TWO NUMISMATISTS EXCHANGE CORRESPONDENCE

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V19 2016 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 38, September 18, 2016, Article 7

At the ANA convention in August I had the pleasure of meeting Kellen Hoard at the NBS General Meeting. At the end of the month Kellen wrote a letter to 105-year-old numismatist Eric P. Newman. Both parties have given their permission to publish the exchange. -Editor

My name is Kellen Hoard, and I am a 12-year old young numismatist. I have been collecting for about three years, so going to the Anaheim World’s Fair of Money was a big deal for me. While I was there, I met Wayne Homren, Len Augsburger, and Joel Orosz during the Numismatic Bibliomania Society general meeting. Len and Joel ended up telling me that they had in fact written your biography, and that Len and Wayne were also working on the Newman Numismatic Portal. This was amazing to me, because the Newman Numismatic Portal is currently my favorite numismatic website! So, I decided to write this letter of appreciation. As a way of thank you, I would like to tell you about a time when the NNP helped me in my research.

I used to write blog posts on the ANA website. One time, I wrote about my idea of having an online young numismatist exclusive club. Sam Gelberd (an ANA educator) commented that he thought something similar had been tried previously. I researched online briefly, but found nothing except for the name of the club. Then, I thought of the NNP. I typed in the club’s name into the search bar, and sure enough there were nine search results! I learned a lot from these results, including the stunning fact that Greg Lyon, a current ANA Board Member, was the President!

Overall, the point of this letter is to thank you for making this project possible. I have learned so much, and it makes me want to continue being a numismatist for the rest of my life.

I look up to you and hope to be like you some day. It would be an honor if I could have an ongoing correspondence with you, or at the very least have your signature for my collection.

Here is Eric's response, dated September 5, 2016. -Editor

I’m glad to hear that the Numismatic Portal has been useful to you in your effort to create an online club for young numismatists.

When you were at the recent ANA gathering in Anaheim, you met several fine scholars in the field whom I have always respected.

It appears that you and I started collecting at about the same age. I encourage you in continuing your numismatic scholarship as it can be a lifelong joy.