New York Times profiles Eric P. Newman after multimillion-dollar auctions

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.