In April 1976 the renowned firm of Spink and Son Ltd, London, established an office in Sydney. It was operated by a subsidiary company, Spink & Son (Australasia) Pty Ltd, from an office at 26 O'Connell Street, Sydney. The venture was undertaken to secure the services of Jim Noble, a long-time client. Noble decided to become a dealer since he saw that curatorial opportunities were limited in Australia. The office established a library of about 4,000 volumes, owned by Noble and his parents.
In 1982 Spink & Son (Australia) opened a Melbourne office under the direction of Ray Jewell. In 1991 the business changed its name to Spink Noble Pty Ltd, and in 1994 it became Noble Numismatics Pty Ltd.
Spink and Son actually started in 1666, but did not begin to seriously deal coins until the late nineteenth century. This side of the business became established under the guidance of Leonard Forrer, who founded the world's oldest commercial numismatic journal, the Numismatic Circular. From this time Spinks began to supply coins to leading private and public collections, and became a leading numismatic publisher. By the 1970s it had separate departments for ancient, English and foreign coins, and for modern coins and banknotes. It was the world's largest coin dealer and held significant auctions around the world.
References:
'Spink Opens in Australia', (1976). Australian Coin Review. Vol.12, No.11, May, p.2.
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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