MORE ON JULES FONROBERT

I enjoyed the exchange about Jules Fonrobert in last week’s E-Sylum very much. I discussed this with Mark Borckardt and we think we can add a little to the discussion of how Fonrobert acquired his American coins.

Some time ago I purchased Harry Bass’s copy of the catalog of the Mendes I. Cohen Collection (Edward Cogan, 10/1875) which had been priced and named by William Poillon when he attended the sale. According to Poillon’s notes, a buyer named “Roberts” purchased 97 lots at the sale, including lot 379, a 1792 disme in silver, Judd-9, with the date effaced.

There are only three known specimens of this rare pattern in silver, and only one of them has the date effaced. Checking Die Jules Fonrobert’sche Sammlung ueberseeischer Munzen und Medaillen (Adolph Weyl, 12/1877), we found an example of the 1792 disme in silver in lot 366. The description includes the phrase “darunter 1792 fortgenommem” which means “underneath 1792 removed.”

It seems very unlikely that Fonrobert could have acquired this coin anywhere except the Cohen sale, so we concluded “Roberts” was an alias for Fonrobert. There are several other very rare coins that can be traced from the Cohen sale to the Fonrobert catalog. For instance, the 1794 half dime dies trial in copper in lot 380 of the Fonrobert catalog is specifically pedigreed by Weyl to lot 384 of the Cohen sale. According to Poillon, this lot was also purchased by “Roberts.”

It seems clear that Fonrobert must have participated in auctions in this country, using an alias or through an agent, while he was building his huge collection. Of course, he also purchased coins privately and bought entire collections outright, as Bob Leonard suggested in the E-Sylum post. The Adolph Weyl catalog of the North American portion of his collection includes more than 6,000 lots and this was not the biggest portion of his holdings. It is certainly remarkable how much he was able to accomplish in a relatively short time.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: THE OBITUARY OF JULES FONROBERT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n01a19.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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