Historical Testimonies of the International Coin Trade at Künker

From 7 to 9 December 2021, part 3 of the Alain Poinsignon Library will be on offer. Itcontains almost 2,000 lots with historical auction catalogs. You will find all the big names ofthe numismatic world: from Adolph E. Cahn to L. & L. Hamburger and Felix Schlessinger,from Henri Rolland in Paris and Jacques Schulman in Amsterdam to Sotheby, Wilkinson andHodge in London.

From 7 to 9 December 2021, the Osnabrück auction house Künker offers in its eLivePremium Auction 357 almost 2,000 lots with historical fixed-price lists and auction catalogsfrom the Alain Poinsignon Library. Many collectors around the world are familiar with theStrasbourg coin dealer. He opened his first coin shop in 1974 in Mulhouse. In 1984 he movedto Strasbourg, where he ran the shop for many decades. AlainPoinsignon took pride in the excellent quality of his coin identifications, for which hecompiled an extensive library. With about 8,000 books, magazines and 3,000 auctioncatalogs, his numismatic library is probably one of the most important specialist libraries ofEurope in private hands.

With meticulousness, knowledge and passion, Alain Poinsignon collected the historicalauction catalogs of the 19th and early 20th century that are of essential importance to any coindealer who cares about the provenance of special items. A bibliophile delight awaits thebidder. Alain Poinsignon himself was a bibliophile in the best sense and attached particularimportance to neat bindings.

JOSEPH HAMBURGER, Auction [1] of 16 October 1905, Frankfurt am Main.Max Ritter von Wilmerdörffer'sche Münzen und Medaillen-Sammlung. Erste Serie:Kunstmedaillen der Renaissance, Münzen und Medaillen der Schweiz, Frankreich, Elsass undLothringne, Baden, Württemberg, Hohenzollern. Poinsignon half leather binding. Dedicationcopy printed on extra fine paper.

A Glance at the History of the International Coin Trade
Auction catalogs and fixed-price lists are the best source for reconstructing the history of thecoin trade. Therefore, it is absolutely justified that these works became collectibles over thepast two decades. They tell us about the men and women who supplied collectors all over theworld with coins for many centuries.

At this point we would like to present just one example. It represents numerous coin dealersand collectors whose past is documented by the works that are part of the Poinsignon Library.Lot No. 3566 takes us to Frankfurt, where Leo Hamburger, founder of the then mostimportant coin dealership in Germany, had died on 12 February 1902. The Name L. & L.Hamburger stood for him and his cousin of the same name, who had helped him build up thebusiness as his partner for almost 30 years. But Leo Hamburger had a son. Although Josephhad learned the trade in his father's coin shop for a few, short years, he had preferred to goabroad to make his fortune. He did not succeeded in doing so. Therefore, he travelled backhome to claim his share of the inheritance as soon as he heard of his father's death. Naturally,a dispute arose between him and Leo Hamburger the younger. The dispute was only settledmore than a year later. Joseph Hamburger got his father's house, which had housed the L. &L. Hamburger coin shop until then. Leo Hamburger the younger took over the companyincluding all assets and liabilities. However, he had to move and establish his company at a new address. At that time, both - Leo Hamburger and Joseph Hamburger - competed for theold customers of the late company founder.

Joseph Hamburger achieved a coup in this process, as is evidenced by his first auctioncatalog: he succeeded in convincing friends of his family to auction off their extensivecollection with him immediately after founding the new company. Max Ritter vonWilmersdörffer, who died in 1903, had been apprenticed to Josef Nathan Oberndörffer inMunich together with Joseph's father Leo Hamburger. In addition to his bank, Oberndörfferoperated an international coin dealership in Ansbach, Munich, Vienna and Paris. Thus,Wilmersdörffer trained as both banker and numismatist, and when he married Oberndörffer'sonly daughter, he became his heir. After Oberndörffer's death, Wilmersdörffer became headof the bank while the coin trade was still operated by Abraham Merzbacher, who had marrieda niece of Oberndörffer. In 1873, the bank cut ties with its numismatic department, whichdeveloped into the Munich coin shop Merzbacher. But Wilmersdörffer had obviously caughtthe numismatic virus. He became one of the most important coin collectors in Bavaria and afounding member of the Bavarian Numismatic Society.

Collectors, Collectors, Collectors
That is a lot of history for little money, isn't it? If you cannot afford medallions from theGnecchi Collection, aurei from the Montagu Collection, Greek coins from the CarusoCollection or unique rarities from the collection of the Egyptian King Farouk, the auctioncatalogs that offered these collections are a true alternative. You can find the catalogs of allyour favorite provenances in the Poinsignon Library at Künker.

All lots have a starting price of 10 euros, which is why every bibliophile has a chance to gettheir hands on one of the almost 2,000 lots.

You can find the eLive Premium Auction online at www.eLive-Auction.de. To order acatalog contact Künker, Nobbenburger Straße 4a, 49076 Osnabrück; phone: +49 541 962020,fax: +49 541 9620222; or via e-mail: service@kuenker.de. Please remember to register for theonline auction in good time if you don't have your myKuenker account yet.