NNP

Shafer, Neil

(L2015)

Born in Chicago, Illinois. Married Edith Oelsner June 7, 1964. They had two sons and a daughter. Received B.A. from Arizona State College in 1955. Shafer served in the U. S. Air Force 1955 to 1959 and played in the Air Force Band. He served as assistant conductor of the Racine Symphony Orchestra 1963 to 1972.

Employed as an elementary school teacher 1959 to 1962. Employed with Western Publishing Co. Inc. 1962 to 1975 as numismatic editor and senior editor 1976 to 1981. Worked for Krause Publications 1981 to 1985.

Author of A Guide Book of Modern United States Currency in 1965.There were eight editions to 1979. Author of Let's Collect Paper Money in 1976 at $1. In 1967 he received the Nathan Gold Memorial Award. Shafer was associate editor of the Middle Atlantic Numismatic Association Journal in 1957. Later he was associate editor of the Whitman Numismatic Journal 1964-1968. In 1986 he was appointed editor-in-chief of the short lived New England Journal of Numismatics. Co-Author with R. A. Mitchell of the Standard Catalog of Depression Scrip of the United States published in 1985. Author of Banknotes, Scrip and Paper Ephemera of Milwaukee in 1990. In 1990 he received the ANA Medal of Merit. He contributed the "Paper Money News and Views" column to the BNR. Contributed “Paper Views” to Numismatic News after January 30, 1996.

He was named a Numismatic News Numismatic Ambassador in 1992. He received the ANA Medal of Merit in 1990, Adult Advisor of the Year in 1993 and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. In 2008 he was inducted into the ANA Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the IBNS Hall of Fame in 2010 and the SPMC Hall of Fame in 2018.

bio: ConAut 33R   interviewed 9/17/91 obit: The E-Sylum 8/27/23; NUM Oct 2023