Many of the greatest rare coin collections were assembled slowly over many years, if not a lifetime. The famous collector, John Jay Pittman spent several decades collecting coins (including fabulous world coins), and rarely if ever, sold anything. After he passed in the 1990s, his primary residence sold for about $150,000. His coin collection was sold at auction by David Akers for over $30 million dollars. You can easily gather that John Jay Pittman was very passionate about his collection.
Like many serious collectors of his generation, Pittman became a true student of numismatics.
