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Dan Tel Aviv Hotel, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 at 7:00pm
Items available for review at the Dan Tel Aviv Archaeological Center shop (99 Hayarkon St) on:
Items released on:
Exhibition hall: +972 (3) 524-7960
Fax to send bids: +972 (3) 529-1272
Phone the evening of sale: +972 (3) 520-2924
Archaeological Center Ltd.
Acct#: 566666
Bank Hapoalim, Jaffa, Israel
Jerusalem Blvd., Branch #611
Swift Code: POALILIT
My collection of Jewish coins has been formed over a period of about 65 years. I have been a collector all my life, for which I cannot offer a logical explanation. Indeed, my first coin came from a hoard of Constantinian folles which I bought when I was about 8 years old and still lived in what was then the Free State of Danzig and which apparently had been found there.
In spite of constant advice by eminent friends like the late George Zacos in Istanbul and Dr. Leo Mildenberg in Zurich, I never learned to insist on a coin being in perfect condition before buying it. I was much more interested in rarity and historical association.
My first Seleucid coin I bought and indexed in Jerusalem, then British-mandated Palestine, in the spring of 1940 on the assumption that it was a tetradrachm of Alexander the Great.
At that time I was an articled clerk in a law office. To get to work I had to pass by a book shop in downtown Jerusalem four times a day. Outside this shop sat an elderly bearded gentlernan on a wooden orange crate. His official occupation was the sale of small Hebrew pocket diaries for about one penny each. He used to wear two waistcoats beneath a black frock-coat, as was the custom of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem. In each of the eight pockets of the waistcoats he kept ancient coins of all types and the implements to clean them (a screw and some sand). During each of my first three daily passings, we negotiated about the possible acquisition of coins. At the time it was quite customary to bargain for a fortnight about whether a Roman denarius should cost an English shilling, or perhaps 13 pence. His coins came mainly from Arab peasants living around Jerusalem, and quite frequently he would buy hoards of coins of all periods.
Originally, I collected coins up to a cut-off date of AD 1492, the end of the Middle Ages. In the course of the years, I began to prefer three series: Seleucid, Phoenician and Crusader. However, I still cannot resist the temptation to buy coins when they appear on the market and look interesting. This way my Jewish coins, here catalogued, were acquired, though I never concentrated on them, as there seemed too much competition.
Perhaps at least some part of my other 6500 coins will be found deserving of publication (2919 Seleucid coins were already published in Sylloge Numinorum Graecorum; Israel I: Arthur Houghton and Arnold Spaer, 1998. The Arnold Spaer Collection of Seleucid Coins. Jerusalem).
Coin buying then had a strong social flavor, because one used to spend several hours in a shop having coffee, discussing politics and life in general, the business part being only incidental to the conversation.
Many of my suppliers of that period have unfortunately passed on, but many others have remained good friends, notwithstanding periods of political tension. I used to go through these shops at least once a week, and quite often, if something important came onto the market, the dealers involved would telephone me or come to my office. In this respect my profession as a lawyer gave me definite advantages because in our troubled period antiquity dealers, though licensed, very often required professional assistance.
There are some good pieces in the collection which were offered and bought through personal connections. Of course I also remember other coins that I did not buy because no agreement was reached on the price, or because I was too slow. Sometimes I feel that the collection I missed might have been better than the one I have collected.
Fortunately, with acquisitions came a more profound interest in the historical angle, the attribution and identification of coins and the study of coinage in general. Being a pedant, I used to write up an index card for each coin acquired, however unimportant, giving n full description and details of acquJBition and, insofar as known, provenance.
Collecting involves a certain element of treasure-hunting and treasure-hunting in turn involves memories of funny incidents, successes and disappointments. I could continue to tell these for many pages but I think I have done enough to try to mellow the dryness of the catalogue to follow.
Arnold Spaer
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