The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 8, February 24, 2008, Article 11

THOUGHTS ON SAM PENNINGTON

Ben Weiss writes: "I note with great sadness the death of
Samuel Pennington. Sam was a tireless supporter of numismatics,
running his own feature, Medals Collector Page of the Maine
Antique Digest, as well a being a regular contributor to
several other numismatic ventures on the web and in print.
Although I have known him only for a couple of years, I feel
we had developed a personal friendship and I greatly appreciate
that. Sam never failed to provide help in any request made
of him. He gave unstintingly of his time and effort and never
asked for anything in return. Such generosity! I feel not
only a great personal loss but a professional one as well
as he was of enormous help in contributing his expertise
to the Medal Collectors of America website. He will be sorely
missed."

[Gar Travis forwarded the following articles on
Sam Pennington.  -Editor]

Samuel Pennington III, who launched Maine Antique Digest
from his kitchen table and grew it into a national
publication, has died at the age of 78.

In 1973 Pennington and his wife, Sally, wrote the 28-page
first issue on a typewriter and distributed it to five
people. It now averages more than 250 pages and is
distributed nationally to about 20,000 subscribers.

Pennington was born in Baltimore and joined the Air Force
after graduating from Johns Hopkins University. While
stationed at Dow Air Force Base in Bangor in the 1960s, he
and his wife ran an antiques shop on the side, but grew
frustrated when they couldn't find reliable information
about the early American furniture pieces they were buying
and selling.

For years, Pennington searched antique shops and attended
auctions throughout New England, writing about items that
were for sale and how much dealers paid for them.

"Some dealers didn't like that because they couldn't jack
up their prices," his wife said. "But the readers liked it."

To read the complete article, see:
Full Story

In an article in Johns Hopkins Magazine, Wendell D. Garrett,
senior vice president of Americana at Sotheby's and
editor-at-large for The Magazine Antiques, said of Sam,
"The brilliance of Sam Pennington is that this was a market
that wasn't being taken care of before M.A.D... What Sam
created is like the People magazine of the business." "There
are people who adore him," Lita Solis-Cohen, senior editor
of M.A.D., said of Pennington, in the same article, "There
are people who are furious at him because he's so honest.
And there are people who are afraid of him because of the
power of his pen."

In spite of poor health in the last few months, Pennington
faithfully went daily to his office at the Maine Antique
Digest to oversee its' operation and work on his ongoing
projects, television show and philanthropies.

To read the complete article, see:
Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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