Eric P. Newman’s recent big-money auctions have gotten a lot of
attention within the numismatic world and now have even caught the eye
of The New York Times.
The Times profiled the 102-year-old Newman
Sunday in the wake of two days of sales by Heritage Auctions last
week of Newman coins that brought in nearly $3 million, money that
will go toward the cause of promoting numismatics and making it more
mainstream, and also support his Newman Money Museum at Washington
University in St. Louis.
Coin World will be reporting throughout the week on the latest Newman Collection auction, which took
place May 16 and 17. Our first stories published Monday regard a silver 1776 Continental Currency dollar that sold
for $1.41 million and a 1792 Silver Center cent pattern that also brought
in $1.41 million.
Matthew Healey’s Times feature tracks Newman’s journey in
coin collecting, from the 1859 Indian Head cent that was a gift from
his grandfather in 1918, to his purchase of some of the best items
from the estate of the famed Edward H.R. Green, to his partnership
with mentor Burdette G. Johnson.
Coin World gets
a mention as well.
Former editor Beth Deisher is quoted
as saying “The scope and rarity of [Newman’s] collections are in a
league of their own.”
Read the full New York Times profile of
Newman here.
Coin World profiled Newman back
in 2011, shortly after he turned 100 years old. In an interview with Michele Orzano he is quoted
speaking about, among many other things coin- and life-related, his
favorite coin — a 1792 George Washington President pattern, privately
made in England, that Washington might have carried around
himself.
“It was given to him by someone trying to get a
contract for minting copper one-cent coins. It’s worn, no denomination
on it; because Washington rode so many places on horseback the piece
was rubbed constantly by his clothes,” Newman said.
Deisher also gave her two cents on the centenarian in
2011.
"Eric P. Newman is our 'Poster Man' for how
numismatics contributes to longevity and keeps one productively
engaged in stimulating and worthwhile work,” Deisher wrote in an
editorial column.
Last week's sale, which focused on early American coins, was the
fourth Newman Collections sale. The third one, held in January, focused on world coins. A November 2013 sale was
concerned mostly with coins that had been off the market for at least 50
years, after the first Newman Collection auction in April 2013 featured U.S. pattern pieces.