Eric P. Newman

Eric P. Newman
Born(1911-05-25)May 25, 1911
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedNovember 15, 2017(2017-11-15) (aged 106)
Clayton, Missouri, U.S.
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Washington University in St. Louis
SpouseEvelyn (Edison) Newman (married 1939–2015; her death)
Children2
AwardsArcher M. Huntington Medal
Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society

Eric Pfeiffer Newman (May 25, 1911 – November 15, 2017) was an American numismatist.[1][2][3] He wrote several "works about early American coins and paper money considered the standards on their subjects", as well as hundreds of articles.[4] Newman sold his coins over auctions in 2013–2014 for over $70 million and used most of that money to fund the Newman Numismatic Education Society and its Newman Numismatic Portal to "make the literature and images of numismatics, particularly American numismatics, available to everyone on a free and forever basis."[5][6][7]

Family

Newman was born to Samuel Elijah and Rose (Pfeiffer) Newman in St. Louis, Missouri.

Education and career

Newman earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1932 and a Juris Doctor from Washington University in St. Louis in 1935.[3] He joined a St. Louis law firm that year and practiced law until 1943. The following year, he was hired by Edison Brothers Stores, a retail shoe chain founded by his wife's family.[1] He rose to executive vice president in 1968, before retiring in 1987.[1]

Numismatics

His interest in coins began at the age of seven, when his grandfather gave him an 1859 Indian Head cent.[1] When he was ten years old, he would visit Burdette Johnson's coin store in downtown St. Louis every couple of weeks; Johnson became his friend and mentor.[3]

While attending MIT, Newman became slightly acquainted with E. H. R. Green, himself a coin collector. Newman and other students were given the use of Green's private radio station at Round Hill, Massachusetts, to follow Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition (1928–1930).[4] After Green died in 1936, Newman raised $600 from his family and purchased some currency notes from the estate. After he told Burdette Johnson about it, Johnson put up the money to buy most of Green's collection, including the only five known 1913 Liberty Head nickels.[4] Newman's favorite coin, however, was a unique 1792 pattern in gold that is believed to have been presented to George Washington and carried in his pocket.[4][8][9]

In 1938, Newman became vice president of the Missouri Numismatic Society.[10] In 1939, he was appointed Secretary-Treasurer of the Central States Numismatics Society.[11]

In a 1977 article in The Numismatist, Newman shed light on previously unrecognized contributions of Robert Morris, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a major financial backer during the American Revolutionary War. According to Newman's New York Times obituary, after the United States gained its independence, the wealthy Morris sustained the government of the young nation during a "grave fiscal crisis" by issuing "vast quantities of notes in denominations from $20 to $100" backed by his own personal credit.[1]

In 2010, he and Robert M. Peck, a curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, reported their discovery of an 1824 $3 New Jersey banknote bearing the image of a heath hen.[12] Antiques magazine stated, after conducting research, that this was "almost certainly the earliest published illustration of a bird by John James Audubon."[1]

Newman wrote over 13 numismatic books. He is known for his pioneering study The Early Paper Money of America (1967), which remains the standard work on the subject and has entered its fifth edition. Other written works include The 1776 Continental Currency Coinage: Varieties of the Fugio Cent (1952), The Fantastic 1804 Dollar (1962) and U.S. Coin Scales and Counterfeit Coin Detectors (2000).[13]

Personal life and legacy

Newman married Evelyn Edison on November 29, 1939. They had two children.

The Newmans supported a variety of philanthropic efforts including medical research, academia, and St. Louis cultural affairs.[14] The couple established the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society in 1981.[15] In March 2016, the society launched the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP), administered through Washington University of St. Louis. The NNP launched with over 100,000 pages worth of over 3,000 documents digitized to both preserve them and make them accessible to a wider range of collectors.[16] In 2003, the Newmans donated two million dollars to Washington University in St. Louis to establish the Newman Money Museum, housed in the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.[4] It opened in 2006 and displayed part of Newman's collection on a rotating basis. They also established the Eric P. Newman Education Center at the Washington University School of Medicine and established numerous professorships and scholarships.[17]

Evelyn Newman died on September 1, 2015, at the age of 95.[18] Eric Newman died on November 15, 2017, at the age of 106.[19]

Awards and honors

Among his many honors are the Archer M. Huntington Medal (the highest award of the American Numismatic Society)[2] in 1978[8] and the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1991.[20] The American Numismatic Association inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1986 and named him Numismatist of the Year in 1996.[2] The American Numismatic Society commissioned a bas-relief portrait that was presented to him at his 100th birthday celebration.[3][21]

Year Award Notes
1955 ANA, Heath Literary Award honorable mention "First Documentary Evidence on the American Colonial Pewter 1/24 Real"
1956 ANA, Heath Literary Award 3rd place "Poor Richard's Mottoes for Coins"
1957 Missouri Numismatic Society "For Outstanding Service to the Missouri Numismatic Society"
1958 ANA, Heath Literary Award 3rd place "Counterfeit Continental Currency Goes to War"
1959 ANA, Heath Literary Award 1st place "The Continental Dollar of 1776 Meets its Maker"
1960 ANA 25-year Membership Award
1962 ANA, Heath Literary Award honorary "Diagnosing the Zerbe 1804 and 1805 Dollars"
1963 ANA, Heath Literary Award honorary "A Dangerous Oak Tree Shilling Copy Appears"
1964 ANA, Heath Literary Award 1st place "Nature of Printing of Colonial and Continental Currency"
1964 ANA Medal of Merit
1965 Lecturer in Numismatics Award Roosevelt University
1965 ANA, Heath Literary Award 2nd place "An Elephant Token Never Forgets — Forgery"
1966 ANA, Heath Literary Award 1st place "Sources of Emblems and Mottoes"
1966 Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Award
1967 ANA, Heath Literary Award 4th place Assay Commission Membership medal
1969 ANA Farran Zerbe Memorial Award
1971 "Recognition of Contribution to Numismatic Knowledge" Oklahoma-Kansas Numismatic Association
1972 New Orleans ANA Honoris Causa Award
1973 Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society Award bronze medal
1974 ANA, Heath Literary Award certificate of merit
1975 ANA, Heath Literary Award 2nd place "As Phony as a Three Dollar Bill"
1978 ANS Archer Milton Huntington Award
1979 ANA, Heath Literary Award 2nd place "The Philadelphia Highway Coin Fund
1980 ANA, Heath Literary Award "Super Numismatic Forgeries are Upon Us
1982 Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) Clemy Award "For Numismatic Writing Ability, Sense of Humor, and Dedication to the Hobby"
1984 ANA, Heath Literary Award Bronze medal "Benjamin Franklin and the Chain Design"
1985 ANA 50 Year Membership Award
1989 ANS Endowment Medal No. 4
1992 House Joint Resolution No. 271 of the Commonwealth of Virginia "Commends Eric P. Newman for his valuable research on Colonial Virginia copper halfpenny and establishing that these were the first authorized legal coinage in Colonial America."
1993 ANA Exemplary Service Award
1996 ANA Numismatist of the Year
1996 ANS Gold Membership medal for Distinguished Service
1997 ANA Lifetime Achievement Award
1999 C4 Lifetime Achievement Award
2001 Burnett Anderson Memorial Award for Excellence in Numismatic Writing ANA, ANS, NLG
2009 NLG Award of Extraordinary Merit "The Fantastic 1804 Dollar: Tribute Edition"
2010 ANA 75-year membership Award
2011 ANA Wayte and Olga Raymond Memorial Award 2nd place "for Distinguished Numismatic Achievement in United States Numismatics
2011 Rittenhouse Society Gold Medal "honoring Newman's numismatic achievements on his 100th birthday"
2011 ANS plaquette issued in honor of Newman's 100th birthday
2013 PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame
2014 Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC) Hall of Fame
2015 ANA, Heath Literary Award 1st place
2015 Wayte and Olage Raymond Memorial Award for Distinguished Achievement in United States Numismatics
2015 NLG Award "for best article in a large non-profit publication for '18th-Century Writings on the Continental Dollar Coin"

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f McFadden, Robert D. (November 16, 2017). "Eric Newman, Whose Coins Told of America's History, Dies at 106". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b c Liam Otten (December 10, 2003). "Background on Eric P. Newman". Washington University in St. Louis. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d "Eric P. Newman Medal". American Numismatic Society. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e Michele Orzano (June 13, 2011). "Eric P. Newman reflects on life, looks ahead". Coin World. Archived from the original on August 3, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
  5. ^ Rose Miyatsu. Newman Tower Exhibit: The Eric Newman Money Collection Archived July 25, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, University Libraries, Washington University in St. Louis
  6. ^ Matthew Healy (May 18, 2014). "In Coins, Man Found a Century of Learning". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  7. ^ "Newman Collection Part V Realizes $10.4+ Million". CoinNews.net. November 25, 2014. Archived from the original on July 8, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Robert Wilson Hoge (Summer 2003). "Eric P. Newman: A Collector Profile". ANS Magazine (American Numismatic Society publication). Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
  9. ^ "NGC Certifies Newman's Unique 1792 Washington President Gold Eagle". Numismatic Guaranty Company. June 13, 2018.
  10. ^ "Central States Numismatic Society: History of Central States". Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  11. ^ Perdue, Bruce. "Central States Numismatic Society: History of Central States". www.centralstates.info. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  12. ^ "Audubon's First Print Is Found, Ending Long Search". NPR. August 4, 2010.
  13. ^ "Newman Money Museum to open at Washington University in St. Louis Oct. 25 | The Source | Washington University in St. Louis". October 17, 2006. Archived from the original on August 27, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  14. ^ "Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis | Comprehensive Research & Reference for U.S. Coinage". nnp.wustl.edu. Collectibles Technology Company. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  15. ^ Walker, Hubert (November 17, 2017). "In Memoriam: The Life and Legacy of Eric P. Newman, 1911-2017". CoinWeek. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  16. ^ Hill, David. "Newman Numismatic Portal Opens". numsimatics.org. The American Numismatic Society. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  17. ^ Duffy, Robert W. (September 2, 2015). "Evelyn Edison Newman: Creative philanthropist made it fun for others to contribute". Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  18. ^ Bogan, Jesse (September 3, 2015). "Evelyn Newman: Queen of St. Louis fundraising has died". Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  19. ^ "Numismatist Eric Newman dies at age 106". Coin World. November 16, 2017. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  20. ^ "The Royal Numismatic Society – Medals and Prizes". Royal Numismatic Society. Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  21. ^ Ausberger, Leonard; Burdette, Roger W.; Orosz, Joel (2015). Truth Seeker: The Life of Eric P. Newman. Dallas, Texas: Ivy Press, Inc. ISBN 978-1-63351-185-9.