NNP

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.

Roger Burdette recently posted on an NGC message board “A frequently asked question by collectors is ‘Why was the mintmark moved on 1917 half dollars?’ Common answers cover a wide range of speculation, invention, and bluster. The real reason is revealed by these two recently digitized letters.” Referring to the letters, the Director of the Mint (Raymond Baker) wrote to the Superintendent of the Philadelphia Mint on April 11, 1917, asking why the mintmark position was changed. The Director answered his own question two days letter, noting that the former Director F. J. H. von Engelken ordered the obverse to reverse change because the obverse position was too prominent and appeared as a defect in the die. 

Just for fun we checked ChatGPT to see if AI was responsible for some of the “speculation, invention, and bluster” to which Roger referred. Remarkably, it provided a detailed, accurate answer, even quoting an earlier letter from von Engelken that originally ordered the change.

Link to National Archives record group 104 (U.S. Mint), entry 235 (letters sent by Director’s office) on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/512703
Link to NGC message board thread on the 1917 Walking Liberty Half Dollar: https://boards.ngccoin.com/topic/440732-mintmark-location-change-on-1917-halves/#comment-9927341

John Max Wulfing was born in 1859 to Charles and Hermine (Diekriede) Wulfing in St. Louis, MO. He was educated in both the United States and Germany before entering the family business and becoming a third-generation wholesale grocer in St. Louis. The wealth accumulated through his business success enabled Wulfing to engage in local philanthropy through Park Unity Church and to support German relief efforts and academic causes following World War I. His personal interests focused on archaeology and the classics.

Wulfing is best known for his ancient coin collection, which was donated in 1928 and forms the nucleus of the Wulfing Collection at Washington University in St. Louis. Less known is the substantial collection of Native American artifacts, Japanese tsuba (sword guards), and books that Wulfing collected until his death in 1929. Wulfing added many objects to his collections during his travels across the United States, Central America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. This exhibition highlights some of those travels and the items he acquired along the way. To Wulfing, these were not just objects, but lenses into past times and cultures that served as invaluable teaching aids.

The John Max Wulfing’s Passport to the Past exhibition opens August 5 in the Newman Tower exhibit space in Olin Library at Washington University in St. Louis. This exhibit is guest curated by Jeremy Haag.

Link to WashU Wulfing exhibit announcement: https://library.washu.edu/exhibitions/wulfings-passport/
Link to “The John Max Wulfing Collection” on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai2K6Hgemmw&t=8s

Originally built on proprietary software, Newman Portal has been migrating content since last fall onto AM Quartex, a digital asset management and collection publishing platform supported by Adam Matthew AM, a UK-based firm. Quartex is used widely by libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions to host, present, and preserve digital assets. 

Most of the NNP collection has already been migrated to the new platform, and we envision a soft launch on August 1. The new and old sites will run in parallel for several weeks, at which point the current URLs (NewmanPortal.org, nnp.wustl.edu) will be reconfigured to point to the new site. The user interface to the site will be familiar to current users, while the underlying repository will be completely new. Further announcements will be made as we approach the soft launch date.

We will be presenting at the ANA convention in the Money Talks forum, Friday, August 28 at 10 A.M. This event will be recorded and made available on NNP in due course. 

Link to Quartex home page: https://www.amdigital.co.uk/am-quartex
Link to Newman Numismatic Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/

The St. Louis Ancient Coin study group is dedicated to education regarding ancient and medieval coins and tokens. The group meets monthly in the St Louis, MO area, with meetings simulcast on Zoom. Meeting video for the St. Louis Ancient Coin Study Group is posted on their Facebook page and is also archived on Newman Portal.

Doug Tomney’s presentation from their February 19, 2026 meeting, “Ancient Coin Collecting Themes and Strategies” provides a useful overview of the subject and offers a collecting framework for those not necessarily familiar with ancient numismatics. Collections might be organized around history, geography, rulers, denominations, or even metallic composition. By illustrating the many paths available to collectors, the presentation demonstrates how ancient coins can serve as an entry point into the broader study of history and material culture.

Link to St. Louis Ancient Coin Study Group meetings on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/multimediadetail/552485

Link to St. Louis Ancient Coin Study Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=st.%20louis%20ancient%20coin%20study%20group

In viewing the scanning queue at the American Numismatic Society, a recently digitized run of Karl Kress auction sale catalogs caught my eye. Kress, based in Salzburg, was the successor to Otto Helbing (sale nos. 1-88), and numbering in the Kress series begins with no. 89 in 1944. (As an aside, I’ve always been curious how numismatic sales managed to continue in a war-torn continent – another subject for another day.) 

Ted Buttrey’s Numismatic Auction Catalogues and Fixed Price Lists details over 55,000 auction sale catalogs and fixed price lists in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University and is the first place to look for related bibliographic information. Buttrey notes sales no. 89 – 191, from 1944 to 1986, and nos. 89-157 are now available. John Spring’s Ancient Coin Auction Catalogues identifies four of these sales (nos. 106, 110, 112, and 116) as significant for ancient numismatics. Many thanks to Lara Jacobs, who performs scanning and metadata processing at American Numismatic Society, under sponsorship of Newman Numismatic Portal. 

Link to Karl Kress auction sale catalogs: https://archive.org/details/newmannumismatic?tab=collection&query=kress&page=2&sort=-publicdate
Link to Ted Buttrey’s Numismatic Auction Catalogues and Fixed Price Lists: https://archive.org/details/buttreylists

In this oral history interview, legendary numismatist Ken Bressett reflects on a lifetime in coin collecting that began in the 1930s with Indian cents, B. Max Mehl catalogs, and Ovaltine promotional coins. He recounts his relationships with many of the most important figures in numismatic history, including R.S. Yeoman, Eric P. Newman, Q. David Bowers, Walter Breen, William Sheldon, John Ford, and B. Max Mehl. Bressett explains how his corrections to Yeoman’s Red Book eventually led to a professional partnership, discusses his passion for ancient Greek silver coins, and shares remarkable anecdotes about the development of the hobby, including his role in popularizing the term “doubled die” for the famous 1955 Lincoln cent variety. The interview also highlights Bressett’s contributions as an author, editor, ANA Hall of Fame member, Assay Commissioner, educator, photographer, and researcher whose influence shaped generations of collectors.

The conversation illuminates the culture of twentieth-century numismatics. Bressett describes diving with Mel Fisher at the Atocha treasure site, dining with Eric Newman using silverware made by Paul Revere and Ephraim Brasher, and watching Walter Breen perform on the piano at the 1948 ANA convention. He also shares lesser-known stories about Penn Jillette’s numismatic family background, John Ford’s abrasive personality and counterfeit operations, and his own mistaken obituary published by the Royal Numismatic Society after he allowed his membership to lapse. Bressett emphasizes lifelong curiosity, scholarship, ethical conduct, and friendship within the hobby, presenting a portrait not only of his own career but also of the personalities and institutions that defined modern American numismatics.

Link to Greg Bennick’s Interview of Ken Bressett: https://youtu.be/emQlt4zLTxU
Link to Greg Bennick’s numismatic interviews on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDk2lseZ-iyrsliZhvhqz1ilIqoUeeEcw

The tenth Newman Numismatic Portal Symposium was held April 23-25 in Schaumburg, IL, in conjunction with the Central States Numismatic Society convention. Video from this event, covering 20 presentations, is now available on YouTube. YouTube views are accreting even as I perform the video uploads, and among the more popular presentations is John Feigenbaum and Patrick Perez speaking on “Rare Coin Pricing in a Volatile Precious Metals Market." A big thanks to all the speakers who participated in this year’s Symposium, to Central States Numismatic Society for ever-present onsite support, and to Lianna Spurrier of Numismatic Marketing for producing this event.

Link to 2026 NNP Symposium video: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDk2lseZ-iyodoUj7VRU5iSYB348Gm3KD

Among the publications regularly archived by Newman Portal is the Seated Half Society (SHS) newsletter, Half Crazy. The SHS is akin to the Bust Half Nut Club, which requires members to build a significant collection of half dollar die marriages as a condition of membership. Half dollars of this era were struck in large quantities and remain eminently collectible today at many price points. The recent May issue of Half Crazy includes a feature on the 1846 Tall Date and Medium Date varieties, one of the most incorrectly attributed issues in the series, despite the clarifying images in the Guide Book and other sources.

Link to Half Crazy on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/548913