Benjamin Franklin once said, “Lost time is never found again.” But how does one explain the resurfacing of one of the world’s most valuable coin collections after being buried underground for five decades? Amassed by a coin-obsessed heir to a European family business, the 15,000-strong collection, now valued at over $100 million, is finally coming to market in 2025. Shrouded in mystique and driven by a spirit of adventure, it was the product of a young man’s bold pivot following the brutal Wall Street Crash of 1929.
With the support of his wife, he left behind the safety of the family business and began a journey across Europe and the Americas throughout the 1930s, collecting rare coins along the way, according to Artnet. Now dubbed The Traveller Collection by Numismatica Ars Classica (NAC), the remarkable hoard owes its name to the extensive travels that birthed it. Yet, perhaps even more fascinating than its creation was its disappearance. During World War II, fearing for its safety, the collector packed the coins in cigar boxes and buried them in his garden. Only his wife knew of the location, keeping the secret for more than half a century until the mid-1990s.
In what NAC director Arturo Russo calls “a landmark in the history of numismatics,” the collection will be auctioned in 15 parts over three years. “The catalogues of the Traveller Collection will serve as an important reference for future collectors and scholars,” he said.
The first sale is set for May 20, 2025, featuring 200 British coins and medallions from the 17th century, including a set created for the coronation of George VI in 1937. The treasures span centuries and continents, from an Athens gold stater struck in 296 B.C.E. worth $142,000 to a 70-ducat coin from 1621 featuring Polish king Sigismund III Vasa, and an Australian Port Phillip piece valued at $284,000.
The pièce de résistance: a complete set of five tomans, a 19th-century Persian monetary unit, estimated at a staggering $2.3 million. According to coin expert David Guest, “Many of the coins were of types not known to have been offered for sale in over 80 years and, in some cases, completely unrecorded.”
[All images by Numismatica Ars Classica]
