Arthur Bally-Herzog, 1849-1912

Arthur was born in 1849 in Switzerland, the son of Carl Franz Bally. His father took over a silk ribbon and suspender business from his father and founded what would become the internationally famous Bally Shoe company in 1847. Arthur and his brother assumed control of the business in 1892. Despite his intense business commitments, Arthur was an active donor to social programs in Switzerland and a member of the Solothurn canton parliament. Arthur was an influential member of the Swiss Numismatic Society since 1883. His early interest was in Swiss coins and assembled over 4,000 coins that were later donated to the Swiss National Museum. His Roman collection of nearly 1500 coins including 250 gold coins was collected between 1902 and his death in 1912. He carefully cataloged the collection noting the sources of his purchases. He participated in the major auctions of his day and also purchased coins privately from the major firms of Spink, Sotheby, Hess, Hirsch, Merzbacher(Munich) and Egger (Vienna). Most of the Roman coins passed to the Bally family in 1913 for a sum of 70,000 Swiss francs with the proceeds being donated to State museums. While a number of the coins were sold over the decades, the later descendants of the family reunited the remaining Roman collection and offered the most important pieces for sale in the auction of Münzen und Medaillen in Basel as Auction 93, December 16, 2003. (See: MM, Basel, Auction 93 introduction)