NNP Blog

6 DECEMBER 2022

Newman Portal Symposium Video Available

Video from the recent Newman Portal Symposium, held April 8-10, 2022 is now available. The Newman Portal Symposium brings together speakers on a wide variety of numismatic topics, including U.S., world, and ancient numismatics. Our feature presentation was a behind-the-scenes look at the Dell Loy...

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6 DECEMBER 2022

Loose Change for War Bonds

The Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 induced a patriotic fervor to support the government in any way possible. For ordinary citizens, one way to do this was to purchase war bonds. The Treasury Secretary Press Releases series contains several accounts of this activity. Nellie Tayloe Ross, Mint...

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6 DECEMBER 2022

Gold Coin Circulation in 1917

Although not withdrawn until 1933, the Treasury Department discouraged use of gold coin as early as 1917. A December 2, 1917 press release recently added to Newman Portal outlined the talking points. Secretary W. G. McAdoo noted that circulation of gold coin caused “rapid” abrasion and loss of va...

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6 DECEMBER 2022

Newman Portal Symposium Holds 4th Event

The Newman Portal Symposium, launched in fall 2020 in response to the pandemic, and now held twice per year, recently presented its fourth such event, which took place April 8-10. Video from all Symposium sessions will be available in 2-3 weeks, with notice published on the NNP Symposium website....

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6 DECEMBER 2022

Early ANS Membership Records Digitized Under NNP Sponsorship

Among the American Numismatic Society archives are a group of 1,700 file cards detailing early ANS members and their related activities at ANS. The group covers from inception (1858) to the mid-1940s. Occasional tidbits are present, such as this note on the card for Baltimore collector Waldo Newc...

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6 DECEMBER 2022

Married Women Unwelcome at the Mint

While it is well-known that the U.S. Mint employed women as adjusters from its earliest days, it seems that this practice was limited to unmarried women only. An 1880 letter from Mrs. A. C. D. Lewis to the Philadelphia Mint Superintendent A. Louden Snowden notes that Lewis is resigning her adjust...

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6 DECEMBER 2022

Norweb Papers on Newman Portal

The Norweb pedigree is well known to collectors, with many no doubt aware of the Bowers & Merena sales of this important American collection in 1987-1988. Recently scanned at the American Numismatic Society are the archival papers of the Norweb family collection, including the collection ledg...

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6 DECEMBER 2022

Maya Angelou and the Spingarn Medal

The American Women Quarter Program, a successor to the 50 State Quarters (1999-2008) and America the Beautiful (2010-2021) coin programs, is a four-year series (2022-2025) celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of important American women. The five honorees for 2022 are Maya Angelou, D...

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6 DECEMBER 2022

The Valentine Medal

This medal is not for Valentine’s Day, but rather for the New York Numismatic Club (NYNC) president Daniel W. Valentine. Valentine (1863-1932) served as the NYNC president from 1918 to 1920. He is best known today for his works on half dime varieties (published in the American Numismatic Society’...

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