Ryan, Valentine John Eustace (1882-1947)

by Hadrien Rambach

V.J.E. Ryan was a wealthy Irish landowner, who lived in Switzerland, the Channel Islands and London. He had joined the Royal Numismatic Society in 1919, and was an original member of the British Numismatic Society when it was created in 1921. He exhibited coins at the BNS, but never published on the subject. He financed Herbert Allen Seaby (1898-1979) in order to leave Spink and form his company in 1926, so many of his coins came from B. A. Seaby Ltd.

His coins were sold posthumously by Glendining’s in five auctions: June and November 1950, February 1951, January and April 1952. The fourth auction consisted exclusively of 284 lots of Roman gold coins, though his English and Scottish coins were probably even more important than his ancient ones.

Roman Empire. Augustus. Aureus, 17 BC. Ex Valentine John Eustace Ryan (1882-1947) Collection sold by Glendining’s, auction, London, 20 February 1951, lot 1567. From Numismatica Ars Classica Auction 91 (2016), 6.

Bibliography:

  • Harrington Manville, Biographical dictionary of British and Irish numismatics, London 2009, p. 247.
  • 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.