Eric P. Newman: Uber Collector

Never underestimate the far-reaching impact of giving a humble copper penny to a child. Eric P. Newman was a youngster when his maternal grandfather gave him a U.S. coin from the 19th century. Maybe it had been one he was saving until his grandson was old enough to be curious. It was an Indian Head Cent from the first year of issue.

By the time he died at 106 in 2017, the St Louis native had built the kind of coin and paper currency collection of which legends are made. He achieved celebrated status a second time as his enormous collection was auctioned to sustain the hobby for generations to come.

Collectors’ Genealogy

With his parents’ encouragement, Eric earnestly pursued his hobby. It included trolley trips to the downtown coin and stamp shop owned by international dealer Burdette G. Johnson.

Rather than just sell the young boy coins, however, Johnson required Eric to understand the historical context and provenance of each coin he wanted before purchasing it. It was good advice. The two later became business partners. Still later, Newman became a noted author collectors turned to for advice.

In 1928, while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he and classmates struggled to communicate with the crew of Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s first Antarctica expedition. They wound up with transmission help from E. H. R. Green, an early radio enthusiast who had put up a tower on his property.

Green was also a serious collector of coins, bank notes, plus stamps. Who could have predicted that meet-up with the man nicknamed “Colonel” Green would change the course of U.S. numismatic history?

After receiving an engineering degree, Eric returned to St. Louis. He enrolled at Washington University, and earned a law degree. In 1944, he went to work for the Edison Brothers Stores, a growing Midwest retail chain. But not before pooling resources with family members the year before to purchase on demand Civil War notes printed in St. Louis. Where from? The estate of the late Colonel Green. Then, with the financial backing of his childhood mentor, the rest of  Green’s numismatic collection was acquired.

That vast assortment included the rare five 1913 Liberty Head nickels, unauthorized by the U.S. Mint, and the 1792 Washington President Gold Eagle. In 2018, Eric’s own estate put that pattern piece up for auction. It fetched a cool $1.74 million for the Newmans’ philanthropic work.

Slipping through the portal

By 1958, Eric and his beloved wife, Evelyn, had established the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society (EPNNES) as a not-for-profit Missouri corporation. In 2014, the foundation funded the creation of the Newman Numismatic Portal, today regarded as one of the largest online libraries of U.S. numismatic literature.

I entered the Newman Numismatic Portal researching the blog Why Not a Queen of American Coins? It was Littleton Coin chairman David Sundman who alerted me several years earlier to its existence. Administered by Washington University, it’s filled with Newman’s vast archive of numismatic literature, annotated images of what he had collected, letters, and related ephemera spanning more than 200 years.  All digitized. All with free public access.

“I could never buy anything from him, there always had to be a trade, as he was ‘non-commercial.’ All of this was great fun, and reminiscent of my old baseball card trading days with school chums in my youth,” David wrote for the May 25, 2014 E-Sylum on the occasion of Eric’s 103rd birthday.

“He also traded me some wonderful Harper’s Weekly, and Leslie’s political cartoons revolving around monetary issues, from the 1860s to early 1900s, as well as western mining wood cuts and articles from various periodicals,” David wrote.

The long-running friendship between the two collectors covered a wide range of topics: currency museums, New Hampshire colonial bank notes, international travel, and research. Back in 1986, Eric wrote, “I did not know anyone else was sincere in collecting stereo views of mints and the bureau [of Printing and Engraving]… but I am glad to know that you do…. I do have a duplicate or so which I would be delighted to trade for something I do not have…”

It’s not uncommon for collectors to build subject-adjacent compilations. Images – especially postcard views – help put a coin or paper money album into meaningful context.

In honor of Eric and David’s spirited quests, we have to ask you: Do you assemble companion collections to go with your coin or paper currency albums? Please share with us in the comments section below.

And if you have a curious youngster in your life, have you gifted him or her with a copper coin that sparked an interest in collecting? Or, was your lifelong interest sparked with the present of a coin by a relative, similar to the way Eric’s grandfather gave him that 1859 Indian Head Cent? We’d like to hear from you! Thanks!

SOURCES

“Happy Birthday, Eric Newman.” The E-Sylum. Vol. 17, No. 22. May 25, 2014.  https://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v17n22.html

Garrett, Jeff. “The Green Pedigree: An Incredible Story.” Numismatic Guaranty Company. October 10, 2013. 2024. https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/3619/Green-Pedigree/ 

Heritage Auctions. “The Colonel Green Collection Archives as Purchased by Eric P. Newman.” October 16, 2018. https://coinweek.com/the-colonel-green-collection-archives-as-purchased-by-eric-p-newman/

Lupia, John N. “Johnson, Burdette Garner.” 2011-2018. Accessed October 3, 2024. https://www.numismaticmall.com/encyclopedic-dictionary-of-numismatic-biographies/johnson-burdette-garner

“St. Louis Coin Dealer Burdette G. Johnson.” The E-Sylum. February 22, 2009. https://nnpdev.wustl.edu/library/periodical/10371

“The Eric P. Newman Story.” University of Rare Coins. Accessed October 4, 2024 http://urc.universityrarecoins.com/urccontent/wbd/M102_EricPNewman-Story.pdf

Walker, Hubert. “In Memoriam: The Life and Legacy of Eric P. Newman, 1911-2017.” CoinWeek. November 17, 2017. https://coinweek.com/memoriam-life-legacy-eric-p-newman-1911-2017/

Zander, Randolph. “Some Random Numismatic Reminiscences – Part 2.” The Asylum, Quarterly Journal of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Summer, 1998. https://archive.org/details/asylumquarterlyj16n3numi/page/4/mode/1up