British and World Coins, Historical Medals

Michael Gietzelt

Michael Gietzelt was born in Berlin in 1954, the son of a doctor. Educated at Berlin Secondary School, he performed his military service in the DGR Medical Corps, attaining the rank of Sergeant, before entering Berlin University to study medicine in 1975. Within two years he had decided that medicine was not the career choice for him and he opened his antique shop on the Frankfurter-Alle in Berlin in 1977.

Encouraged by his Mother, who made him a present of some worn Victorian pennies, and his great-grandfather, who gave him his first serious coin, an 1887 five-pound piece, Michael’s collection has expanded – not just into British coins, but also into all other spheres of British numismatics, including orders, decorations, medals and paper money. From the outset Michael’s aim has been to form a type collection of British coins from Edward III to the present day, but with the dispersal of his milled coins in these rooms on 14 November 2018, and now his hammered and AngloGallic coins in this auction, his coin collecting focus will now be on Scottish and Irish issues, while maintaining his collections of coins and tokens of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Together with his wife Gisela, Michael also collects German porcelain, particularly Meissen, while their busy home life revolves around their five children and ten grandchildren.

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