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Édouard Frossard (1837-1899) Coin Dealer - was one outspoken 'dude'

1630Boston1630Boston Posts: 14,115 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited September 9, 2020 3:22AM in U.S. Coin Forum

Édouard Frossard (1837-1899) Dealer career 1872-1899, HOF: 2015. Édouard Frossard was a Swiss immigrant who became one of the most influential and controversial dealers in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

He was a professor of French at the Young Men’s Christian Association in New York City for over twenty-seven years. Frossard served over two years in the Civil War from 1861 to 1862, where he was “badly crippled” in the field before entering numismatics (several of his contemporaries also served in the war).

Frossard popularized coin collecting first as editor of Mason’s Coin and Stamp Collectors’ Magazine, then through his own Numisma. As the editor of Numisma, Frossard engaged in the type of rumors, banter, sarcasm, and challenges that would probably have ended him up in court were he alive today.

An auctioneer himself (and responsible for over 160 auctions of coins, stamps, and artwork), he was a vocal critic of his competitors, justified or not, right or wrong. In one major faux pas, he insisted that the Dexter 1804 Dollar (one of the Class I Originals) was a restrike and that it had been planted in a European auction by the Chapman brothers.

Frossard’s name is associated with works on U.S. Half Cents, Large Cents (particularly those of 1794, one of his favorite collecting specialties) and Franco-American Jetons. He died at just over sixty years of age in 1899.

Thanks to PCGS CoinFacts for this info :)

https://youtu.be/wgQE4LHtj8M

Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko

Bad transactions with : nobody to date

Comments

  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,401 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @1630Boston said:

    Édouard Frossard (1837-1899) Dealer career 1872-1899, HOF: 2015. Édouard Frossard was a Swiss immigrant who became one of the most influential and controversial dealers in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

    Seems like a lot of these. Elder back in his day and even some dealers and authors today have spirited personalities.

    Frossard popularized coin collecting first as editor of Mason’s Coin and Stamp Collectors’ Magazine, then through his own Numisma. As the editor of Numisma, Frossard engaged in the type of rumors, banter, sarcasm, and challenges that would probably have ended him up in court were he alive today.

    Any good quotes or excerpts?

    An auctioneer himself (and responsible for over 160 auctions of coins, stamps, and artwork), he was a vocal critic of his competitors, justified or not, right or wrong. In one major faux pas, he insisted that the Dexter 1804 Dollar (one of the Class I Originals) was a restrike and that it had been planted in a European auction by the Chapman brothers.

    He's part of the history of Bruce's collection :)

  • 1630Boston1630Boston Posts: 14,115 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko

    Bad transactions with : nobody to date

  • NysotoNysoto Posts: 3,826 ✭✭✭✭✭

    "At Frossard's sale, December 19-20, 1894, Lyman H. Low called Frossard 'a liar' for some statement about the specimen of this variety offered as lot 700; Frossard hit him. In the ensuing fight, both dealers rolled around the auction floor trying to kick each other, and Harlan P. Smith lost a diamond pin in the confusion incidental to separating them."

    "A.G. Heaton noted the 'two numismatic sages were soon mixed up on a dusty floor in a manner that would have made football adversaries envious of their combative qualities until, in a badly circulated condition, they were dragged apart by dismayed spectators.'"

    Quotes from this thread https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/921039/looking-for-info-who-were-the-two-dealers-who-famously-got-in-a-fight-on-the-bourse-floor

    Robert Scot: Engraving Liberty - biography of US Mint's first chief engraver
  • ElcontadorElcontador Posts: 7,720 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Not too many years ago, there was fight on the floor over an auction lot between Jesse Lipka and Martin Paul. I was not there, but knew some people who actually saw it.

    "Vou invadir o Nordeste,
    "Seu cabra da peste,
    "Sou Mangueira......."
  • TiborTibor Posts: 3,725 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Would have been bammed.

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