Description
SWITZERLAND Leo Mildenberg. Numismatist, 1913-2001. 50mm bronze medal 77.35 grams. Celebrating his 70th Birthday. By Francesc Xavier Calicó i Rebull. Dated 1983.
Obverse: Mildenberg facing left, LEO MILDENBERG/ NVMISMATIKER
Reverse: Three Jewish coins; in exergue, ANNIVERSARIO/ LXX/ ZÜRICH 1983.
Edge: Plain
courtesy of Wikipedia - Leo Mildenberg was born in Kassel into a Jewish family, son of Max Mildenberg and Jeny Loeb, and grew up in southern Germany . He received his first training in the towns of Bad Mergentheim and Schwäbisch Hall , in the state of Baden-Württemberg , and later his higher studies in Ancient History and Semitic Studies at the University of Frankfurt and the University of Leipzig , which he was forced to leave by death from the persecution of Nazism . After his escape from Germany in 1933, completed his studies at the University of Dorpat (later called the University of Tartu ), in Estonia , where he obtained his doctorate in 1938 and where he also worked as a teacher , before the USSR occupied the country in 1941 , during the Second World War.
Between 1941 and 1946 he was deported by the Soviets to Kazakhstan , due to his German status, and in that country he married Elsi Brunner, from Zürich . After the war, in 1947 the couple immigrated to Switzerland and there Mildenberg began his career as a numismatic dealer. Between 1954 and 1969 he led, together with his friend the expert Hermann Rosenberg, a series of numismatic auctions in Lucerne that achieved international impact. In Zürich he also founded the numismatic department of the Banco Leu, very active in the organization of numismatic auctions, which he directed until his retirement in1990. The rivalry in this business was represented by the company Münzen und Medaillen AG, of Basel, directed by the brothers Herbert Adolf and Erich B. Cahn.
The work of Leo Mildenberg was also noteworthy in the field of numismatic research , focused above all on ancient Jewish coinage and the currency of Ancient Greece . In this field it has been the subject of numerous international recognitions.
Apart from numismatics, another of his passions was collecting representations of animals in the art of Antiquity. He began his collection in 1950 and became the largest of its kind in the world. Between 1981 and 1999 he was the subject of several exhibitions in the United States and in Israel and, after his death, most of his funds were sold at auction between 2004 and 2005 by Christie's , in London .
Among other international numismatic entities, Mildenberg was a member of the Royal Numismatic Society of Belgium and the Swiss Numismatic Society , of whose scientific journal Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau he was editor between 1966 and 1980 .
Leo Mildenberg died in Zürich on January 14, 2001 as a result of heart failure .
In 1980 he was named an honorary member of the International Association of Professional Numismatists and in 1999 an honorary member of the Royal Numismatic Society , of London . For his part, in 1995 he was recognized with an honorary doctorate by the University of Tübingen.
On the occasion of his 70th birthday in 1983 , he was honored with the publication of a tribute book composed of 25 articles by different authors , on numismatics , art history and archaeology , as well as a medal with his portrait. In addition, for his 85th birthday, in 1998 , the volume Vestigia Leonis , a reprint of his most famous articles , was published in his honor.
Francesc Xavier Calicó i Rebull ( Barcelona , August 22, 1907 - Barcelona , January 1, 1983 ) was a Catalan numismatist , researcher and writer. Rebull was the founder, first president and honourary president of the International Association of Professional Numismatists.
