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William Christensen
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I just received a couple of Spink catalogs and up for auction are William Christensen's collection of coins and banknotes of Sarawak and collection of nautical-themed coins and tokens. It was unknown to me that Bill had passed away in 2008.
Being that Bill lived only a few miles from my home, I wanted to share this brief biography of him since there seems to be no published obituary (at least none that I can find) other than that from the auction catalog.
The following is copyright 2009 Spink. Reproduced without permission.
William Brooke Christensen (1948-2008)
The son of the numismatist Henry Christensen, Bill was born to collect and began as a child with
toy soldiers and trains. Bill graduated from The Pingry School, in New Jersey, and Colgate
University, in New York. Bill’s studies were in English and History, with a strong interest in
legend and myth. Henry Christensen was perhaps the leading numismatist in the world
specializing in Spanish Colonial coins, and indeed held the first sale of doubloons from a wrecked
galleon. After Bill completed his bachelor’s degree at Colgate University and had a short stint in
the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, he joined his father’s office and they together expanded it greatly.
Bill continued the business after his father’s death, until his retirement some years ago. Focusing
his collecting passion away, but not far, from their business of coins, Bill took up his father’s
collection of revenue stamps, building it to encompass all quarters of the globe, and paper
currency. An anglophile at heart, he developed a fascination with Sarawak and his collections tend
towards Britain and its former colonies. While Bill’s branch of the Brooke family came to
Maryland in the early 18th century, Bill liked to think of himself as a distant relative of the White
Rajahs of Sarawak, and collected all manner of things associated with the Brookes and Sarawak.
He visited Borneo several times.
Rest in Peace.
Being that Bill lived only a few miles from my home, I wanted to share this brief biography of him since there seems to be no published obituary (at least none that I can find) other than that from the auction catalog.
The following is copyright 2009 Spink. Reproduced without permission.
William Brooke Christensen (1948-2008)
The son of the numismatist Henry Christensen, Bill was born to collect and began as a child with
toy soldiers and trains. Bill graduated from The Pingry School, in New Jersey, and Colgate
University, in New York. Bill’s studies were in English and History, with a strong interest in
legend and myth. Henry Christensen was perhaps the leading numismatist in the world
specializing in Spanish Colonial coins, and indeed held the first sale of doubloons from a wrecked
galleon. After Bill completed his bachelor’s degree at Colgate University and had a short stint in
the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, he joined his father’s office and they together expanded it greatly.
Bill continued the business after his father’s death, until his retirement some years ago. Focusing
his collecting passion away, but not far, from their business of coins, Bill took up his father’s
collection of revenue stamps, building it to encompass all quarters of the globe, and paper
currency. An anglophile at heart, he developed a fascination with Sarawak and his collections tend
towards Britain and its former colonies. While Bill’s branch of the Brooke family came to
Maryland in the early 18th century, Bill liked to think of himself as a distant relative of the White
Rajahs of Sarawak, and collected all manner of things associated with the Brookes and Sarawak.
He visited Borneo several times.
Rest in Peace.
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Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
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