74.1-Ob 3 / 74.1-Re 3.20a

153

Tigranes II, Period II

74.1-Ob 3

74.1-Re 3.20

Group 1, A2-P51 & A9-P93a

27mm, 15.87g, 12h

Berlin State Museum, Object number 18308990
C. R. Fox (1873)

Kovacs-74.1

Charles Richard Fox (1796–1873) was one of the most important and prominent collectors of ancient coins of his time. His private collection, built over the course of his life beginning in his early 20s when he travelled in Asia Minor during 1820–1821, grew extensively in both quantity and quality due to his purchases from the London and Paris coin markets, especially from the 1840s onwards. Fox’s habit of adding individual purchase notes to his coin tickets represents a key source of information for provenance research and the identification of his personal network of friends and agents. The history of the purchase of General Fox’s 11,000 coin-strong collection by the Royal Museums in Berlin in 1873 is described here for the first time using archive material and correspondence, and provides an insight into the perspectives and motives of the parties involved.