RICHARD MARGOLIS AND FRENCH COINAGE

 

Richard Margolis (1931-2018), the eminent American professional numismatist, passed away on November 24, 2018. During his lifetime, he developed a real passion for French coinage dating from the French Revolution to Louis XVIII and possessed an incomparable library and collection of nearly 3,000 coins for this period. Behind a great man there is often a remarkable woman. Sara his wife, had always encouraged him in his passion and she was, with her husband, among of the founders of the famous New York International Numismatic Convention. For all French collectors, Richard Margolis will remain a model for his research and publications on our coinage!

The Association of Friends of the Franc (ADF) carried out the archival research on the period of the French Franc. We also photographed the major public numismatic collections (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Monnaie de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, etc…). Including, the minting tools located in the reserves of the Monnaie de Paris monetary museum. The Association of Friends of Numismatic Authors (ADAN) as well as French and international sponsors and subscribers have cofinanced the publication of this research work. 5 books have already been published (2019-2024) and 3 others are in preparation (2025-2027).

 

The dispersal of the Richard Margolis library by Kolbe & Fanning in 2021, and his coin collection by Stack's Bowers (2024-2025) gives us the opportunity to appreciate their importance.

In this conference, we will use the Richard Margolis collection to show the diversity of French monetary essays.

And, you will discover the significance of his collection as it includes many unpublished essays that are missing from the national collections.

 

We will summarize the great lessons learnt from Richard Margolis and which makes him a model for all collectors.

This collection also shows us the strong ties between the United States and France. With nostalgia, and in memory of Richard Margolis, it might be time to reactivate the SAENF (Société Américaine pour l'Etude de la Numismatique Française)…!

Laurent Schmitt is the Honorary President of the Association of Friends of the Franc (ADF) and the President of the Association of Friends of Numismatic Authors (ADAN).

Philippe Théret is the main author of the following numismatic books: Le Franc, les Monnaies, les Archives (2019), Le Franc d'Augustin Dupré (2021), Le Franc, les Essais, les Archives, Napoléon 1er (1803-1815) (2023), Le Franc, les Essais, les Archives, Louis XVIII (1814-1824) (2024) and Le Franc, les Essais, les Archives, Charles X (1824-1830) (2024).

PS : As Laurent Schmitt (President of ADAN) will be present at NYINC, he can bring copies of deluxe versions of the books of the series "Le Franc, les Essais, les Archives" (see E-Sylum Volume 27, Number 50, December 15, 2024) ordered in advance (before January 10th) thereby avoiding shipping costs for buyers who will collect the books at the convention. For more information about the content of the books or to order the deluxe versions, contact : essais@amisdufranc.org.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: LE FRANC - CHARLES X (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n50a04.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web