Robbie’s interest in coins began in the early 1960s. In 1964 he bought 16 different date U.S. large
cents from a dealer in New Orleans, and that was the trigger to specialise in the series. Acquiring copies of Sheldon’s Penny Whimsy and Newcomb’s United States Copper Cents 1816-1857, and subsequently joining the fledgling Early American Coppers society, he set out to complete all the varieties and different die states of the entire span of years from 1793 to 1857. Only five others had previously managed it, including Sheldon himself, George Clapp, Ted Naftzger (whose collection was auctioned recently) and Denis Loring. But Robbie achieved the feat – twice! His first collection, catalogued into 1,456 lots by Jack Collins, with assistance from Del Bland, Walter Breen and others, was auctioned by Superior Galleries in West Hollywood on 30 September and 1 October 1986. Following that sale he immediately began assembling another collection using his duplicates which, minus the late dates, was completed in 1995; this went under the hammer in 683 lots with Superior in Beverly Hills on 27 January 1996. The later date business strikes, from 1840 to 1857, an extensive run, subsequently became the third Robinson S. Brown Jr collection to be auctioned by Superior on 2 June 2002, the 1,543-lot catalogue being the work of Bob Grellman and Stuart Rubenfeld.
Like some before him and many since, the basis for Robbie’s introduction to 18th century British
trade tokens as a collecting field lay with the contemporary American copper series. Fellow EAC member Myles Gerson (1925-86), of Flossmoor, Illinois, sold him a tranche of duplicates in April 1978 and now Robbie had two main spheres of interest. Gerson was a considerable source of supply in the early days as he upgraded his own collection, auctioned by Spink in 1986 and 1987 after Patrick Deane, Jim Noble and Jerry Bobbe had first pick in 1985. Jerry Bobbe, who purchased his first ‘Conder’ tokens in 1972 and was an early mentor of Gerson’s in the series, moved to Portland, Oregon in 1978 and by the early 1980s had started to sell tokens to Robbie. Perusing this catalogue it will be obvious that many of the best tokens in the collection have come through Jerry’s hands one way or another, because over nearly a quarter-century Jerry became Robbie’s ‘eyes and ears’ in the market, especially latterly as Robbie’s collection grew to a size on a par with that formed by Jim Noble. The Noble sale of 1998 provided many opportunities for Robbie, both at the auction and afterwards, with acqusitions from Jerry, from Allan Davisson and from Richard Gladdle. Apart from a few direct purchases at DNW auctions, Richard was Robbie’s only direct UK contact; Robbie enjoyed a plentiful supply via the domestic market, from people like Phil Flanagan, who traded as Gothic Coins out of Akron, Ohio, and after 1985 under his own name from Coupeville, Washington; from the Hawaiian-based dealer Simon Cordova; from Denis Loring when he was based in New York; from Joel Spingarn, the Georgetown, Connecticut-based collector and co-founder of the Conder Token Collectors Club, whom Robbie had met at an EAC convention and introduced to the series; from CTCC founder Wayne Anderson (1941-99) in Maple Grove, Minnesota, and many others.
Whether it was collecting U.S. large cents or 18th century tokens, Robbie was always meticulous to
note the provenance of every piece and his detailed records have been of immense help in compiling this catalogue. To my knowledge, he only wrote about his tokens on one occasion, as a contribution to the November 1996 edition of the Conder Token Collectors Journal (p.31). There he went on record as owning 3,120 pieces; that number was to rise to over 5,300 tokens, including several hundred duplicates, by the time of his death, at the age of 88, on 28 July 2005.
This auction, the fourth in a series of annual dispersals which began in 2009, features 476 different
Welsh tokens and 321 different from the Scottish series. There is much to commend to the specialist and general collector alike within the following 189 lots, including the best series of Anglesey tokens offered in the auction room for 27 years, along with many Scottish rarities, highlighted by a Dundee shilling in gold (Lot 1056). Part V, in October 2013, concludes with tokens of Ireland and several hundred duplicates. Robbie’s U.S.-related tokens were sold in DNW’s pre-Coinex auctions in 2009 and 2010.
Robbie was an inspiring role model, always demonstrating a tremendous commitment to honesty
and integrity. With his quiet, unassuming demeanour, he was known for a wonderful sense of humour and a twinkle in his eye. His wife, Jean McCauley Brown, whom he met during the War and married in 1942, died in 2004; they leave five children, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
P.J.P-M.
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