Mark E. Freehill (06/08/1939 - 04/01/2019)
The following is the biographies made Noble Auction in 2019 about Mr. Mark E. Freehill in 2019.
I first met Mark at the May 1960 meeting of the Australian Numismatic Society then held at the Mitchell Library in Macquarie Street Sydney. He was twenty and I was thirteen. He was even then an advanced coin collector and I was an enthusiastic beginner. He bought a pattern 1937 florin at Lawsons auction in Sydney in 1959 for £140 and in 1960 an Elizabeth I EIC portcullis money set. He loved travel and soon learnt how to hitch hike around the world. On his trips he visited markets and dealers. He had so many trips to Afghanistan in the early to mid 1960s he became known as the Afghan kid. We exchanged coins and often met at each other’s places along with Colin Pitchfork. In 1966 we went by road to visit Sydney Hagley in Adelaide. By 1971 I was bringing exciting coins home from New Zealand collectors and we would admire and discuss the coins. Then in 1973, Douglas Liddell, managing director of Spink and Son, came to Australia at our invitation to address the ANS on its 60th anniversary and attend the first G.C. Heyde auction at G.K.Grays. Soon after I opened the office of Spink Australia in 1976 I asked Mark to join me as a part timer so he could still travel for six months a year. Mark remained with the company for the next twelve years. Mark made close friendships with many collectors worldwide including Fred Pridmore of Taunton, Somerset and Amon Carter of Fort Worth, Texas.
Mark was a pure and devoted collector with a deep sense of history and accuracy in researching and recording that history. Mark never married even though he had a steady girlfriend for some years in the early 1970s. He could not settle down from his international travel, his body surfing and his speedway as a marshal on the crash crew.
He built a formidable collection of coins, tokens, medals and banknotes and an extensive library. From the mid 1990s on he worked diligently to build his British hammered coin collection, acquiring only what he considered wonderful in toning, strike and eye appeal. From time to time he would visit the collection at the safe deposit section in the bank and come out feeling he had had a real treat. It is now an honour for us to include in this auction his hammered collection that gave him so much pleasure that can now be enjoyed by a new generation of collectors.
Mark’s health deteriorated seriously in the last two years due to a chronic heart condition and he passed away at the beginning of the year. He took with him great knowledge but leaves us with many fond memories. We shared birthday celebrations together in the office up to the end (we were two days apart in August) and in the last twelve years Christmas Day at home with our family. Further selections from his collection including numismatic literature will appear in future sales.
In July 2019, there are a number of rare East India Company (Penang) coinages of Mr. Mark E. Freehill collection have been appeared in Noble Auction 124 as following:
Auction date: 28 July 2020
Lot number: 1927
Price realized: 9,000 AUD (Approx. 6,446 USD / 5,496 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.
Price realized: 9,000 AUD (Approx. 6,446 USD / 5,496 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.
Lot description:
MALAY PENINSULA, Penang, EIC, Soho Mint, tin trial of pattern pice or cent obverse, 1810 (Pridmore 25A). Nearly as struck, good extremely fine and extremely rare.
Ex Mark E.Freehill Collection, from Singapore Sale 19 (lot 245).
Estimate: 600 AUD
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