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Bernhard F. Brekke & Tom W. Bakken remembered


one-kuna

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Sorry to bring all collectors very sad news.

I received email from Tom W. Bakken's wife today that this September 2011

Tom Willy Bakken (1940-2011) and Bernhard F. Brekke (1914-2011) both passed away.

My condolenses...

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Sorry to bring all collectors very sad news.

I received email from Tom W. Bakken's wife today that this September 2011

Tom Willy Bakken (1940-2011) and Bernhard F. Brekke (1914-2011) both passed away.

My condolenses...

Sorry to hear.Mr.Brekke and Mr.Bekken was a true gentleman's .

 

Russian Numismatics lost two great knowledgeable collectors of 20th century. They will be missed and remembered.

Rarenum

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Very sad news, indeed. Russian numismatics (and other branches as well) have so much to thank them for.

 

I feel lucky and honored to own just one coin from Tom W. Bakken's collection:

 

RUSSIA_5_Kopeek_1804_EM_ex_TWB_rev.thumb.jpgRUSSIA_5_Kopeek_1804_EM_ex_TWB_edge.thumb.jpgRUSSIA_5_Kopeek_1804_EM_ex_TWB_obv.thumb.jpg

 

May they rest in peace.

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Sad........... ((((((((((

Can anybody share bio of Mr Brekke and Mr.Bakken? We all know the Catalog and the Supplement, as well as many happen to have coins, but in terms of biography not many of us know that in detail.

There is a short biography of Mr. Brekke written by Randolph Zander in the front of Vol. I of the J.F. Elmen WWCC Brekke sale of 1993. The Gorny & Mosch catalogue of the recent T.W. Bakken sale has a nice write-up of him.

 

However, I'm not sure that it would be permitted to reproduce these here... At least I noticed that Jim Elmen has a copyright notice in the catalogues and sells the back issues; didn't look at the G&M catalogue, but the same probably applies.

 

Presumably there will be something upcoming in the next JRNS?

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That's shocking! I was hoping to see a new publication from Bakken. Did they both pass away in September?

yes

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That's shocking! I was hoping to see a new publication from Bakken. Did they both pass away in September?

 

I was in semi-regular contact with Tom until about 18 months ago. He was then working on an

update to the copper book but it is now clear that his illness prevented the completion. It is a

loss to all collectors that this planned work was not finished.

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Few months ago I was in correspondece with TW Bakken regarding all varieties of 1793 Paul overstrike for his new catalog. Then, he mentioned that would plan to do a hardbound copy of his collection on Gorny 183. Sad..

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I remember both of them personally. I met Tom Bakken in Munich on the eve of his auction, we had a decent Bavarian meal

accompanied by a couple of Munich beers. It was great.

Last I had seen of Bernhard Brekke was about 1990 when all of a sudden, totally inexpectedly he rang the door (in Cologne,Germany)

and got me to sell him my 1726 kopek.

I will never forget them. They will live on by their works.

 

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I was sorry to hear this news.

 

I helped Tom in the editing of many chapters of his new book over several years. The last time was when we worked on the Paul overstrikes chapter probably 18 months ago. Despite a lot of work, the book never seemed to get close to being finished. I last spoke to Tom just after the auction of his collection where I'd bought several of his coins.

 

Mr. Brekke I knew far less well. He was kind enough to write to me after reading some of my series on copper rarity in the JRNS and he sent along some useful information. His book, and the Brekke-Bakken supplement are indispensable parts of my library, as is a copy of his hand-written auction-records (probably around 100 pages). A number of coins from the Brekke Sales are in my collection.

 

Both were outstanding colleagues and the names of Brekke and Bakken are now part of our Russian numismatic lexicon.

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Last I had seen of Bernhard Brekke was about 1990 when all of a sudden, totally inexpectedly he rang the door (in Cologne,Germany) and got me to sell him my 1726 kopek.

I believe this particular coin is now being sold in Dmitry Markov's New York Sale (just in case you want to buy it back... :bhyper: )

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I believe this particular coin is now being sold in Dmitry Markov's New York Sale (just in case you want to buy it back... :bhyper: )

Yes, indeed it is the very coin :cry: . Brekke payed ~$2500 in about 1990. When his collection was auctioned in 1993, the coin fetched only a disappointing $2000.

Now its estimate is $125.000. As the coin is a unique undertype of an excessively rare coin, I wonder what the guys with deep pockets will make of this.

BTW - Your eyes are sharp as always. Best, Sigi

 

 

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On my recent request Gorny & Mosch allowed me to place TW Bakken biography over here from their 183 auction catalog. As soon as time permits me I will re-type it place it here. I do not want to make a scan or pic of it. And it is not going to take long...

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