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In his continuing series of numismatic interviews, Greg Bennick (virtually) sits down with Kellen Hoard, who was named Young Numismatist of the Year by the American Numismatic Association in 2021 and is currently a student at George Washington University. He serves on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and writes a regular column for The Numismatist.

Hoard touches on how he got started with numismatics, sharing numismatics with people outside the hobby, and his engagement with journalism, politics, public policy, and international affairs. Kellen provides context on the end-end workflow of the CCAC and evolution of coinage from legislation to production. Hoard wraps up with an optimistic view of the next generation of numismatists.

Greg Bennick is a longtime numismatist and serves on the board of the Combined Organization of Numismatic Error Collectors of America (CONECA). He recently published Reclaim the Moment: Seven Strategies to Build a Better Now (Wiley, 2024), which is currently ranked #30 in the Amazon list of Business Management books.

Link to Kellen Hoard interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tBb-Bt4NR8k
Link to transcript of Kellen Hoard interview: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/641580
Link to Greg Bennick interviews on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/multimediadetail/548505

Courtesy of Joseph Daragon, Newman Portal has added a fixed price list from the Washington, DC dealer Ben. M. Douglas. This 1964 list included important examples of early American paper money, including seven Vermont notes and the always popular May 10, 1775 Continental $20, featuring a marbled edge. Douglas writes “Once every 20 years or so there appears on the Numismatic horizon a truly choice and historical collection of Colonial & Continental Currency. We have just purchased such a collection…” 

Not surprisingly, the colonial paper money collector Eric P. Newman was not far behind, and his correspondence file lends additional context. Newman apparently traded with Douglas for some of the notes, and by mistake forwarded to Douglas an October 1, 1755 Pennsylvania one-shilling example, serial no. 6889. Newman reacquired the piece from Douglas, which later appeared in the Newman VI sale (Heritage Auctions, April 2015), lot 19530, and realized $1,527.50.

Martin Gengerke lists nine auction sales for Douglas, ranging from 1952 to 1956 and presented in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine. An additional six sales, 1957-1969, are listed for D&W Auctions, representing a partnership with the Baltimore dealer Thomas Warfield.

Link to Ben M. Douglas fixed price list on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/641478
Link to Newman / Douglas correspondence on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/521678

Arno Safran, who currently resides in Georgia, was raised in New Jersey and collected from his teenage years. His “aha” moment took the form of a low-grade 1857 cent, discovered by his father in a New York City subway gum machine. Safran’s professional career was spent as a music professor, and more than a few numismatists have demonstrated crossover expertise in the music field – names such as Gene Hessler and Douglas Kurz come to mind. The Bicentennial was the occasion for Safran’s renewed interest in numismatics as an adult, of which the EAC group played a large part. 

Greg Bennick recently interviewed Arno Safran, Greg’s 11th installment in this series. Safran touches the connections between classical and rock music, and his family’s musical background. Along the way he comments on the numismatic scene in the various places he has lived, in additions to his contributions to the Augusta (GA) Coin Club and the Stephen James CSRA Coin Club in Aiken, SC. 

Link Arno Safran interview on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/641275
Link to Arno Safran interview transcript on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/641274
Link to Arno Safran numismatic presentations: https://augustacoinclub.org/presentations

With many coin clubs moving to virtual meetings during the pandemic, recording and archiving meeting video was a natural step in sharing numismatic knowledge. While most clubs have returned to an in-person format, more than a few have migrated to a “both and” offering, with live meetings held in conjunction with video streaming. The St. Louis Ancient Coin Study Group is one such group, and their meeting video since 2021 is now archived on Newman Portal.

A recent meeting featured David Fanning speaking on Early Numismatic Photography, 1849-1869. The topic forces the researcher to cast a wide net, as these publications spanned America and Europe. Numismatic illustration has a long tradition, beginning with Fulvio’s Illustrium Imagines in 1517. Coins by their nature demand images, and it’s not surprising that the subject attracted early photographers. Fanning walks us through the nascent era of coin photography, revealing a series of little-known contributions to the art that appeared in auction sales catalogs and other publications.

Link to David Fanning speaking on early numismatic photography: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/641021
Link to St. Louis Ancient Coin Study Group meetings on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/multimediadetail/552485

Scanning of the ANS Curator (Howland Wood) correspondence, covering the period 1913-1937, continues apace under the sponsorship of the Newman Numismatic Portal. Correspondents through the letters A-P are now processed. A recently scanned file details a traveling exhibit mounted by the ANS in the 1920s. Curator Wood explained in correspondence to the Smithsonian on November 22, 1926:

“This exhibit is of coins and tends to show the development of coinage from its inception, about 750 B.C., to the present days. It is arranged by centuries, ten coins to a row (or century), 260 coins in all, and if laid out with plenty of room will occupy about twenty square feet. Labels have been printed in two colors: master labels for the exhibit, labels for each century, and individual placards under each coin.”

The exhibit debuted at the Worcester Art Museum in the fall of 1926, followed by the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis. Wood was careful to instruct numismatically uninitiated museum personnel “The coins, of course, must not be fastened down with nails or stuck down.” The exhibit then went to the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY, The Dayton Art Institute, the Denver Art Museum, the St. Louis City Art Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Carnegie Museum, and finally to the Utica Public Library. Insurance was apparently provided by the Robert M. Coyle insurance company, which quoted coverage at 2% of the exhibit value, a remarkably low number given the extensive amount of shipping and packing involved. 

Link to ANS Exhibit correspondence file: https://archive.org/details/ansnumismatictra00amer
Link to Howland Wood correspondence: https://archive.org/details/americannumismaticsociety?tab=collection&query=Howland&sort=-publicdate

The USS Merrimack represents a well-known bit of Civil War naval history. Born as the USS Merrimack in 1855 and later sunk by the Union to avoid capture, the Confederacy raised the vessel and recommissioned her as the newly ironclad CSS Virginia in 1862. The CSS Virginia faced off against the USS Monitor in the 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads, an attempt to overcome the Union blockade that isolated Norfolk and Richmond. Neither side could claim victory, but the Union maintained the advantage as the blockade held.

Over time various relic pieces have been created from Merrimack scrapped iron. Dave Schenkman prepared a slide presentation on this topic, c. 1980, which has lately been digitized by Newman Portal. In 1979, the Virginia Numismatic Association published Schenkman’s monograph, Tokens and Medals Commemorating the Battle Between the Monitor and the Merrimac. Newman Portal acknowledges Schenkman for sharing his slide set and accompanying speaker notes.

Link to Merrimack relics image collection on NNP: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/imagecollection/518058

Published monthly by the Utah Numismatic Society, the Mint Master is compiled by Doug Nyholm, who notes he has now edited 180 consecutive issues. The August edition features a retrospective of three early house organs issued by Q. David Bowers. Nyholm writes “As I personally began collecting in 1962 at the age of 10 these publications to me are a time machine into what coin collecting was in my youth.”  Nyholm was ideally situated, as he recalls “my parents owned a country store and I was allowed to search the cash register till every night to look for those elusive circulation finds which were still made of silver.”

Bowers, at the time a college student, was already operating at a professional level. The inaugural issue of Empire Topics features first-rate inventory (an entire roll of 1916-D dimes, an 1838 half dollar pattern, etc.), while Bowers’ inquisitive mind could not help including features such as “New Massachusetts Cent Die Variety Discovered.” An offering of Hard Times Tokens is accompanied by historical commentary, along with copies of the Lyman Low reference, exemplifying the Bowers approach, which Charles Davis aptly described as “an appealing mix of salesmanship and scholarship.”

Link to the Mint Master on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/533919
Link to Empire Topics: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/535704
Link to Bowers Review: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/535706
Link to the Empire Review: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/535755

Harcourt Fuller, Associate Professor of History at Georgia State University, has produced a short film, Black Women on Money, which is now posted on Newman Portal. The short features Black women on American money, including Maya Angelou, Bessie Coleman, and Harriet Tubman. Fuller includes commentary from Ernestine "Tina" Martin, 3x-great grandniece of Tubman, as well as discussion of portraits of Black women on world paper money. Harcourt Fuller further covers his Black Money Exhibit. This work was produced in part with support from the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society, via a 2024 Newman Grant for numismatic research.

Link to Black Women on Money: https://archive.org/details/fullertubmanshort
Link to Black Money Exhibit home page: https://www.blackmoneyexhibit.com/

Featured at Washington University for the spring 2024 semester, the exhibit Coins Across Time covers various aspects of numismatics from the ancient period to the modern. Exhibits included:

* Selections from the John Max Wulfing Collection
* Medals of American Independence
* Washingtoniana: Token and Medals Honoring the First President
* Freedom Will Be Ours: Medals and Money in Black America
* Eric P. Newman and Numismatics
* J.S.G. Boggs and the Meaning of Money
* Digitization in Numismatics

Newman Portal has now posted the exhibit catalog, and acknowledges lenders to the exhibit, including the ANA Money Museum (via Curator Doug Mudd), Wayne Homren, John Kraljevich, Stu & Maureen Levine, Joel Orosz, the Resolute Americana Collection, Henry Warshaw, and the John Max Wulfing Collection at Washington University (via Curator William Bubelis). Certain images of the Washington pieces in the catalog are courtesy of Stack’s Bowers, while catalog design, photography, and layout were handled by Lianna Spurrier.

Our fall 2024 exhibit will feature Operation Bernhard material on loan from the Florence and Laurence Spungen Family Foundation. This World War II German Nazi scheme produced counterfeit British bank notes, using concentration camp labor. Genuine and counterfeit notes will be on exhibit, in addition to other related objects.

Link to Coins Across Time exhibit catalog: https://archive.org/details/coinsacrosstime2024

Eric Schena, a well-known fixture in the numismatic research fraternity, specializes in “off the beaten path” material, with a focus on numismatic items of the mid-Atlantic region. He is especially focused on merchant tokens and scrip, which are often the surviving artifacts of long-forgotten commercial enterprises. Given the geographical area, there is significant crossover with coal mines and company stores. 

Unlike the U.S. Mint, which centralizes information related to federal coinage, token researchers have to cast a wider net, with the Ingle-Schierloh records being one important source of information. This firm manufactured tokens for hundreds, if not thousands of firms, and some of their records survive. These confirm the low mintages of many issues, and it is not uncommon that examples survive to the extent of ten or fewer examples. Unlike federal coins, however, these can often be acquired at remarkably low prices. 

Schena also looks to old business directories, many of which he has on microfiche. Few researchers can claim to own their own microfiche reader, and Schena takes his place among this elite group. Ebay contains its own needles in a haystack, and Eric discusses the lucky acquisition of a 19th century bank minutes book. 

Newman Portal acknowledges Greg Bennick, who has now contributed ten interviews, capturing stories of collectors past and present. Coin collectors are in many ways historians, and even those not involved in the research side of the hobby act as curators and stewards for the next generation of those to come. 

Link to Eric Schena interview audio on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/639081
Link to transcript of Eric Schena interview: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/639095
Link to Greg Bennick Interviews on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/multimediadetail/548505
Link to Ingle-Schierloh Company records: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/531624