British and World Coins from the Collection of Ivor Brecker

Ivor Brecker

Our Father started collecting coins seriously in 1959 and remained interested in numismatics throughout his life, still adding to his collection in his final year. He was meticulous in keeping track of sales and dealers' offerings and improving and expanding his collection as better examples became available.

Ivor enjoyed his time at Leyton High Grammar School and, while he excelled at the sciences, he also loved history and remained interested in history and politics throughout his life, which also inspired his love of travel. He trained in dentistry at the Royal Dental Hospital which then occupied a fine building in Leicester Square, not too far from the central London coin dealers. On graduating he worked for many years as a dentist in London, building up his own practice in Perivale. Dentists work with metal amalgam and with gold, and maybe this contributed to his love of owning beautiful coins. 

After marrying his wife, Yvonne, in 1956, they made a home together in North London to bring up their family.

Ivor's coin collections reflected his interests. Being the sort of person he was, once he set his mind to a theme, he was determined to make the collection as comprehensive and complete as he could. He curated a fine collection of English coins, being meticulous in ensuring he found examples from every monarch from Saxon times on and from the different denominations produced for each monarch. He loved Russian music, particularly the great operas of Rimsky Korsakov and Tschaikovsky, and would keep returning to Boris Godunov, following his favourite singers in the role at the Royal Opera Covent Garden and on disc. This kindled his interest in collecting coins from the Russian tsars, and he amassed a fine series. Travel in Mexico in the 1960s triggered his collection of Mexican coins from Spanish colonial times and the Republic.

Sadly, Ivor passed away on 19 May 2024, just after his 90th birthday. He wanted his coins to be appreciated by enthusiasts and not to languish in a cupboard on his passing. This catalogue celebrates his collection as it enters a new era and we hope you enjoy the coins as much as our Father did.
Naomi Weber and Matthew Brecker

Cataloguer’s note: The Brecker collection represents a fascinating insight into the world of coin collecting in London 60 years ago, when coin fairs were almost unknown and most collectors purchased their coins from one of the major dealers of the day. In this instance, Mr Brecker largely favoured Seaby’s, then in Great Portland Street, seeking out attractive-looking pieces from the trays of British stock overseen by Frank Purvey and Alan Rayner, and later turning his attention to the firm’s Russian coins, masterminded then by Emmy Cahn and Laurence Brown.

The three elements of the Brecker collection – British, Russian and Mexican – are perhaps unusual in the context of a single catalogue, but in putting his collections together Mr Brecker acquired important coins from each series, notably the Henry VIII testoon and Charles I Oxford half-pound (lots 21 and 52), the General Vargas 8 réales of 1812 (lot 111) and the Paul I rouble, 1798, which used to belong to Michel Baranowsky (lot 140).
P.J.P-M.