Житель Фрома продолжает каталогизировать исламские монеты, несмотря на болезнь Альцгеймера

A Frome resident with a lifelong passion for Islamic coins continues cataloguing work despite living with dementia. Robert Darley-Doran, now residing at Frome Nursing Home, has spent much of his life travelling across Turkey and the Middle East with his wife, Liz, documenting and organising Islamic coins. Their most recent book, focusing on Byzantine and early Islamic copper coins, was completed just before Robert moved to Frome. Despite living with vascular dementia, Robert's knowledge and precision remain, as he can still identify and comment on coins at a glance. Robert's journey began in Geneva, Upstate New York, where he grew up in a house overlooking Seneca Lake. After university, he lived in Ankara for two years before returning to New York. In 1965, he boarded a steamship to Liverpool on a one-way ticket, driven by his love for Turkey, where he spent much of the next 15 years. The same year he returned to Istanbul, Robert met his future wife Liz, beginning a 66-year marriage. The couple, along with their children, Kathy and George, later moved to Ankara, where they lived for six years. READ MORE - Objects stolen 70 years ago returned to Glastonbury Abbey - New headstone installed for young airman in Porlock - 'It means everything to me': Taunton man meets over 30 WWII veterans It was during a trip to Erzurum that Robert's fascination with coins took off, after he bought a silver coin, which turned out to be an Ottoman sultan's insignia. In 1980, Robert and Liz settled in Avington, near Winchester, and Robert became a British citizen in the mid-1990s. Their work with Islamic coins extended beyond England, preparing auction catalogues for Spink and Sotheby’s in London, and taking them to the Middle East. In Oman, they wrote a book on the country’s coinage and helped set up a coin and banknote museum for the Central Bank. Similar projects followed in Bahrain and Kuwait. In 2023, the couple moved to Frome to be closer to their daughter Kathy and her husband Jonny. Robert's first book recorded a collection of gold coins belonging to a Lebanese banker and was published in Switzerland in both English and Arabic. Despite facing health challenges, Robert’s passion for coins persists. After a series of falls at home, Robert moved into Oakside Woodlands, one of the smaller households within Frome Nursing Home. Here, he continues his coin cataloguing work with Liz, sometimes speaking Turkish during conversations, a nod to the years he lived in Turkey. Kathy and Jonny visit regularly.