FRANCIS WAYNE GROVE (1909-1993)

Frank Grove was born on April 8, 1909 in Carthage, Missouri. The family moved to California in 1920 where he attended school in the town of Ontario. In 1926 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving for 30 years, including in the Korean War. Although the Navy based him in San Diego, he retired in 1957 to spend most of his time in Guadalajara, Mexico with his wife Josephine.

Their teenage step-children were given his Navy pension cheques and finished their schooling near their aunt and uncle, who ran an idyllic farm in the Californian countryside, filled with fragrant orange groves and walnut trees. I was proud to call him dad says his surviving stepson, Ron Weaver. Reminiscing about Frank, he recalls a fiercely intelligent and meticulous man, with a truly scientific mind. Everything numismatic was photographed, sketched and precisely measured. He also spoke fluent Japanese and studied stamps with as much rigor.

Grove spent nearly 30 years accumulating his collection, aided by many founding fathers of the field including Clyde Hubbard and Miguel Muñoz. Truly avid, he would travel far and wide in pursuit of a photo, from tiny rural villages in Mexico to museums in Spain. No journey or eventuality was too much - a volcanic eruption in Costa Rica, an uprising in Panama were nothing - he simply hopped in the car. After 10 years in Mexico, he published his first book Medals of the Spanish Kings, followed by two more about medals, one about Mexican Coins and finally Tokens.

The majority of Frank Grove's collection was sold in 1986 by Superior Galleries in Beverly Hills, CA.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: GROVE'S MEDALS OF MEXICO, 3RD ED. (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n05a05.html)

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