DONOR REPATRIATING 10,000 HISPANIC COINS TO ANS

One's worst fears are now being realized regarding the Hispanic Society of America's recent sale of 37,895 coins. This incomparable collection---the entire history of Spain, from the 5th century B.C. to the early 20th century, stamped in gold, silver and bronze---had been given to the HSA (a New York City institution devoted to Spanish art, literature and history) by founder Archer Milton Huntington. Now it is being broken up and is likely to be widely dispersed.

Although the HSA's director, Mitchell Codding, had told the NY Times last fall that the coins would be sold only to another public institution, they were (after attempts to find an institutional buyer failed) offered to all comers in a sealed-bid auction at Sotheby's that ended on Mar. 8. Although they were sold as one lot, there were no strings attached regarding the possible (now likely) dispersal of the collection through resales.

The winning bidder---thought to be a dealer consortium that included Jesús Vico, a prominent coin seller in Madrid---is now breaking up this previously important cultural and scholarly resource. Some 1,004 coins are being offered at a Vico auction on June 26.

The good news is that some 10,000 of the dispersed coins are returning to the American Numismatic Society, the institution that had custody of them since 1949 and never expected to lose them. Among those retrieved were the pieces that the ANS most coveted---some 1,004 coins of the Visigoths, for which the HSA's holdings were second to none. Those coins are already in ANS's hands, with the rest expected to arrive tomorrow. (More details on those coins, below.)

Placed on loan at the ANS by the HSA, at the direction of Huntington, the entire trove was hauled away last year for sale through Sotheby's, after the ANS unsuccessfully attempted in State Supreme Court to prevent the disposal. Huntington had explicitly given the HSA permission to recall the loaned coins at any time, but surely never envisioned their removal for disposal.

But let's get back to the silver lining of this murky story, as described to me by Ute Wartenberg Kagan, the ANS's executive director (who revealed that she had "heard from a number of people" that the winning bid at Sotheby's was "slightly over $26 million").

Kagan said that the return of 10,000 coins to her New York City institution will greatly enhance the public accessibility of the ex-HSA treasure, which had been tucked away in storage and seen mostly by scholars. When the coins were previously at the ANS, they had been restricted by the HSA's rules and could not (with rare exceptions) be publicly exhibited. Under new ownership, they can now be displayed however and whenever the ANS pleases. A future public display (perhaps to be mounted off site, instead of being confined to the ANS's relatively small exhibition area) is being contemplated.

While the ANS hopes eventually to receive a donation of these coins, they are currently on permanent loan from their purchaser, an ANS benefactor who wants to remain anonymous. Having just received the catalogue for the Vico auction, Kagan said she was looking it over with an eye to additional ANS acquisitions.

To read the complete article, see: News Flash: 1,004 Ex-Hispanic Society Coins to Be Re-Auctioned in Spain; American Numismatic Society Retrieves 10,000 Pieces (www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2012/06/american_numismatic_society_re.html)

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