W. W. C. WILSON (1870-1924)

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V19 2016 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 5, January 31, 2016, Article 12

John Lupia submitted the following information from his Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatic Biographies‎ for this week's installment of his series. Thanks! As always, this is an excerpt with the full article and bibliography available online. This week's subject is Canadian collector W.W.C. Wilson. -Editor

William Walter Coulthard Wilson (1870-1924) was born in November 1870, the son of an Irish Presbyterian immigrant to Canada, James Crockett Wilson (1841-1899), and Jeanne Kilgour Wilson (1840-1897), at Montréal, Québec, Canada. His father established the paper manufacturing company in 1870 at Montréal.

In October 1907 he joined the A.N.A. and is member No. 899. He joined the ANS on June 11, 1908. About this time he purchased en mass the collection of Louis Joseph Casault upon his retirement from the Library of the Canadian Parliament. Casault owned one of the finest collections of Canadian coins. Pierre N. Breton acted as the purchasing agent for Wilson of the entire collection. He was a charter member of the New York Numismatic Club in 1909. He attended the August 1909 ANA convention held at Montreal. In 1909 he joined the British Numismatic Society.

He was the First-Vice President of the ANA in 1910. He purchased The Numismatist from Farran Zerbe on October 12, 1910 with a deposit of one cent paying the balance of $500.00 no later than December 31, 1910. Wilson entrusted the conveyance of The Numismatist to the ANA to Howland Wood in a document drafted and signed on letterhead of the Hotel Thorndike, Boston, Massachusetts, on October 27, 1910. He donated the magazine to the ANA as its official bulletin. The first official issue of the magazine as the property of the ANA was January 1911. Albert Romer Frey was the first Editor.

His coin collection was one of the finest of Canadian coins known and was cataloged by Wayte Raymond and sold posthumously by the Anderson Galleries on November 16-18th, 1925.

To read the complete article, see:
WILSON, WILLIAM WALTER COULTHARD (https://sites.google.com/site/numismaticmallcom/encyclopedic-dictionary-of-numismatic-biographies/wilson-william-walter-coulthard)