Vermeule III, Cornelius Clarkson (1925-2008)
by Hadrien Rambach
Cornelius Vermeule was the curator of classical antiquities at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA from 1957 until 1996, to which he donated numerous antiquities. Born in Orange, NJ, he had started collecting coins aged 9, and collected actively while in London for his studies (he received his Ph.D. in 1953).
His collection of Roman bronze coins was sold by Classical Numismatic Group in 1999 (auction Triton III and mail-bid sale 50).
Vermeule also had an interest in modern coinage, publishing the books Japanese Coinage in 1953, A Bibliography of Applied Numismatics in 1956, and Numismatic Art in America, Aesthetics of the United States Coinage in 1971. Anecdotally, his wife had a numismatic connection – she was the great-niece of Archer Huntington.
Bibliography:
Pete Smith, “American Numismatic Biographies”, Jan-2017 online document, p. 305.
- Hadrien Rambach, “Provenance glossary”, in Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 91: the George W. La Borde collection of Roman aurei – part I, Zurich, 23 May 2016, pp. [67]-[79].
- Hadrien Rambach, “Provenance glossary”, in Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 99: the George W. La Borde collection of Roman aurei – part II, Zurich, 29 May 2017, pp. 47-63.
- Hadrien Rambach, “Provenance glossary”, in Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 105: the George W. La Borde collection of Roman aurei – part III, Zurich, 9 May 2018, pp. 82-105.
This article was first published in a catalogue of auction house Numismatica Ars Classica.
