British and World Coins from the Dr George de Bruin Collection

Dr George de Bruin

George de Bruin was born and grew up in the Eastern Transvaal town of Ermelo, South Africa, near the Swaziland border. He comes from a medical family and his father was in general practice in Ermelo for his whole professional life. George started collecting coins as a schoolboy by screening cash registers of the shops in town. Another ritual was to go to the different church offices on a Monday afternoon to check the offerings of the previous day. In the 1950s, before decimalisation and changing from pound to rand, it was not uncommon to find Kruger and Victoria coins in the trays.

George decided to follow in his father's footsteps and, after completing a medical degree, he qualified as a pathologist. After a couple of years of an academic career, he joined a private pathology laboratory and has practiced there ever since. Then in 1966 a report appeared in a newspaper which made a lasting impression on him. Two divers discovered a British East India company shipwreck. It was followed by other shipwreck discoveries, mainly early Portuguese, later Dutch and British. The divers realised the particular value to South Africans of the finds and decided to give...