NNP Search of the Week: Huston

The term “Huston” was entered in the Newman Portal this week, and it’s not a typo for “Houston.” Huston refers to James N. Huston, U.S. Treasurer from 1889-1891. Huston (1849-1927) was a prominent businessman and politician from Indiana who was ultimately convicted of mail fraud in connection with his activities at the National Trust Company. Scandal is timeless, even if it seems especially active in the current culture. From a numismatic perspective, Huston is best remembered for a series of fractional and postage currency specimen pairs bearing his courtesy autograph. These were featured in the Ford XIX sale (10/2007), beginning with lot 846, there described as ex. F. C. C. Boyd. Illustrated here is lot 847, an example  of 25-cent postage currency (Friedberg-1282SP), signed by Huston. Certain of these reappeared in Stack’s sale of the Berngard collection (7/2008).Link to Stack’s Ford XIX sale on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=515271&page=245 Link to Stack’s Berngard sale catalog: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=517002&page=303