Kurt Conzen was born in Cologne / Köln on 23 June 1925. Even as a youngster he was very interested in history, especially that of the ancient world, and was strongly encouraged in that interest by his father. The father had already built up a small collection of coins before the Second World War, which Kurt Conzen later expanded considerably. After that war the young man studied law at the University of Cologne, and received his doctorate at the end of 1949 with the dissertation “Die materiell-rechtliche Prüfungszuständigkeit des Richters im deutschen Verfassungsrecht” (“The Substantive Auditing Responsibility of the Judge in German Constitutional Law”).
He then took advantage of the break previous to the beginning of his legal clerkship and travelled through Italy for six months, to become acquainted with the art treasures there. After his legal clerkship, Dr Conzen initially worked as a judge at the District Court of Cologne and later became its Director. In 1954 he married Inge Uebemann of the Westphalia region, who was also very interested in art, and the couple had four children.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Conzen family travelled the countries around the Mediterranean and visited the most important ancient sites. Parallel to these educational trips Dr Conzen also intensified his numismatic interest and further expanded his father’s coin collection. In doing so, he also involved his children, to whom he showed his coins and explained the respective historical contexts. Generally, the jurist acquired his coins at the leading auction houses in the 1970s and 1980s. His son Joachim can still remember visits to the Dutch numismatist Jacques Schulman in the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam. Dr Kurt Conzen also sought contact with other history enthusiasts in Cologne; among others, he maintained a lively exchange with the Director of the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne.
As a result of heart disease, Dr Kurt Conzen passed away in Cologne on 5 May 1997.
Dr Andreas Kaiser
Osnabrück, July 2023
Highlights from the Dr Kurt Conzen Collection
