The composition of the notable coin collection put together by Charles Montagu Crompton-Roberts (1865-1931), heir to a partnership in an exceptionally profitable paints and varnishes business, has remained obscure because when the Spink firm purchased it in 1920 they initially offered it for sale in the Numismatic Circular without any mention of its past ownership by Crompton-Roberts. The collection was especially strong in the Anglo-Saxon series, and the present note explains that virtually all the Anglo-Saxon coins involved were acquired by Crompton-Roberts within the years 1893-6 through commissions for lots in Sotheby coin auction sales placed by him with the dealer Frederick William Lincoln. A list of the coins in question is attached : it may seem alarmingly lengthy, but it should be useful for future researchers.
Charles Montagu Crompton-Roberts, Coin Collector – Hugh Pagan
A formidable piece of work that I have enjoyed reading.
I read with interest (as always) your blog on Crompton-Roberts and his collection. You refer to subsequent sales by Spink in 1920 and 1921. My interest is in UK merchant countermarked silver coins. In the SNC for Sep/Oct 1920 page 434 are a number of these merchant countermarks with no attribution or photos. Have you any knowledge that these could have come from the Compton-Roberts collection?
I read with interest (as always) your blog on Crompton-Roberts and his collection. You refer to subsequent sales by Spink in 1920 and 1921. My interest is in UK merchant countermarked silver coins. In the SNC for Sep/Oct 1920 page 434 are a number of these merchant countermarks with no attribution or photos. Have you any knowledge that these could have come from the Crompton-Roberts collection?
Sorry not to have replied to your enquiry earlier, Eric, but I have only just caught up with it. I have had a look at this part of the September-October 1920 issue of the Numismatic Circular, and it is fairly clear to me that by this point in the issue what is being offered is a selection from the Spink firm’s general stock, rather than items that they had recently purchased from Crompton-Roberts. The great thing about the earlier listing of coins that had belonged to Crompton-Roberts is that although his name is not mentioned they do record the sources from which Crompton-Roberts had acquired them.