Sir Hermann Weber, 1823-1918

He was born in Bavaria in 1823. He was educated in Germany as a physician, but his love of English culture lead him to take a position at the German Hospital in London in 1851 and to permanently reside in London. He did some pioneering work on tuberculosis and was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1899. He began avidly collecting coins only in the late 1870’s and was in close contact with the leading collectors and dealers of his day. He was an officer and board member of the Royal Numismatic Society and published numismatic articles in the Numismatic Chronicle. His early collecting interests were English and Roman coins, but these were sold in auctions in 1885 and 1893. He then focused on Greek coins until his death in 1918. Shortly after his death Spink purchased the entire collection of almost 8,600 Greek coins representing one of the most important Greek collections ever assembled and mostly of the highest quality. Although the British museum acquired some of the most important coins on favorable terms from Spink, most of the coins were sold to collectors and continue to circulate in the marketplace today although in great demand and difficult to find. Since the coins are mostly illustrated in the published volumes of the collection, it is easy to verify the pedigree. See: Forrer, L. The Weber Collection, London, 1922-1929.