Lower Canada Auction’s 23rd sale at the Nuphilex Coin and Stamp Show will include the prestigious John Addison Collection. The auction will be on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. and will be simultaneously live on icollector.com. The Nuphilex show runs from Friday to Sunday in downtown Montreal. For more details, click here.
Mr. Addison was a longtime collector who accumulated a variety of material, some quite different than normally seen at auction. In addition to a large amount of Canadian decimal and paper money, the auction will also be offering a great selection of world material, medals and more. In total, there will be 583 lots including many multiple item lots.
John Addison began to assemble his coin collection in the early 1960s. Like many collections, it began modestly and without any focused direction. As the years progressed, he became an early purchaser of Royal Canadian Mint sets and dollars adding to a collection which he now supplemented through regular attendance at the Toronto Coin Club, Central Coin Club and attendance at Torex from its inaugural meeting, in addition to other coin shows throughout southern Ontario and Eastern Quebec.
His participation at Torex can be witnessed by the number of souvenir tokens which are contained in the collection.
The collection which began so modestly would eventually number more than 7,000 pieces, with pieces representing over 50 nations, dating back to the 1500s and filling 14 binders. With the addition of many mint boxes containing dollars and sets the collection would, at its peak overflow four extra-large safety deposit boxes.
True to the stereotype of his Scottish birth, he begrudged giving the banks any more than he had to, and during some home renovations, had a secret room built within his Toronto suburban home, where he could keep his collection closer and would allow him to enjoy it at his leisure. After his passing in 1985, his collection passed to his widow for safe keeping and enjoyment.
It is now after her passing that the collection is being offered in its entirety for public auction.
For a PDF copy of the auction catalogue, click here.