CAHN, ADOLPH EMIL

Copyright 2011-2018

Adolph Emil Cahn (1839-1918), was born on the 26 May, 1839, the son of Isaak and Martha Seligmann Cahn. He married Bertha Baer, the daughter of Leopold Joseph Baer and Helena Toeplitz Baer on April 28, 1871 at Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. They had three children Anna Hedwig Cahn, Ludwig Theodor Cahn, and Julius Alfred Cahn. He established the coin dealer house of Adolph E. Cahn in 1874. By 1890 he was established at Niedenau 55, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Fig. Adolph E. Cahn advertisement in the April 1911 issue of The Numismatist, page 146.

After his death on June 5, 1918 the business was succeeded by his son Ludwig Theodor Cahn (1877-1924), and his wife Johanna (1881-1963). After the death of Ludwig his brother Julius Alfred Cahn (1872-1935) managed the business along with his sister Emmy Cahn (1882-1969), and two employees : Hartmann and Arthur König (1883-1973).

During the strife in Germany during WWII, especially the pogrom against the Jewish people the grandsons of Adolph Emil Cahn, Herbert Adolph Cahn (1915-), and Erich Bernhard Cahn (1913-1993) were forced to migrate to Switzerland and there in 1933 they established Münzhandlung Basel AG. In 1942, the firm was renamed as Münzen und Medaillen AG Basel.

Fig. The firm of Adolph E. Cahn during the period of Julius Alfred Cahn's management correspondence with Henry Chapman, Jr., postmarked 4 August 1926, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, franked with Scott #331 5 pfennige green, Mi #342 50 pfennige red. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive. This is a museum piece and is available for the right price! Write john@numismaticmall.com

Acknowledgements :

Leonard Augsburger at the Newman Numismatic Portal, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, informs me that they loaded a large group of Cahn catalogs to Newman Portal, that ANS has scanned themselves a couple years ago. Thank you Leonard!

Bibliography :

Festschrift on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Hans von Steuben : "Münzhandel und Münzhändler in Frankfurt nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg," Geldgeschichliche Nachrichten, November (1994) : 300-303