Famous numismatists?

[pendragon1998]

I was just wondering whether there were any famous numismatists (e.g. presidents, actors, etc) to speak of? I know about King Farouk, but wondered who else might be out there.

[MunkyMan95]

There's a list of them in the back of the RedBook... At least there is in the 2007 edition. Bunch of people, but I dunno about presidents or other kings. I think Roosevelt was a numismatist.

[pendragon1998]

I should clarify that I'm not necessarily interested in famous numismatists - people famous because of how they collect coins - but rather people famous for another reason who are also collectors.

[midwest]

Here's a website that looks like a good start.

[World Colonial]

King Farouk of Egypt was one. Sotheby's auctioned his collection off in 1954 which is where John Pittman obtained a good portion of his rare collection.

 

Two other famous but probably well known numismatics were JP Morgan and the first Rothschild, both of banking fame. Rothschild was actually a coin dealer and purportedly got his start in business providing items for the Elector of Hanover.

[Stanley]

Buddy Epson played as Jed Clampet was a collector.