Lars Emil Bruun

Bruun collected coins from an early age, and with his increasing wealth his collection developed into one of the largest private collections of its time of Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and British coins and medals. In 1914 and 1918, he sold the Swedish part of his collection. In 1922, shortly before his death, he acquired an extensive coin collection which had belonged to the counts of Brahesminde. The British part of his collection was sold in auction in London after his death, except for the coins from Northumberland, East Anglia and Ireland, which were donated to the Royal Danish Coin and Medal Collection at the National Museum of Denmark.^[2]

According to Bruun's will, his collection of coins, bank notes and medals from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Schlesvig and Holstein, as well as his numismatic library, was to act as a back-up for the Royal Danish Coin and Medal Collection for a period of one hundred years,^[2] before being sold for the benefit of his descendants.^[3] It was initially deposited at the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, but was transferred to Nationalbanken (the central bank of Denmark) in Copenhagen.^[4] On 17 September 2024, the first batch of coins, in 286 lots, was sold at auction for 14.82 million euros ($16.5 million).^[3]

• Lars Emil Bruun's testament