Voirol, August (1884-1967)
By Hadrien Rambach
Dr. Voirol had discovered numismatics by chance during the summer of 1933, when he noticed some coins in the front window of the Adlerbank in Basel, and acquired a stater of Alexander the Great and a solidus of Valens. He then met the dealers Hans Nussbaum (Zurich) and Herbert Cahn (Basel), and became passionate about coins: he was naturally and immediately elected President of the Circulus Numismaticus Basiliensis when it was created in 1938, and acted 1942-1954 as vice-president of the Swiss Numismatic Society.
A successful career as gynecologist allowed him to build a beautiful house in 1935 with an original sestertius of Faustina Junior mounted on the front door, he nevertheless had limited means and had to carefully choose the coins which he purchased: this might explain why, when his collection was sold by Münzen und Medaillen (auction 38) in December 1968, it “only” contained 915 lots. He was also a shareholder of that firm, and a scholar who wrote lengthy commentaries on almost each of his coins, as well as some published notes.
Bibliography:
- Schweizer Münzblätter, vol. 18 (1968), p. 22; John Spring, Ancient Coins Auction Catalogues 1880-1980, London 2009, p. 170.
- 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.
