Künker will offer historic auction catalogs from the Alain Poinsignon Library

Historical evidence of the international coin trade in Künker from December 7 to 9, 2021, part 3 of the Alain Poinsignon Library will be offered. It contains nearly 2,000 lots with historical auction catalogs. You will find all the big names in the numismatic world: from Adolf E. Cahn at L. & L. Hamburger and Felix Schlessingerof Henry Rolland in Paris and Jacques Schulman in amsterdam at Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge in London.

From December 7 to 9, 2021, the Osnabruck the auction house Künker offers in its Premium eLive Auctions 357 nearly 2,000 lots with historical packages and sales catalogs from the Alain Poinsignon Library. Many collectors around the world are familiar with the Strasbourg coin dealer. He opened his first coin store in 1974 in Mulhouse. In 1984, he moved to Strasbourg, where he ran the “Poinsignon Numismatique” shop for many decades. Alain Poinsignon was proud of the excellent quality of his monetary identifications, for which he built up a vast library. With around 8,000 books, journals and 3,000 auction catalogues, its numismatic library is probably one of the most important specialized libraries in Europe in private hands.

With meticulousness, know-how and passion, Alain Poinsignon has collected historical catalogs of auctions from the 19th and early 20th centuries, essential for any dealer concerned with the provenance of exceptional pieces. A bibliophile delight awaits the bidder. Alain Poinsignon himself was a bibliophile in the noble sense of the term and attached particular importance to neat bindings.

A Look at the History of the International Coin Trade

Auction catalogs and fixed price lists are the best sources for piecing together the history of the coin trade. It is therefore entirely justified that these works have become collector’s items over the past two decades. They tell us about the men and women who have supplied coins to collectors around the world for many centuries.

At this point, we would like to present just one example. It represents many coin dealers and collectors whose past is documented by the books that are part of the Poinsignon Library.

Lot no. 3566 brings us to Frankfurtwhere Leo Burgerfounder of the largest coin dealer in Germany, had died on February 12, 1902. The name L. & L. Hamburger represented him and his cousin of the same name, who had helped him develop the business as a partner for almost 30 years. But Leo Hamburger had a son. Although joseph had learned the trade in his father’s coin shop for a few short years, he had preferred to go abroad to make his fortune. He did not succeed. Therefore, he returned home to claim his share of the inheritance as soon as he learned of his father’s death. Naturally, an argument broke out between him and Leo Hamburger the Younger. The dispute was not settled until more than a year later. Joseph Hamburger obtained his father’s house, which until then housed the L. & L. Hamburger coin shop. Leo Hamburger the younger took over the company, including all assets and liabilities. However, he had to move and establish his business at a new address. At that time, the two – Leo Hamburger and Joseph Hamburger – were fighting over the former customers of the late company founder.

Joseph Hamburger pulled off a bang in this process, as evidenced by his first auction catalog: he was able to convince family friends to auction their vast collection with him immediately after founding the new company. . Max Ritter by Wilmersdörfferdied in 1903, had been an apprentice at Josef Nathan Oberndorffer in Munich with Joseph’s father, Leo Hamburger. In addition to his bank, Oberndörffer operated an international coin trade in AnsbachMunich, Vienna, and Paris. Thus, Wilmersdörffer trained as a banker and numismatist, and when he married Oberndörffer’s only daughter, he became her heir. After Oberndörffer’s death, Wilmersdörffer became the head of the bank while the coin trade was still operated by Abraham Merzbacher, who had married a niece of Oberndörffer. In 1873, the bank severed ties with its numismatic department, which became the Munich coin store Merzbacher. But Wilmersdörffer had obviously caught the numismatic virus. He became one of the most important coin collectors in bavaria and founding member of the Bavarian Numismatic Society.

Collectors, collectors, collectors

That’s a lot of history for little money, isn’t it? If you cannot afford medallions from the Gnecchi collection, aurei from Montague-CollectionGreek coins of Caruso-Collectionor unique rarities from the collection of the Egyptian King Farouk, the auction catalogs that offered these collections are a real alternative. You can find catalogs of all your favorite provenances in Künker’s Poinsignon Library.

All lots have a starting price of 10 euros, which is why every bibliophile has the opportunity to get their hands on one of the nearly 2,000 lots.

You can find the eLive Premium auction online at www.eLive-Auction.de. To order a catalog, contact Künker, Nobbenburger Straße 4a, 49076 Osnabrück; call: +49 541 962020fax: +49 541 9620222; or by e-mail: [email protected]. Don’t forget to register for the online auction in time if you don’t have a myKuenker account yet.