Eric Pfeiffer Newman (May 25, 1911 – November 15, 2017) was an American numismatist. He wrote several "works about early American coins and paper money considered the standards on their subjects", as well as hundreds of articles. Newman sold his coins in auctions in 2013–2014 for over $70 million and used most of that money to fund the Newman Numismatic Education Society and its Newman Numismatic Portal to "make the literature and images of numismatics, particularly American numismatics, available to everyone on a free and forever basis."Rose Miyatsu. Newman Tower Exhibit: The Eric Newman Money Collection , University Libraries, Washington University in St. Louis
Family Newman was born to Samuel Elijah and Rose (Pfeiffer) Newman in St. Louis, Missouri.
Education and career Newman earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1932 and a Juris Doctor from Washington University School of Law in 1935. He joined a St. Louis law firm that year and practiced law until 1943. The following year, he was hired by Edison Brothers Stores, a retail shoe chain founded by his wife's family. He rose to executive vice president in 1968, before retiring in 1987.
Numismatics His interest in coins began at the age of seven, when his grandfather gave him an 1859 Indian Head cent. When he was ten years old, he would visit Burdette Johnson's coin store in Downtown St. Louis every couple of weeks; Johnson became his friend and mentor.
While attending MIT, Newman became slightly acquainted with E. H. R. Green, himself a coin collector. Newman and other students were given the use of Green's private radio station at Round Hill, Massachusetts, to follow Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition (1928–1930). After Green died in 1936, Newman raised $600 from his family and purchased some currency notes from the estate. After he told Burdette Johnson about it, Johnson put up the money to buy most of Green's collection, including the only five known 1913 Liberty Head nickels. Newman's favorite coin, however, was a unique 1792 pattern in gold that is believed to have been presented to George Washington and carried in his pocket.
In 1938, Newman became vice president of the Missouri Numismatic Society. In 1939, he was appointed Secretary-Treasurer of the Central States Numismatics Society.
In a 1977 article in The Numismatist, Newman shed light on previously unrecognized contributions of Robert Morris, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a major financial backer during the American Revolutionary War. According to Newman's New York Times obituary, after the United States gained its independence, the wealthy Morris sustained the government of the young nation during a "grave fiscal crisis" by issuing "vast quantities of notes in denominations from $20 to $100" backed by his own personal credit.
In 2010, he and Robert M. Peck, a curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, reported their discovery of an 1824 $3 New Jersey banknote bearing the image of a heath hen. Antiques magazine stated, after conducting research, that this was "almost certainly the earliest published illustration of a bird by John James Audubon."
Newman wrote over 13 numismatic books. He is known for his pioneering study The Early Paper Money of America (1967), which remains the standard work on the subject and has entered its fifth edition. Other written works include The 1776 Continental Currency Coinage: Varieties of the Fugio Cent (1952), The Fantastic 1804 Dollar (1962) and U.S. Coin Scales and Counterfeit Coin Detectors (2000).
Personal life and legacy Newman married Evelyn Edison on November 29, 1939. They had two children.
The Newmans supported a variety of philanthropic efforts including medical research, academia, and St. Louis cultural affairs. The couple established the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society in 1981. In March 2016, the society launched the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP), administered through Washington University in St. Louis. The NNP launched with over 100,000 pages worth of over 3,000 documents digitized to both preserve them and make them accessible to a wider range of collectors. In 2003, the Newmans donated two million dollars to Washington University in St. Louis to establish the Newman Money Museum, housed in the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. It opened in 2006 and displayed part of Newman's collection on a rotating basis. They also established the Eric P. Newman Education Center at the Washington University School of Medicine and established numerous professorships and scholarships.
Evelyn Newman died on September 1, 2015, at the age of 95. Eric Newman died on November 15, 2017, at the age of 106.
Awards and honors Among his many honors are the Archer M. Huntington Medal (the highest award of the American Numismatic Society) in 1978 and the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1991. The American Numismatic Association inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1986 and named him Numismatist of the Year in 1996. The American Numismatic Society commissioned a bas-relief portrait that was presented to him at his 100th birthday celebration.
YearAwardNotes1955ANA, Heath Literary Awardhonorable mention"First Documentary Evidence on the American Colonial Pewter 1/24 Real"1956ANA, Heath Literary Award3rd place"Poor Richard's Mottoes for Coins"1957Missouri Numismatic Society"For Outstanding Service to the Missouri Numismatic Society"1958ANA, Heath Literary Award3rd place"Counterfeit Continental Currency Goes to War"1959ANA, Heath Literary Award1st place"The Continental Dollar of 1776 Meets its Maker"1960ANA 25-year Membership Award1962ANA, Heath Literary Awardhonorary"Diagnosing the Zerbe 1804 and 1805 Dollars"1963ANA, Heath Literary Awardhonorary"A Dangerous Oak Tree Shilling Copy Appears"1964ANA, Heath Literary Award1st place"Nature of Printing of Colonial and Continental Currency"1964ANA Medal of Merit1965Lecturer in Numismatics AwardRoosevelt University1965ANA, Heath Literary Award2nd place"An Elephant Token Never Forgets — Forgery"1966ANA, Heath Literary Award1st place"Sources of Emblems and Mottoes"1966Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Award1967ANA, Heath Literary Award4th placeAssay Commission Membership medal1969ANA Farran Zerbe Memorial Award1971"Recognition of Contribution to Numismatic Knowledge"Oklahoma-Kansas Numismatic Association1972New Orleans ANA Honoris Causa Award1973Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society Awardbronze medal1974ANA, Heath Literary Awardcertificate of merit1975ANA, Heath Literary Award2nd place"As Phony as a Three Dollar Bill"1978ANS Archer Milton Huntington Award1979ANA, Heath Literary Award2nd place"The Philadelphia Highway Coin Fund1980ANA, Heath Literary Award"Super Numismatic Forgeries are Upon Us1982Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) Clemy Award"For Numismatic Writing Ability, Sense of Humor, and Dedication to the Hobby"1984ANA, Heath Literary AwardBronze medal"Benjamin Franklin and the Chain Design"1985ANA 50 Year Membership Award1989ANS Endowment Medal No. 41992House Joint Resolution No. 271 of the Commonwealth of Virginia"Commends Eric P. Newman for his valuable research on Colonial Virginia copper halfpenny and establishing that these were the first authorized legal coinage in Colonial America."1993ANA Exemplary Service Award1996ANA Numismatist of the Year1996ANS Gold Membership medal for Distinguished Service1997ANA Lifetime Achievement Award1999C4 Lifetime Achievement Award2001Burnett Anderson Memorial Award for Excellence in Numismatic WritingANA, ANS, NLG2009NLG Award of Extraordinary Merit"The Fantastic 1804 Dollar: Tribute Edition"2010ANA 75-year membership Award2011ANA Wayte and Olga Raymond Memorial Award2nd place"for Distinguished Numismatic Achievement in United States Numismatics2011Rittenhouse Society Gold Medal"honoring Newman's numismatic achievements on his 100th birthday"2011ANS plaquette issued in honor of Newman's 100th birthday2013PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame2014Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC) Hall of Fame2015ANA, Heath Literary Award1st place2015Wayte and Olage Raymond Memorial Award for Distinguished Achievement in United States Numismatics2015NLG Award"for best article in a large non-profit publication for '18th-Century Writings on the Continental Dollar Coin"
External links Eric P. Newman Coin Collection Gallery Newman Numismatic Portal Truth Seeker: The Life of Eric P. Newman, Researched & Written by Leonard Augsburger, Roger W. Burdette & Joel Orosz. Edited by James Halperin
References