The subhead of an article by Maurice Gould in the April 1965 issue of Coins magazine caught my attention. It reads, “It was a big day in Boston when they sold the famous Daniel Edward Groux collection, but today nobody knows who won.”
The story told by Gould dates to the early days of collecting in the United States. Namely it goes back to 1855 and a lottery planned by Prof. Daniel E. Groux, of Washington, D.C., to dispose of his numismatic collection.
Groux came to America in the 1840s and established himself as a self-proclaimed language teacher and a professor of numismatics. An advertisement that regularly appeared in the Washington (D.C.) Sentinel reads: “Modern Languages – D.E. Groux, a native of France, teacher of modern languages, especially French, Spanish, and German. Translations made with correctness and punctuality. Professor of Numesmatics [sic], for the classification and explanation of medals and coins.”
Groux’s personal collection of ancient through modern coins and medals was heralded as one of the finest, particularly by its owner, whose overly generous valuations thereof were readily accepted in the general press.
“It will be interesting to our antiquarian readers to learn that there has recently been brought to this city one of the most extensive and curious collections of medals and coins, both ancient and modern, to be found in the (Va.) boasted of Groux’s holdings in an article attributed to the Daily National Intelligencer. “They are the property of Prof. D.E[.] Groux, who has been engaged for many years, in various parts of the world, in making the collection. It comprises medals of the Greek Kings, beginning with that of Argos, some eight hundred years before Christ; Greek town moneys; medals of the Roman Empire, from the earliest times; coins, royal and republican, of all the nations of Europe, including the well-known gems in this line associated with Cromwell, John Huss, Wallenstein, the King of Bohemia, and other notable characters. The collection comprises, we are told, some eight to ten thousands specimens, many of them having cost the possessor, we are informed, as high as one hundred dollars each. They have been classified with great care, and are in a good state of preservation. The collection, including some three hundred volumes of choice illustrative books, is valued at $10,000, and we understand there is a prospect of its becoming the property of one of our District Institutions.”
