Newspaper report of the sale of the Egyptian Palace Collection of King Farouk

If you spend much time reading (or writing) about historic, rare, valuable coins you will soon find a name cropping up again and again. 

King Farouk. 

Farouk as a young man, born to wealth and power. 

 

Farouk ruled Egypt from 1936 to 1952. 

Tumultuous times: he stalked off from his palace with tanks on the lawn. 

As he fled at short notice, the playboy king left behind a huge personal collection of, well, almost everything. 

Including some of the most important and valuable coins in history. 

Here are 10 facts about his amazing collecting mania:

1 - Farouk was big, and bigly unpopular

The year before Egyptian army officers toppled Farouk, the biblical epic Quo Vadis was banned in Egypt to preemptively prevent cinema goers from comparing their high living monarch to the corrupt, overweight Emperor Nero played by Peter Ustinov on screen. 

He was not popular. 

The CIA were convinced communists would replace him, and launched an operation to persuade him to change (they soon abandoned that goal and turned to backing the insurgents and getting them on the US side). 

They called the plan Operation FF. 

It stood for Fat F****r.

 

Farouk in 1948, long after he'd disovered Coca Cola and the Egyptian people had fallen out of love with him. 

 

2 - Farouk didn’t pay on time. And sometimes not at all

Dealing with a King should be pretty safe, surely. 

But many coin dealers had problems collecting payments from Farouk, whose expenditure went through Egyptian state coffers. 

Clearance often took time. 

For a while Farouk owned one of history’s biggest diamonds, the Star of the East. 

But he never paid, and after he was overthrown the new Egyptian government handed it back to legendary New York jeweller, Harry Winston, who had tried to sell it to him. 

3 - Farouk’s most famous coin was stolen

The $18.9-million 1933 US Double Eagle is the most valuable coin ever sold. 

Of course, it was in Farouk’s collection. 

But how? 

The coin was famously withdrawn as the US clawed back bullion during the Great Depression. 

But, a small number were stolen from the US Mint. Farouk was sold one, and granted a licence to export it before the theft was discovered. 

World War II got in the way. Then Farouk was kicked out of power. 

The “Farouk specimen” is probably that which was discovered in 1996, triggering years of legal action before it was sold in an unprecedented auction requiring that the coin be issued by the US government. 

Its 2021 sale made it the world’s most expensive coin. 

There's no reason to suggest that Farouk knew his 1933 Double Eagle was stolen, but it vanished for decades after he bought it. 

 

4 - Farouk’s spending was so out of control he had to impose limits

Perhaps we might today identify Farouk as having some form of illness that caused him to spend so much and horde so many precious things. 

There was no such diagnosis at the height of his spending, though it was thought to be compulsive by some observers. 

Whatever, it was so excessive that it had to be limited. 

Farouk binged on coins in 1930s New York, snapping up whole collections as their wealthy owners saw their fortunes go up in the smoke following the Wall Street Crash. 

In an effort to protect the Egyptian treasury, Farouk’s spending was limited to £10,000 per purchase. 

5 - The sale of his collections may have been the biggest in history 

The government that replaced Farouk’s discredited monarchy wanted to get something back from a lifetime of frivolous spending. 

And so one of the greatest auction series in history was held. 

The Palace Collection Sale of 1954 caused madness in the world coin collecting community. 

Farouk’s New York dealer, Hans Schulman, was given $300,000 credit to cover the money the king still owed him. 

Collector John J. Pittman mortgaged his house to go shopping. 

King Farouk of Egypt coin

A Farouk coin issued in Egypt. The currency he owned dwarfs what he issued in value and significance. 

 

6 - The Farouk sale probably undervalued many items 

Farouk’s collections were so huge that properly cataloging and valuing them was an impossible task. 

The sales were handled by two London firms, Baldwins and Sotheby’s, who produced very fine catalogues (collector’s items in their own right today). 

The mass of items meant many were bundled together into group lots that were massive bargains. 

Among them, that world-record breaking 1933 Double Eagle, that was listed in a group of American coins as Lot 185. 

The US Secret Service turned the screws on the Egyptian government, who agreed not to sell the coin, but failed to hand it back. 

7 - Doomed king with a doomed car 

The Gaylord Gladiator was quite the ride. 

 

Farouk loved fancy stuff. 

Including one of the strangest cars in American automobile history, the Gaylord Gladiator. 

This extremely flash auto was the dreamchild of James and Edward Gaylord. 

Their big ideas were put into practical shape by Brooks Stevens, who made some of the most striking product designs of the 20th Century. 

It looks smashing. 

But, it could never be produced to the brothers’ exacting standards, even by a German airship company.

A maximum of four were produced, and, naturally, one went to Farouk. 

Another was owned by Hollywood leading man, Dick Powell. 

8 - Farouk once stole Winston Churchill’s watch 

This is an excellent story, and it appears to be at least partly true, certainly true enough to make it into biographies. 

Egypt was vital in World War II. In 1942 Winston Churchill was in the country. 

The two larger-then-life characters met. 

And Farouk nicked Churchill’s watch. 

He returned it, and it was a prank rather than acqusitive crime, showing off Farouk’s skill as a pickpocket, reportedly taught to him by a thief he pardoned. 

Churchill apparently didn’t find it very funny, and British army officers and diplomats seem to have found the King of Egypt flippant and annoying in public in a way that didn't match his intelligence. 

That's not funny! British officials who met Farouk were often baffled by his public behaviour, which, for want of a better word, was often just silly. 

 

9 - Farouk bought so much French-style furniture that a style was named after him 

One of Farouk’s major legacies is a faux-French style called Louis-Farouk in his honour. 

The Louis references Louis XVth, King of France, whose own incontinent spending helped the French people fall out of love with the monarchy to the extent that they cut his successor’s head off. 

Louis XV-style furniture was fancy, gilted, and comfortable. 

Farouk’s collections took in not just the genuine stuff, but reimaginings from the later 19th century. 

Farouk was not generally well-regarded for his extravagance, and Louis Farouk is not a complement. It is most often compared to the modern term, "Dictator Style". 

Farouk's bedroom set. He loved the ornate and luxurious in everything. Image courtesy RR Antiques.  

 

10 - Farouk had one of the world’s largest collections of pornography 

King Farouk had enormous appetites. 

He ate a lot (he loved American soft drinks and sweets), had many mistresses, shopped like crazy. 

And had a huge array of dirty pictures. 

Though it’s hard to bring a comparison to such things, Farouk’s collection of erotica was reportedly gigantic, and included neckties with adult illustrations. 

Some of this may be attributed to the conservative attitudes of the time (and propaganda by Farouk’s successor regime, who were keen to be seen as virtuous in a way the king was not). 

Certainly, the King enjoyed pulp books and mass-produced US comics along with pretty much everything else he encountered. 

Farouk with his lover Irma Capacete, who claimed to have been married to the King. 

 

Build your own amazing coin collection 

Whatever drove King Farouk, among the trash of his gaudy lifestyle could be found world-renowned and significant coin and stamp collections that reverberate through those worlds today. 

Farouk was a billionaire by inheritance by modern figures, and matching his spending is a big ask. 

You can see some of our coin holdings here though. 

And, for more news from the world of collectibles and to get the first news of our new arrivals, sign up for our free newsletter here.  

Register to receive more in-depth articles from our dedicated team.

Register Here

Featured products

Elvis Presley Authentic Strand of Hair
Elvis Presley Authentic Strand of Hair
Sale price£399
In stock
Fidel Castro signed certificateFidel Castro Signed Certificate
Fidel Castro signed certificate
Sale price£1,995
In stock
King Henry VIII Autographed DocumentKing Henry VIII Autographed Document
King Henry VIII Autographed Document
Sale price£55,000
In stock