CoinClinic: The First Known Coin Collector
Discover the pioneers of coin collecting, from ancient rulers and Renaissance scholars to America’s earliest coin dealers.
Is there a person who is accepted as the first known coin collector?
The first person who allegedly collected coins that has been documented was Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus. What appears to be a collection of coins was included in the inventory of his treasures seized following his defeat by the Romans. Another possible candidate is the Roman Emperor Augustus. According to the historian Suetonius in his book Life of Augustus, “he distributed gifts, sometimes clothes, gold and silver, other times coins of every stamp, even old royal ones and foreign ones.”
What about in more modern history? Who would be the first collector of whom we know?
Italian scholar Petrarch (1304-1374) collected and studied ancient Roman coins. He presented a collection to Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in 1355, after which it became fashionable for aristocrats to collect coins. This is where coin collecting got its reputation as being the hobby of kings.
Who was the first known coin dealer in the United States?
If by coin dealer we mean someone who made his living exclusively from buying and selling coins, the first coin dealer was likely Edward Cogan. Cogan, an English-born accountant who has been dubbed the “father of U.S. coin collecting,” conducted coin auctions between 1858 and 1879.
Who is the earliest person known to have collected U.S. coins?
We don’t know for certain who the first collector of U.S. coins was; however, we know who the first prominent collectors were. Thomas Jefferson can be argued to have been a collector since he assembled a collection of European and American coins as examples of what a national mint could manufacture. John Quincy Adams and possibly his father, John Adams, collected ancient coins. John Quincy Adams not only collected, but studied his collection.
What is the oldest operating coin business in the world?
The oldest continuous operational coin business in the world is Monnaie de Paris. The mint was founded by Holy Roman Emperor Charles “the Bald” in 864. The oldest continuously operational coin dealership is that of Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. in Germany. The Peus company was founded by Adolph Hess in 1870. The longest continuously operating coin business under the same ownership in the United States is Briggs and Coops in Redlands, Calif. Briggs and Coops was established initially as the Royale Stamp Company in Taunton, Mass., in 1907.
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