Collectors
(April 7, 1971) Floyd T. Starr, EAC #156 died. He was born December 8, 1904, in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. He served as vice president of Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. Starr had purchased intact the late date collections of Howard Newcomb in 1945 and Henry C. Hines. These formed the nucleus for one of the best late date collections ever assembled. (October 24, 1975) Eugene Exman, EAC #22 died at age 75. He was a large cent collector and personal friend of William Sheldon. As vice president at Harper & Rowe, he assisted Sheldon with publication of Early American Cents and Penny Whimsy.
(September 16, 1977) Dr. William Herbert Sheldon, EAC #1 died. He was born November 19, 1898, in Warwich, Rhode Island. Sheldon was the author in 1949 of Early American Cents. In 1958 he published a revision titled Penny Whimsy in collaboration with Walter Breen and Dorothy Paschal. This became the standard reference work for the early cent series. Sheldon is credited with development of the Sheldon grading system using a scale from 1 to 70 points. Although it was originally intended only for use with large cents, this grading scale has become standard for use in grading all series of U.S. coins. Sheldon identified "collectible" varieties of early cents 1793-1814 and assigned numbers S-1 thru S-295. Sheldon' first collection was sold to Charles Fisher in 1932. His second collection was sold by Stack' at auction October 15-22, 1938. With his third collection, he became the second person to assemble a complete collection of those 295 varieties. (George H. Clapp had all the varieties numbered by Sheldon and 324 of 327 known varieties including NC' (non-collectibles). His collection was donated to the ANS in 1937.)
(June 3, 1981) Dorothy Iselin Paschal, EAC #77 died. Born September 22, 1905, in New York City, she was an associate of Dr. Sheldon and assembled one of the ten best cent collections. She was a contributor to the 1958 edition of Penny Whimsy. Her collection of the Sheldon numbered varieties was complete. It was sold privately.
(October 17, 1983) Raymond H. Chatham, EAC #47 died. His collection was sold to Abe Kosoff in 1958. At the EAC convention in 1979, he left his valise with thousands of dollars in coins and apparently did not miss it until called three days later. Chatham handled the private sale of Dorothy Paschal' collection. He discovered the 1797 NC-6 in 1965. John Ashby sold Chatham' remaining coins in 1981.
(July 9, 1984) John S. Ashby, Jr., EAC #468 died. Ashby was born April 12, 1924, in Chicago. He was a dealer in copper coins and a strong promoter for EAC. Included with his monthly price lists was the encouragement to join EAC. Many customers took his advice. He is given much of the credit for our membership growth during this period.
(December, 1985) Willard Blaisdell, EAC #20 died. At early EAC meetings he was a one-man bourse. His collection was sold to Ted Naftzger in 1977 and dispersed through Del Bland.
(1988) Les Heilbronner, EAC #337 died in the Chicago airport while returning from the 1988 EAC Convention.
(May 26, 1990) Roger S. Cohen, Jr., EAC #188 died of leukemia two weeks after winning the annual EAC Award. He was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. Cohen was author of American Half Cents - The Little Half Sisters. He worked as a certified public accountant.
(June 23, 1991) Richard (Rick) Leonard, EAC #1985 died while flying his #22 Jersey Devil at an air show in Davenport, Iowa. He was primarily responsible for organizing and promoting the first "Half Cent Happening."
(January 3, 1992) James G. Johnson, EAC #9 died at age 82. He was the editor of "Collector's Clearinghouse" in Coin World and an active EAC member.
(1992) Milton B. Pfeffer, EAC #6 died. Born November 24, 1919, in New York City, he was a partner in the law firm of Gwertman and Pfeffer. He handled incorporation and served as legal counsel to the club from 1972 until his death.
(April 28, 1993) Walter Breen, EAC #3, died in Chino, California. His date of birth is uncertain but possibly September 5, 1930. Breen catalogued sales for New Netherlands and First Coinvestors, Inc. He wrote "The Cent Collector's Forum" published in The Numismatist January 1957 through March 1958. The column included new discoveries and updates to the standard references. Breen discovered the 1794 NC-6 in 1957.
(May 20, 1993) Dr. Warren A. Lapp, EAC #33 died at home in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was born April 5, 1915, in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Lapp practiced as an obstetrician and gynecologist. He served as an Army doctor during World War II and attended the dying General George S. Patton. Lapp originated the club journal Penny-Wise and served as editor for 113 issues until 1986. Lapp' wife Katie died in June 1993.
(June 22, 1993) George E. Ewing, Jr., EAC #150 died. He was one of the organizers of the 1984 ANS Coinage of the Americas Conference. He wrote the text for "Die Varieties of the 1794 Large Cent" issued for the conference. He taught at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas.
(July 9, 1993) Charles E. Funk, Jr., EAC #59 died. He compiled the annual index for Penny-Wise for the first 20 years. Funk worked as Connecticut state librarian 1975 to 1979. His collection of middle date cents was consigned to the 1985 EAC Sale.
(1994) Alan Corson, EAC #45 died. He organized EAC gatherings in south Florida during 1969-1975 and contributed "Corson' Corner" to P-W. John Wright called Corson "The only large cent collector I’ve met who can wear his collection on a string around his neck."
(1995) Jim Holtz, EAC #3547 died in a motorcycle accident. He served as EAC Comptroller 1992 to 1995.
(September 13, 1995) William J. Parks, EAC #32 died. He served as club treasurer from 1967 to 1970. He published and distributed Penny-Wise from 1967 until he resigned in 1986.
(July 19, 1996) Bob Lomprey, Sr., EAC #1845 died. He was born August 18, 1917. Lomprey loved the cents of 1853 and headed three generations of EAC members.
(September 27, 1996) Jack Collins, EAC #115 died in South Gate, California. Collins was primary cataloguer for the Robinson Brown collection sale and photographer for the Van Cleave sale. He consigned large cents to Bowers and Ruddy' Fairfield sale of October 6-8, 1977, and late date cents to B&R' sale of January 25-27, 1983.
(August 7, 1997) Bob Everett, EAC #991 died. Bob was a member of the ANA, CONECA, JRCS, LSCC, EAC, and the Seattle coin Club. He is mostly remembered as an honest dealer of quality coins and a nice man.
(August 23,1997) Dr. Charles L. Ruby, EAC #61 died at age of 96. Dr. Ruby' numismatic specialties were U. S. large cents and silver dollars and his extensive coin collection was purchased by Superior Stamp & Coin Co. for over a million dollars during three sales conducted in 1974 and 1975.
(December 13, 1997) Raymond H. Williamson, EAC Charter member #54 died. Raymond was a numismatist for 90 years in which time he authored several papers which were published in The Numismatist, The Colonial Newspaper, Coin World, Searby' Coin & Medal Bulletin, Penny-Wise and The Virginia Numismatist.
(April 4, 1998) Harry Wesley Bass, Jr. EAC # died at age 71. Mr. Bass was an eclectic collector. He fostered a particular interest in numismatics, assembling in the past three decades one of the largest and finest collections of U. S. Gold coins in the world. Harry also served as president of the ANS in New York from 1978-1984.
(June 10, 1998) Charles S. (“Sam”) Nacol, EAC #3483 died. Sam was a physician by vocation and a long time collector of quality Coppers by choice. After Sam' death his wife Lynn presented a gift of $1000.00 to the EAC in Sam' memory.
(Sept. 5,1998) Robert Schonwalter, EAC #1371 died. It was said of Bob that he was a gentlemen, a scholar, and the epitome of what a numismatist should be. His collection of Half Cents and Hard Times Tokens were among the finest.
(December 4, 1998) Edward R. Weeks, EAC #1460 died. Ed was a U. S. Navy veteran and an avid large cent collector.
(June 30, 1999) Wayne Anderson, EAC #2102 died. Wayne was a serious student and collector of many interests. He was the founder and president of the Condor Token Collectors Club.
(July 31, 1999) Jack Borckart, EAC #1141 died. Jack was a retired Presbyterian minister, veteran of WW II and a coin business owner for over 30 years.
(1999) John Fettinger, EAC #820 died. John was a long time compiler of “The Score,” a census of early date collections.
(September 20, 1999) Charles Douglas Smith, EAC #79 died. Doug was a legend in his own time in his chosen field of endeavor (large cents), respected and cherished by three generations of friends, acquaintances, and fellow collectors. Beside his personal qualities and energetic collecting style, Doug discovered several non-collectibles as well as die state variations and catalogued large cents for a number of important Stack' sales.
(May 23, 2000) C. Thomas Morley, EAC #169 died. Tom was an inveterate collector, whose early copper interest centered on the 1794 cents. He was an active EAC member for thirty years during which time he published (Aug., 1979) 1794 Large Cents Graded and Updated, a photographic grading guide by variety.
(2000) H. Glenn Buchanan, M.D., EAC #3187 died.
(August 3, 2000) Bob Matthews, EAC #2163 died. Bob was a life long coin collector, coin dealer, mentor and friend to many EAC members. In 1984, Bob was fortunate enough to purchase the near complete variety collection of 1794 – 1814 cents from Jackson Storm which he merged with Tom, his son.
(October 18, 2000) John Bergman, EAC #659 died. John was a collector of half cents early in his collector years, but concentrated on books ( numismatic) after his retirement.
His contributions to the Numismatic Bibliomania Society included writing several articles and he was an officer.
(February 6, 2001) Herbert A. Silberman, EAC #13 died at age 84. Mr. Silberman was the founder and first president of the Early American Coppers Club. Herbert formed the club after placing an ad in the November 9, 1966, issue of Coin World suggesting starting a mail club for those interested in large cents. Herbert was a contributing editor from the first Penny-Wise to January 15, 2001. Mr. Silberman and Warren Lapp were joint editors of United States large Cents 1793-1857, issued in 1975. With out the early pioneers in large cents like Mr. Silberman the EAC might not have ever been born.