有史以來最有價值的硬幣收藏之一正在銷售

有史以來最有價值的硬幣收藏之一正在上市 - 它有一個故事可以符合其高價標籤。

One of the most valuable coin collections ever assembled is coming to market—and it has a story to match its lofty price tag.

有史以來最有價值的硬幣收藏之一正在上市，並且有一個故事可以符合其高價標籤。

For starters, there’s the element of mystery: the inheritor of this 15,000-strong collection that has been insured at more than $100 million has chosen to remain anonymous. What is clear, as offered by the consignee Numismatica Ars Classica, is that in the 1930s, the heir to a European family business became very obsessed with coins.

對於初學者來說，這是一個神秘的要素：這個15,000人收藏的繼承者已被保險超過1億美元，以保持匿名。明顯的是，收貨人Numismatica Ars Classica提供的是，在1930年代，歐洲家族企業的繼承人非常痴迷於硬幣。

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The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was the trigger, pushing the young man to seek out alternate avenues for storing wealth. First came gold bullion, then coins. Freed from the day-to-day operations of the family business, the collector spent the 1930s hopscotching across Europe and the Americas with his new wife acquiring coins. The coin firm calls the period “an extended honeymoon” and has labelled the assembly the Traveller Collection.

1929年的華爾街撞車事故是觸發因素，促使年輕人尋求儲存財富的替代途徑。首先是金條，然後是硬幣。收藏家從家族企業的日常運營中解脫出來，在1930年代在歐洲和美洲度過了啤酒花，他的新妻子收購硬幣。硬幣公司稱這一時期為“延長的蜜月”，並將大會標記為Traveler Collection。

But for more than half a century, the Traveller Collection went nowhere at all. During World War II, the collector became fearful and decided to enclose his gold and silver coins in cigar boxes and bury them in his garden. When the German forces indeed invade, he died shortly thereafter. Only his wife knew the collection’s location and she chose to keep it a secret until the mid-1990s.

但是半個多世紀以來，旅行者的收藏根本無處可去。在第二次世界大戰期間，收藏家變得恐懼，並決定將他的黃金和銀幣包裹在雪茄盒中，然後將它們埋在他的花園裡。當德國軍隊確實入侵時，他不久就去世了。只有他的妻子才知道收藏品的位置，她才選擇將其保密，直到1990年代中期。

A 70 ducat coin of the Polish king Sigismund III. Photo: courtesy Numismatica Ars Classica.

波蘭國王西吉斯蒙德三世的70 ducat硬幣。照片：支出的錢幣Ars Classica。

Now, nearly a century on from the Traveller Collection’s beginning, Numismatica Ars Classica is set to sell off the coins in a series of 15 auctions spanning three years. “[It’s] a landmark in the history of numismatics,” said Arturo Russo, the coin firm’s director. “The catalogues of the Traveller Collection will serve as an important reference for the future collectors and scholars.”

現在，從Traveler Collection開始將近一個世紀的時間，Numismatica Ars Classica將在一系列三年的15次拍賣中出售硬幣。硬幣公司總監Arturo Russo說：“這是數值歷史上的地標。” “旅行者收藏的目錄將成為未來收藏家和學者的重要參考。”

The first sale, on May 20, will focus on 200 of the collection’s British coins and medallions. This spans the first machine-struck coins of Charles II’s reign in the 17th-century through to a set created for the coronation of George VI in 1937. One highlight is the Una and the Lion, a £5 gold coin that was designed by the master coin-maker William Wyon in 1839. Drawing from The Faerie Queene (1590) an epic poem by Edmund Spenser, the reverse depicts a young and fair Queen Victoria walking alongside a lion. It’s estimated to sell for 250,000 CHF ($284,000).

5月20日的首次交易將重點關注該系列的200枚英國硬幣和獎章。這跨越了查爾斯二世（Charles II）在17世紀統治到1937年為喬治六世（George VI）加冕而創建的一套統治。一個亮點是Una and Lion，這是一枚5英鎊的金幣，這是由Coin-Coin-Maker Maker-Maker Minker William Wyon設計的5英鎊的金幣。公平的維多利亞女王在獅子旁邊行走。估計出售25萬瑞士法郎（284,000美元）。

An Athens gold stater, struck in 296 BC by the tyrant Lachares. Photo: courtesy Numismatica Ars Classica.

雅典的金船主在公元前296年被暴君拉查勒斯（Lachares）擊中。照片：支出的錢幣Ars Classica。

As the initial listings show, the collector boasted an omnivorous appetite. There’s an Athens gold stater struck in 296 B.C.E by Lachares to pay his troops as the city was being besieged by Demetrius, the king of Macedonia. Greek city states typically used silver for coins and the story goes that Lachares stripped the statue of the goddess Athena to strike the coins—it was in vain: Demetrius took Athens in 294 B.C.E. It’s estimated at 125,000 CHF ($142,000).

正如最初的列表所示，收藏家擁有雜食性的食慾。拉卡雷斯（Lachares）於公元前296年襲擊了雅典金船主，因為馬其頓國王德米特里烏里烏斯（Demetrius）圍困了這座城市。希臘城市通常將銀製成硬幣，故事說拉查勒斯（Lachares）剝奪了雅典娜女神的雕像來擊中硬幣 - 這是徒勞的：德米特里（Demetrius）於公元前294年佔領了雅典，估計為125,000 CHF（142,000美元）。

The one Ounce Port Phillip Coin from the Traveller Collection. Photo: courtesy Numismatica Ars Classica.

Traveler Collection的一盎司菲利普港硬幣。照片：支出的錢幣Ars Classica。

Elsewhere there’s a 70 ducat coin from 1621 of the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa, who imposed Catholicism across his territory and transferred the capital from Kraków to Warsaw. A 100-ducat coin of the king, also minted in 1621, sold for $2.2 million in 2018, a record for a Polish coin. Numismatica Ars Classica is offering an estimate of CHF 450,000 ($511,000). The Australian Port Philip coin, which features a kangaroo and stems from one of the country’s earliest mints, is estimated at 250,000 CHF ($284,000)

在1621年波蘭國王西吉斯蒙德三世瓦薩（Sigismund III Vasa）的1621年，他在他的領土上強加了天主教，並將首都從克拉科夫轉移到華沙。國王的100多加款硬幣，也於1621年鑄造，在2018年以220萬美元的價格售出，這是波蘭硬幣的記錄。 Numismatica Ars Classica提供的估計值為450,000（$ 511,000）。澳大利亞菲利普港（Port Philip Coin

One of the rarest offerings is a set of five tomans, an old Persian monetary unit. It was minted at the turn of the 19th-century and only five complete sets are known to exist. It has been estimated at 2 million CHF ($2.3 million).

最稀有的產品之一是五個托馬斯（Tomans），一個老波斯貨幣單位。它是在19世紀之交的鑄造中，只有五個完整的組合存在。估計為200萬瑞士法郎（230萬美元）。

Ahead of the sale of British coins, David Guest, an expert brought in to consult on the sale, said the Traveller Collection was unrivalled.

在出售英國硬幣之前，戴維·格林（David Guest）是一位專家諮詢出售的專家，他說旅行者收藏無與倫比。