NNP

We have several announcements this week related to the Wulfing Collection at Washington University in St. Louis. First, the exhibit “John Max Wulfing’s Passport to the Past” is now open in the Newman Tower within Olin Library on the WashU campus. Curated by Jeremy Haag, the six cases trace Wulfing’s life (1859-1929) through the lenses of collecting and travel. Haag will speak on the exhibit on August 20, at 6:30pm in Room 142 of Olin Library. All are welcome to attend. This presentation is in conjunction with the regular monthly meeting of the St. Louis Ancient Coin Study Group.

Next, Elena Baldi, Associate Professional Specialist at the Princeton University Library, has recently published the article “A Hoard of Hyperpera of Manuel I from the John Max Wulfing Collection, Washington University in St. Louis,” this, as part of the Alan Stahl festschrift published by the American Numismatic Society as Numismatic Studies 50. The article analyzes a hoard of 75 gold coins acquired by Wulfing in Athens in 1925. This group is perhaps the most visually arresting group of coins in the Wulfing cabinet, and Elena’s research is most welcome. She previously served as a curatorial postdoc working with the Wulfing collection at Washington University.

Finally, Will Bubelis, Associate Professor of Classics at Washington University and Curator of the Wulfing Collection, will be presenting on the ANS Long Table Forum on August 28, on the topic of “Epeiros and Beyond: New Perspectives on the Numismatics of Western Greece.” Bubelis served as Visting Scholar at the recently concluded 2026 Eric P. Newman Graduate Summer Seminar at ANS.

Link to “John Max Wulfing’s Passport to the Past” exhibit home page: https://library.washu.edu/exhibitions/wulfings-passport/

Link to order Coins and Money in the Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of Alan Stahl (Numismatic Studies 50):
https://numismatics.org/store/coins-and-money-in-the-middle-ages-studies-in-honor-of-alan-stahl-numismatic-studies-50/

Link to ANS Long Table 286 with William Bubelis, “Epeiros and Beyond: New Perspectives on the Numismatics of Western Greece”: https://numismatics.org/lt286/

The Eric P. Newman numismatic collection was sold between 2013 and 2018 in a series of offerings presented by Heritage Auctions. Today, proceeds from these sales support the ongoing work of the Newman Numismatic Portal, which is administered by Washington University Libraries.

Of the tens of thousands of pieces in the Newman collection, his favorite was a unique 1792 gold pattern produced with the thought of securing a coinage contract from the fledgling U.S. Mint. In his 1975 article “Unique gold pattern coin of 1792 jingled in Washington’s pocket,” Eric P. Newman posited that this coin landed in George Washington’s hands.

The US eventually built its own Mint, not relying on outside contractors. The Founding Fathers understood that U.S. production of its own money represented a tangible symbol of national sovereignty. Jacob Perkins, who produced the Washington coin, thus did not win a Mint contract, but went on to develop anti-counterfeiting technology related to paper money. Still, the connection of Perkins’ gold coin to the Washington estate is one of the more intriguing stories in early American numismatics.

The depiction of Washington on this coin relates to the Congressional debate of the period. In general, Federalists supported the notion of placing presidential portraits on the national coinage, while Jeffersonian Republicans opposed the idea. The issue was hotly debated, with the Jeffersonian Republicans eventually winning by a narrow margin. In the production of a pattern piece, the coiner had to guess how the controversy would be resolved. Clearly, he guessed wrong!

In 2018, this coin sold for $1,740,000 as part of the Eric P. Newman collection. After being on loan to George Washington’s Mount Vernon in recent years, the coin was recently donated by a subsequent owner to the permanent collection of Mount Vernon, where it is now on exhibit.