Ancient coins: the Charles Austin Hersh collection

Charles Austin Hersh was born in 1923, was a banker, and devoted his free time to his favorite hobby – numismatics. Already in the years of service in the army air corps during world war II, the collector collected a lot of coins, and also established contacts with other numismatists around the world. He received his degree in 1946, became a member of The American numismatic society in 1947, and received a master's degree in history from Harvard a year later.

His love for numismatics was so strong that in 1950 he devoted himself entirely to this science. Charles Hersh published several groundbreaking works in the journal Numismatic Chronicles: articles on the denarii of Publius Crepusius and on the history of Roman Republican coinage. In 1953, he started banking, but did not give up numismatics until the end of his life.

During his life, Charles Hersh collected many coins of Ancient Greece and Rome, which he catalogued and described. In 1999, the collector died, and a few years later his entire collection was transferred to the British Museum according to his will. You can see part of the collection below.