couple dozen 1933 Double Eagles.
Who is the best collector of all time?
Just look in the mirror everyone
Have a great day
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I will second the mention of the Norwebs-Mrs. Emery May Norweb and her husband, Ambassador R. Henry Norweb. interestingly, they were friends socially with the Pittmans. even though the Norwebs formed an amazing collection of United States coins their primary interests were World coins and it led to a great and varied collection.
I concur. JJP for breadth and scope. In addition to his magnificent US collection, Pittman's World coin collection had tens of thousands of different coins. He collected world coins by date and country and he had individual rarities never even seen by others. He did this when others were not even looking or aware. I fully believe the level of comprehensiveness could not be done again in today's day and age, no matter how much $ one had to throw into the endeavor.
FYI, Most people only saw his collection that was auctioned in 3 separate sales over 2 years, and assume this was the entire collection! Not so . He had tens of thousands of other rare coins, token and medals that didn't make it into the sales! I know bc i bought thousands of coins from the family and have thousands of 2x2 holders with his hand writing to prove it....
He was great in that tv show Rat Patrol
A question without an answer..... Sure, a lot of opinions have been offered...and with degrees of justification. However, there are no defining parameters, and without such information, no degree of finality can be achieved. Greatness can be defined in several ways... volume, quality, content... and then we can add things such as intellectual contributions and character. This is not something that can be defined by a competition such as sports - which, only defines the best at that moment. I believe that those (such as mentioned above) form a collective in the hobby that demonstrates many notable achievements - and certainly worthy of comment. Cheers, RickO
In this day and time for the QUALITY of his
collections I vote for TDN !!! I would be a buyer
of a coffee table book of the collections he has
put together.
Naftzger is a reasonable nomination. St Oswald was small time. But if you like St Oswald, you would have loved Sarah Sophia Banks.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.