Famous Collectors

US President John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams, 1767 - 1848, was the sixth president of the USA from 1825 to 1829, also collected coins, including ancient Roman coins. His collection was owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society, but sold by auction in 1971.

King Farouk of Egypt
The reportedly unique 1933 US gold double eagle, which sold for a world record price of $7,500,000 was once in the personal collection of King Farouk of Egypt, who apparently acquired it in 1934. Due to be sold at auction by Sotheby in 1952, the US government requested its return, but it disappeared, and is believed to be the same coin sold in 2002.

The rare U.S. nickel above has quite the interesting story. The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is one of only five known of that specific date and design. The coin, which was owned by King Farouk of Egypt was seen by viewers in an episode of 'Hawaii Five-O,' entitled 'The $100,000 Nickel' in 1973. In 1978 Los Angeles Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, paid $200,000 for the coin and it has changed hands several times since then, jumping in value each time.

From the world of sports, famous coin collectors include ice hickey legend Wayne Gretzky, baseball slugger Andre Dawson (Dawson put together one of the finest type coin collections ever), and fierce basketball rebounder Dennis Rodman.

Coin collecting is known as the "hobby of kings" for a reason - in the old days, it was a hobby those with plenty of spare cash could indulge in. Roman historian Suetonius reports that the emperor Augustus was in the habit of giving away old or exotic coins to friends and relatives on festive occasions:


The "father of the Renaissance", the Italian poet Petrarch (1304-1374), meticulously reported on his collecting activities and helped make coin collecting fashionable among the ruling classes of Europe. Famous collectors of the time include: Pope Boniface VII (1294-1303), whose collection now lies in the Vatican's coin collection; Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian I (1508-1519) and Ferdinand I (1558-1564), Kings of France Henry IV (1589-1610) and Louis XIV (1643-1715). The collection of Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg (1535-1571) became the German Imperial Coin Collection and now forms the core of the Berlin Coin Cabinet, and the Russian Imperial coin collection now resides in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

In more modern times, King Farouk of Egypt and King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy demonstrated that the Hobby of Kings can still be just that; US Presidents Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Franklin D. Roosevelt also collected - it's even possible to buy coins provenanced from the Adams collection. Actress Nicole Kidman and former British Prime Minsiter Tony Blair are also rumoured to be collectors, as well as hockey player Wayne Gretzky, baseballer Andre Dawson and basketballer Dennis Rodman.

I see Zohar found some of the same websites I did.

Well N Kidman was getting some of Tom Cruise's change and Rodman was trying to get into Madonna's purse. Only kidding!

Archraz,

During Victorian times people (especially the British) had a great fascination with collecting items of all kinds, especially from remote parts of the world. Things like collections of stuffed birds from around the world placed in a menagerie were commonplace. It was probably the golden age of collecting and I doubt we'll see anything like that again.

By the way, the King Farouk/Hawaii 5-O nickel just sold again a few months ago for a record $3.7 million.

I never knew Barnaby Jones was a collector...i also know Whitey Ford is as well.

Great posts everyone,keep them coming. There are a lot of people I did not know about. I thought of another one, I think his name is Richard Moll? from the sitcom Night Court,he played the guard. he's tall and bald.
John1

That's awesome, I love his popcorn.