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SIMPSON ROSTRON & THE RILEY CONNECTION

Occasionally one sees in numismatic auctioneers' catalogues the provenance of a coin given as 'ex Simpson Rostron collection'. Rostron was a barrister from Beddington in Surrey (originally from Coleshill, Warwickshire) and clearly a man of considerable private means (see below). In 1892 he sold his collection through Sotheby - it took an entire week to sell just 654 lots (imagine that snail's pace today!). There is an article about Rostron in the (now defunct) monthly magazine Seaby’s Coin & Medal Bulletin for January 1978 (p.6), which quotes a rival collector of Simpson’s thus: "Mr Rostron was a barrister of the Middle Temple, with Chambers at 1 Hare Court; but, being possessed of a large fortune, never troubled to attain to any great legal eminence, and his own name, consequently, seldom came before the public. Mr Rostron gave as his reason for parting with his beautiful collection the fact that he had lost money by American speculation; but the more probable reason was his knowledge of the great profits obtainable by the sale of his coins at a time when such collectors as Montagu, Murdoch and Richardson were all living, and in keen rivalry for the possession of any specially choice specimens – and willing to pay the most extravagant prices for them." Rostron died in 1907 leaving a gross estate of £159,000 – a truly vast sum. I attach an image of the frontispiece of the auction catalogue, and a photograph of Rostron and his wife Christina Jane Riley - and yes, she was a relation of mine, being a cousin of my great grandfather. It's great when two obsessions come together, in my case numismatics and family history.

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