THE INFAMOUS GROUX 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.

Awarding-winning author and researcher Joel Orosz graciously supplied page scans from his Associations column, Charles Ira Bushnell’s Flandin’s Catalogue of Coins and Medals: Part III, The Daniel E. Groux Broadside Sale, February 15, 1856. Orosz’s column, a thorough recounting of Groux’s grandiose and mostly ill-fated schemes, appeared in the Autumn 2022 issue of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society’s The Asylum...

Orosz wrote that in 1852 Groux convinced congressman John L. Conger of Michigan to petition Congress to purchase the collection. The petition, according to the March 30, 1852, issue of The Republic, Washington, D.C., was presented in the House of Representatives on March 27 and offered 6,537 coins and medals to be purchased for the Library of Congress. Orosz notes the petition was referred to the Joint Committee on the Library, which was then bombarded by Groux with additional brochures and numismatic articles in his attempt to sell his collection.

This effort having failed, in 1855 Groux turned to a rather unique lottery scheme, which he laid out in a Nov. 17, 1855, pamphlet boldly titled a Catalogue of Medals and Coins for the Disposal of the Best Collection of Medals, Coins, and Numismatic Works in the United States.

Despite Gould’s enthusiasm, it’s believed the lottery never took place.

Writing in the September 1915 issue of The Numismatist, R. W. McLachlan noted we have no record of the complete disposal of the collection in the manner stated. McLachlan also observed that Groux overvalued his collection, observing with obvious sarcasm, In comparing the values at which the coins are estimated with prices realized at sales today, we can only conclude that foreign coins were much more valuable sixty years ago, than at present.

To read the complete article, see:
The ‘Best Collection’ That Was Never Sold (https://www.numismaticnews.net/collecting-101/the-best-collection-that-was-never-sold)

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