Edouard Frossard

Edouard Frossard was born in 1837 near Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) in Switzerland and immigrated to the United States in 1858. He eventually settled in Brooklyn, New York, where he began his career as an educator at the Boursand Academy. Following a period of service in the American Civil War, he resumed his work in education.

In 1872, Frossard developed a profound interest in numismatics. Possessing both intellectual curiosity and literary skill, he quickly established himself in the field. He opened a small business in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, where one of his primary clients was George W. Merritt, son of a wealthy industrialist residing in an estate that had formerly belonged to financier Jay Gould.

On September 17, 1875, Frossard published the sole issue of The Curiosity Shop and Antiquary, a four-page periodical whose brevity stood in contrast to its ambitious title. In the same year, he was appointed the first editor of J.W. Scott’s Coin Collector’s Journal, commuting regularly to New York City from his residence in Irvington. However, his association with Scott proved contentious, and in 1877, Frossard severed ties with the firm to pursue an independent career in numismatic publishing and auctioneering.

Over the course of the next two decades, Frossard became a significant figure in American numismatics. He issued 59 editions of his own journal, Numisma, between January 1877 and December 1891, and produced an extensive corpus of 160 auction catalogs—an output that remains notable for its scale and depth. His writings, while often erudite, were also marked by polemical undertones and unreserved critique of his contemporaries.

Frossard was known for engaging in frequent and often public disputes with fellow numismatists. His impetuous publishing style, characterized by limited fact-checking and rhetorical fervor, led to friction with notable figures such as the Chapman brothers, Ebenezer Locke Mason, David U. Proskey, J.W. Scott, Charles Steigerwalt, and W. Elliot Woodward. While these conflicts varied in duration and intensity, his antipathy toward Scott in particular was persistent and deeply personal. Despite his confrontational approach, Frossard regarded himself as a defender of ethical standards within the numismatic profession—though his judgment was occasionally flawed.

A notable example includes his endorsement of a purportedly rare colonial coin, the “Novum Belgium” copper, which he announced as a significant discovery without realizing it had previously been identified by W.E. Woodward as a spurious fantasy piece created by the young C. Wyllys Betts.

Charles Davis, a leading numismatic literature dealer, later offered the following critical appraisal of Numisma:

“An often acid, often scholarly, always entertaining journal with important, although sometimes axe-grinding observations on the business practices of his competitors, and invaluable for reports on contemporary auctions with notices of overgrading and counterfeits liberally sprinkled in. Arrows were shot at, among others, Doctor Woodward (the apothecary unable to sell the false talisman to the children of Knicker), Charley Steigerwalt (the plagiarist with his big journal), Brother Mason (the only original Moses in the coin trade), J.W. Scott (the Fulton Street octopod), the Chapmans (who produce quarto catalogues with margins sufficiently large for corrections), and David U. Proskey (with a level head and an India rubber conscience).”

In the final years of his career, Frossard was implicated in a significant forgery scandal involving counterfeit artifacts that he falsely attributed to the renowned American artist John Trumbull. He died in 1899, leaving behind a complex legacy—admired by some for his contributions to numismatics, but remembered by others for his combative and, at times, ethically questionable conduct.