Readers kindly provided the following tributes to author and researcher John Spring, who passed earlier this year. Thank you.
-Editor
George Kolbe writes:
Over the years, John Spring and I both attended a
number of major European numismatic literature
auctions. While on these adventures, John was
renowned for locating and staying at the very
cheapest hotel room or hostel he could find. I think it
was a game with him. This was in stark contrast to his
general nature: unfailingly cheerful and courteous and
generous. John was a truly fine human being. Often
he would incorporate a hiking trip into his itinerary
but—more importantly for ancient coin and
numismatic literature aficionados—John also visited
and researched most of the libraries of the major
European coin firms.
In 2009, the results of many years of studious
research resulted in publication of Ancient Coin
Auction Catalogues, 1880–1980. It is a master-work.
In addition to listing virtually every significant auction
sale catalogue with photographic illustrations of
ancient coins, it features delightful histories of the
many venerable coin firms that produced them. Sadly,
over recent decades, virtually all of these firms have
closed their doors or survive in name only.
Some Europeans may not fully comprehend the
comparison and some Americans may not fully
appreciate the importance of the subject matter but
John Spring was a worthy successor to Emmanuel
Joseph Attinelli. He will be sorely missed.
Charlie Davis writes:
It was with great sadness that I learned of John Spring's passing. He was the consummate gentleman, quite rare I am afraid in this business. His knowledge of classic European catalogues was remarkable and is reflected in his detailed work "Ancient Coin Auction Catalogues 1880-1980" published by Spink. I looked forward to seeing him in London each trip, chatting about dealers with whom he was one of the last links, and buying Ars Classica, Jacob Hirsch, Bruder Egger etc catalogues in the most extraordinary condition. He will be very much missed.
Douglas Saville provided the following remembrance. Thanks!
Below is a photo of John in the McClean Room of the Fitzwilliam Museum - one of the largest collections of coin sales catalogues in the world.
-Editor
John passed away on 26 June in a hospice, not far from his home in central
London - Cancer had been diagnosed a few months ago, and he will be
remembered for his cheerfulness, generosity of spirit, reliability, and basic
good-heartedness.
For many years to come the numismatic world will be grateful to him for his
remarkable and indispensable - I don't use these adjectives lightly - Ancient
Coin Auction Catalogues 1880-1980, published in 2009 (Reviewed by Alan
Walker in Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau 89, 2010, pp. 277-280).
Over the years, I got to know John very well indeed, and more especially in
more recent times when he started to deal in numismatic literature. He had
previously collected coins, and slowly these were replaced by the literature of
the subject, especially the sales catalogues.
He became increasingly fascinated by the personalities behind the collections
sold at auction - the collectors, the dealers and the auction houses. During his
visits to Spinks in the 1980s and 1990, we would discuss the famous collectors
of the past, named and unnamed. With his computer-processing background -
his first job in 1960 was with IBM, as a systems' analyst - he started to organise
the information, and to form an important collection of illustrated sales
catalogues. This work resulted in his major Bibliography, and on and off, it took
John almost 30 years.
John didn't like to fly - I am not sure he ever did fly - and he travelled all over
Europe by train, often with his bicycle on board. He rented left-luggage lockers
in railway stations all over the Continent, where he deposited boxes of books
ready to be hauled to coin fairs for sale; he worked hard at this for a number of
years, and he loved every minute of the time he spent doing it.
He had one bad
experience in France – at gunpoint police arrested him for a short time on a
train, for “smuggling”- apparently for not “declaring” duty-free books…. and
put him off the train… imagine him sitting on the station in the middle of
France, surrounded with his books and not much else. I don't think he ever
forgave the French police, and I am not sure if he ever travelled through France
again by train.
John and I attended many of the well-known auctions of numismatic libraries -
often he would spend days viewing lots, and adding to his ever-increasing
database: the M & M (Basle) sales of the 1980s; the Werkner library sale Spink
Taisei, (1993) and the Sotheby sale of the Furstenberg library, (1982) both sold
in Zurich. Just the remnants, but still a massive library, of the famous Dutch
dealership, Jacques Schulman, was sold in Frankfurt/Main in 1995. The
enormous Rollin and Feuardent library, the Kampmann (Maison Platt), and the
Etienne Page libraries were all sold in Paris between the years 1989-2003. John
was at all these sales – in his element, and loving the thrill of auctions and the
socialising, often with people he had corresponded with and previously not met.
John Bergman attended one such sale, and George Kolbe was at almost all of
these noted.
He would usually stay in the cheapest possible hotel - or hostel - that he could
find, and would delight in inviting a few of us to a back-street restaurant (often
at a hike of a couple of miles) he had found where the food was fantastic, but
the price less than a third of what you might expect to pay. An additional
“game” that John liked to play- searching out the cheapest of places.
Domenico Rossi's sale of his huge collection of auction catalogues, and Marco
Olivari's impressive library were sold in Pavia in 2003-2005. I had been offered
the Rossi collection en bloc - but I think John was relieved when I told him I
wasn't able to buy it, since he would then have missed the fun of an auction and
the socialising….!
One of the most impressive libraries to have be sold at auction was that of
Munzen und Medaillen AG, Basle, Kunker, Osnabruck, in 2005. I think John
viewed the sales catalogues in that library for more than a week prior to the sale
- the library stayed in Basle, whilst the auction was held in Osnabruck.
Perhaps the most memorable of such sales was the auction of the remaining
part, but still huge - nearly 3000 lots sold over 3 very long days - of the Adolph
Hess library sold by Peus in Frankfurt/Main in 1991. In his inimitable way, after
the sale, John listed ALL the attendees at the auction. In room 1 he named the
30 or so “German speakers” – in room 2, there were 25 or so “English
speakers”, and in room 3, there were 4 or 5 “others”….. Peus conducted the
whole sale simultaneously in German and English, and in French and Italian
when required.
A few months ago, John presented me with his own annotated sale room copy
of the catalogue of the Hess library sale - falling to pieces – and said: “… you
had better have this, since you're the only person who will understand what it is
all about!”.
Wayne Homren, Editor
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