Heir to a 100-Year Coin Collection Strikes Gold: $22.1 Billion Windfall After Honoring Late Relative’s Wish
Oldest Scandinavian Gold Piece Sold for 1.2 Million Euros
The first set of the 20,000 coin collections of Lars Emil Brun, a great Danish collector who died in 1923, was sold at an auction in Copenhagen for a total of 14.82 million euros.
The winning coins included gold and silver coins from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from the late 15th century. The oldest gold piece from the Scandinavian Peninsula was sold for 1.2 million euros.
Brun was born into a poor family in 1852 and became interested in collecting coins at the age of seven. He amassed a huge fortune through the butter business and became passionate about collecting coins.
Brun was concerned that the Royal Danish Museum’s collection might be reduced to ashes after the First World War. He thought his collection could be something in place if something like this happened.
The descendants kept the coins for 100 years according to the will. It is said to have been kept so precious that the storage location was not revealed to the outside world.
Michael Fornitz, a professional numismatist overseeing the sale at the auction at Stack’s Bowers, said: “The Brun coin collection was stored as ‘Sleeping Beauty’ for 100 years, untouched.”
It will take several more auctions to sell all of Brun’s collection. The auctioneer said, “If the entire Brun collection is sold, it will be the most expensive international coin collection of all time.”
The collection is insured for $72.5 million.
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