THE FELIX WASSERMANN COLLECTION OF GOLD COINS

Art Friedberg writes:

A collection of several hundred coins, including many rare pieces unseen since the 1930's will be sold at a public auction in Zürich on October 26. The sale, conducted by the firms of Hess-Divo AG of Zürich in cooperation with Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. of Osnabrück, Germany, is composed of coins secretly removed from Nazi Germany in 1938 by a Jewish family fleeing the imminent Holocaust. The coins have remained in bank vaults and off the market since their acquisition more than 75 years ago, and it is only with the release of the auction catalog that the public is being made aware of their existence for the first time.

It was in the early 1930s that Dr. Felix Wassermann, a physician living in Munich, began to recognize the threats of political turmoil and persecution caused by the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany. So motivated, he undertook to protect his family by amassing a portable asset and started collecting gold coins. Ultimately, Felix’s prescience proved accurate. In 1938, in advance of World War II and the Holocaust, he along with his wife Susan, son Charles and daughter Eva emigrated to the United States.

Charles F. Wasserman, the son of Felix, finished his high school education in New York City. Charles became a well-known pediatrician in New Orleans and remained very attached to his German roots. He did not consider himself a traditional "collector", but prized the family coins for what they represented: a tangible symbol of his family's history and heritage. Dr. Charles F. Wasserman passed away in March, 2012.

The dealers whose coins came to form the Wasserman Collection are a proverbial who's who of early twentieth century German numismatics. Some time in 1931, it is believed, Felix consulted with Gerhard Hirsch of the numismatic firm in Munich which still bears his name today. He then began making a large number of purchases. Among his sources were Otto Helbing, Julius Jenke, and Eugen Merzbacher (all of Munich); Leo Hamburger, Adolph Hess, Sally Rosenberg, and Adolph Cahn (Frankfurt); and Jacques Schulman (Netherlands).

It is not always easy to reconstruct the history of a collection based only on the coins it contains. It is clear that the motive was far less numismatic than it was wealth-protective. It is not known exactly how the Wassermanns were able to remove the coins from Germany at a time when laws were being instituted which forbade emigrating Jews from taking their belongings and savings with them.

To view the auction catalog visit www.sixbid.com after September 17. Bidders can also participate in the auction live and in real time on the Internet as long as they register in advance at www.hessdivo.com. To order a printed version of the auction catalog please contact Hess Divo AG at +41 (0)44 225 40 90 or via email: mailbox@hessdivo.com or Künker service team at +49 (0) 541 962020 or via email: service@kuenker.de.

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