THE 1907 THOMAS VIRZI PROVENANCE OF OUR SICILIAN GREEK COINS

        During the late 19th century when he worked at Jacob Hirsch, the pre-eminent Munich coin dealer, Thomas Virzi put together perhaps the finest and most extensive collection of Greek bronze coins of Magna Graecia ever assembled. There is an extremely rare book from circa 1907 or before with photographs of 2238 coins which is the only record of the complete collection. Hirsch himself sold some coins from the collection in his sale XIX, 11 November 1907. Bank Leu sold 300 of the best coins in Zurich, Auction 6, 1973. I myself was fortunate to acquired nearly 500 of the best remaining and Alex Malloy dispersed the low end in 1980. The Thomas Virzi provenance of coins on this page is noted in the descriptions and dates back to the 19th century and is the finest possible. The provenance of all coins from the Virzi collection should be verifiable by reference to the original photographs.