Paper money expert Donald C. Kelly dies at 88
- Published: Jun 30, 2022, 8 AM

Donald C. Kelly, a leading numismatist expert in national bank notes and obsolete notes, died June 23 at the age of 88, according to an obituary appearing in the Dayton Daily News on June 26.
Mr. Kelly was born in Poland, Ohio, on Aug. 18, 1933, and after earning degrees from Miami (Ohio) University in 1955 and 1956 and Yale University in 1959, he returned to Oxford, Ohio, where he taught physics at Miami University for 33 years until his retirement in 1993.
In the numismatic community, Mr. Kelly was best known for two books that are indispensable paper money references.
The first is National Bank Notes, A Guide With Prices, first published in 1981, and which by its sixth edition in 2008 had expanded to more than 500 pages and included a CD with a national bank note census of 320,000 entries.
In 2018 he filled a long standing demand with his 624-page Obsolete Paper Money – A Guide With Prices, catalogs, prices, and pictures more than 10,000 notes issued by states, cities, banks, businesses, and individuals.
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