Archer M. Huntington (1870-1955)
Archer Huntington, stepson of railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, was known for his many intellectual pursuits, including the study of Hispanic and Ancient History, and related publications and archaeological activities.
In addition to his academic pursuits, Hunting was an avid collector, collecting art, coinage, pottery and other artifcats from the ancient era, and perhaps more notably, from every territory that had to that time fallen under the dominion of the Spanish Empire.
The aim of this huge undertaking was to create a visual, encyclopedic and exciting testament to every period and aspect of Hispanic culture. This led him to establish New York’s Hispanic Society of America, a free museum and research library for the study of the arts and cultures of Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
The numismatic component of his collections contained a staggering number of coins, spanning two and a half millennia from the pre-Roman Spanish indigenous period, the Roman imperial era, the Visigothic takeover, Umayyad Islamic Spain (for which he learned Arabic), the medieval ages, up to the empire of Ferdinand and Isabella and their royal successors. As a collector, he adhered strictly to the guidelines for purchasing coins outside Spain, having no interest in removing treasures from the country.
Huntington donated land and subsidies for the construction of The American Numismatic Society’s first building, completed in 1908 on Audubon Terrace (off Broadway between 155th and 156th Streets), and financed the publication of its Numismatic Notes. In the process of assembling his collection, Huntington made many new acquaintances and crossed paths with many distinguished dealers and collectors: some invaluable documents on his purchase habits have been published by Sabine Bourgey, whose grandfather had been a major supplier of coins to Huntington. Though Huntington died in late 1955, he had already written in April 1907 that he was going to stop buying – a decision which he reaffirmed in November 1908 though his last purchase from Bourgey was in January 1913.
From 1910 until his death, Huntington was Honorary President of The American Numismatic Society, and in 1946 he loaned the collection to the ANS. He then transferred its ownership to The Hispanic Society of America in 1949, but the coins remained stored at the ANS. After Huntington’s death, some 6,390 additional coins were discovered in his vault, which were added to the rest of the collection.
Despite having been preserved in a museum for over fifty years, because of restrictions imposed by The Hispanic Society of America, the Huntington collection has been little studied (and especially not its formation), with very few scholars being allowed to work on the coins. And despite Huntington’s wish that the coins remain together at the museum, the HSA decided to deaccession these 37,895 coins on 23 January 2008, and the group was sold en-bloc in a single-lot sealed-bid auction by Sotheby’s in March 2012, to a group of investors. The Roman gold coins were then re-offered at auction by Numismatica Ars Classica in their auctions 67 (October 2012) and 71 (May 2013).
The majority of the collection of Roman gold coins was offered at auction, in two sales by Numismatica Ars Classica (Zurich): their auction 67 (on 17 October 2012) and their auction 71 (on 16 May 2013).
In addition to his academic pursuits, Hunting was an avid collector, collecting art, coinage, pottery and other artifcats from the ancient era, and perhaps more notably, from every territory that had to that time fallen under the dominion of the Spanish Empire.
The aim of this huge undertaking was to create a visual, encyclopedic and exciting testament to every period and aspect of Hispanic culture. This led him to establish New York’s Hispanic Society of America, a free museum and research library for the study of the arts and cultures of Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
The numismatic component of his collections contained a staggering number of coins, spanning two and a half millennia from the pre-Roman Spanish indigenous period, the Roman imperial era, the Visigothic takeover, Umayyad Islamic Spain (for which he learned Arabic), the medieval ages, up to the empire of Ferdinand and Isabella and their royal successors. As a collector, he adhered strictly to the guidelines for purchasing coins outside Spain, having no interest in removing treasures from the country.
Huntington donated land and subsidies for the construction of The American Numismatic Society’s first building, completed in 1908 on Audubon Terrace (off Broadway between 155th and 156th Streets), and financed the publication of its Numismatic Notes. In the process of assembling his collection, Huntington made many new acquaintances and crossed paths with many distinguished dealers and collectors: some invaluable documents on his purchase habits have been published by Sabine Bourgey, whose grandfather had been a major supplier of coins to Huntington. Though Huntington died in late 1955, he had already written in April 1907 that he was going to stop buying – a decision which he reaffirmed in November 1908 though his last purchase from Bourgey was in January 1913.
From 1910 until his death, Huntington was Honorary President of The American Numismatic Society, and in 1946 he loaned the collection to the ANS. He then transferred its ownership to The Hispanic Society of America in 1949, but the coins remained stored at the ANS. After Huntington’s death, some 6,390 additional coins were discovered in his vault, which were added to the rest of the collection.
Despite having been preserved in a museum for over fifty years, because of restrictions imposed by The Hispanic Society of America, the Huntington collection has been little studied (and especially not its formation), with very few scholars being allowed to work on the coins. And despite Huntington’s wish that the coins remain together at the museum, the HSA decided to deaccession these 37,895 coins on 23 January 2008, and the group was sold en-bloc in a single-lot sealed-bid auction by Sotheby’s in March 2012, to a group of investors. The Roman gold coins were then re-offered at auction by Numismatica Ars Classica in their auctions 67 (October 2012) and 71 (May 2013).
The majority of the collection of Roman gold coins was offered at auction, in two sales by Numismatica Ars Classica (Zurich): their auction 67 (on 17 October 2012) and their auction 71 (on 16 May 2013).
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