The Story Behind the Hoard
The “Traveller Collection” was compiled by an unnamed scion of a European family business who began purchasing gold coins after the Wall Street crash of 1929. In the 1930s, he made trips throughout Europe and the Americas with his wife, purchasing rare coins as a hedge against future economic problems. As World War II loomed, the collector buried as many as 100,000 coins on his property where he tried to shield them from the German occupation that was imminent.

The collector died under mysterious circumstances shortly after the invasion, and for years only his much younger wife knew where it was hidden. She disclosed the treasure’s location in the 1990s, because she was afraid the treasure would never be found. The collector’s immediate descendants, who have remained anonymous, retrieved the treasure and kept it in a bank vault.

A Globally Important Set
A small team of experts at the Zurich-based antiquities auction house Numismatica Ars Classica have spent years cataloging collection, which includes more than 1,000 coins ranging across five centuries and as many continents. One of the most important items is the 70-ducat coin from 1621 featuring King Sigismund III Vasa of Poland. A comparable coin, the 100-ducats value of the same type from the same year, sold for $2.2 million in 2018, a record for the highest price ever paid for a Polish coin.

The inaugural auction in the series is scheduled for May 20 in Zurich and will include 200 British coins and medallions. The highlights include a rare five-guinea pattern from the reign of George III, dated 1777, and a stunning “Una and the Lion” five-pound piece from Queen Victoria’s early reign. It is not solely British coins, however. It also contains rarities from global locations as diverse as 17th-century Poland and a 100-ducat gold coin from 1629 struck for Ferdinand III of the Habsburg empire.

A NUMISMATIC HISTORY 29 A Milestone in the Annals of Numismatics
The hoard was described by the director of Numismatica Ars Classica Arturo Russo as "a cornerstone in the annals of numismatics". The auction catalogues, he hopes, will be invaluable reference material for future scholars and collectors, reinforcing the historical influence of the collection.

While the auction opens this month, the last of the lots won’t be sold until 2027, meaning collectors and enthusiasts have several years to participate in what will undoubtedly be an historic sale.

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