Armstrong, Martin Arthur (b. 1949)
by Hadrien Rambach
Martin Armstrong is the former chairman of Princeton Economics International Ltd. Only 13 years old when he began to work at a New Jersey coin-shop, he made a huge profit in 1965 with the purchase of rare Canadian pennies. At age 21, he opened his own store dealing in collectables, then moved from gold bullion coins to commodity trading, beginning to predict commodity prices in 1973, which devolved into his full time work. His great-grandfather had lost his wealth in 1929, and Armstrong came to develop his Economic Confidence Model based on cycles. His public fame came from predicting the exact day of the 1987 crash. A recent movie was inspired by Armstrong’s legal problems: The Forecaster (2014). He always retained a passion for coins, acquiring some very important pieces over the years, but part of his company’s coin collection was sold by Classical Numismatic Group, in several auctions and electronic-auctions.
Bibliography:
- 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.
