LARRY SPANBAUER (1942-2018)

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 36, September 9, 2018, Article 4

Jeff Reichenberger submitted this obituary for author Larry Spanbauer. Sorry to hear the news. Thank you. -Editor

Former United States Assay Commissioner and Numismatic author, Larry Spanbauer passed away on September 4th at the age of 75. He was born on November 1, 1942 in Oshkosh, WI and lived there his entire life.

Larry was one of the leading counterfeit experts in the 1970’s. In 1975 he self-published the book, Colonial Copies, Private Mint Replicas, Modern Counterfeits of United States Coins. He wrote the “Focusing on Fakes” column for Numismatic News (1976–1978). In 1976 he was appointed to the United States Assay Commission by President Gerald Ford. In 1979 he and co-author Virgil Hancock wrote the Standard Catalog of United States Altered and Counterfeit Coins, published by Durst. The first catalog of its type and very useful for the time, however, Larry became disenchanted with the publisher and the process and he ultimately retreated from the hobby. He became a leading scholar and memorabilia expert of Oshkosh, Wisconsin history.

Larry’s interest in numismatics started in 1967 when his grandmother showed him her large accumulation of old coins. He went on to serve as president of both the Oshkosh Coin Club and the Numismatists of Wisconsin, also as the editor of that organization’s quarterly magazine, NOW NEWS. During the early seventies he turned his interest from genuine United States coins to the spurious variety, selling or trading most of his genuine coin collection to obtain the counterfeit pieces necessary to help facilitate the publishing of his first book.

I became acquainted with Larry perhaps 20 years ago when we would see each other at the annual Oshkosh Coin Show. I began helping set up the shows and Larry would occasionally set up a display of Oshkosh memorabilia, sometimes non-numismatic, but his tables were always fascinating for Oshkosh residents. Larry loved to educate people about the town’s past.

In 2012 he wrote the book Oshkosh Neighborhood Taverns and in 2015 he wrote a book about the Oshkosh Cigar Industry, and he set up a four-table display on the subject at the coin show, including piles of wooden cigar boxes from the 1800’s. Some of the cigar company’s owners were prominent Oshkosh businessmen that had their hands in other projects that struck tokens for various reasons – these tokens were also on display to tie in the numismatic angle.

At the 2016 show, Larry set up a display commemorating the 40th anniversary of the last Assay Commission, of which he was a member. There were his letters of appointment, photos, documents of recognition, and of course his medal. Again, his tables were inundated with interested people. Larry was understandably proud of his appointment.

I was lucky enough to collaborate with Larry on a number of small articles for NOW NEWS, and he would occasionally call me when he had an interesting piece to perhaps write about. I enjoyed going over to his home and spending hours looking over his meticulously arranged and organized notebooks, articles, documents, coins, and tokens. A couple years back he decided to part with most of the coins and tokens, simply putting them in a rummage sale. He afforded me the chance to get first dibs on a number of items which I hold dear. Larry was just a super-nice, genuine man of integrity, generosity, and spirit and he will be sorely missed.

The 1976 Assay Commission medal was engraved by Frank Gasparro; it features Treasury Secretary William Simon on the obverse and Washington Crossing the Delaware on the reverse. Here are images found on the CoinAppraiser.com web site, followed by more photos of Larry provided by Jeff. -Editor

Larry's two books were for years the most heavily used in my library. Quite handy when dealing with the general public. I was asked once to examine what someone thought was a genuine and valuable rarity. I've since forgotten what it purported to be. But I told the party up front what we would do. I would have two books and a scale. When they arrived at my house I opened a Red Book and pointed to the entry for the coin and noted the weight of a genuine issue. Then I opened the Spanbauer book to see the weights of the known fakes. I let them put it on the scale and - no surprise - it was a fake.

It was a loss to the numismatic world when he pulled back. Larry was one of the Good Guys. Here's an excerpt from his online obituary. -Editor

Lawrence "Larry" Spanbauer passed away on Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at the age of 75 due to complications from heart failure. He was born in Oshkosh on November 1, 1942, the son of Lawrence "Barney" Spanbauer and Margaret Fretschel. On February 9, 1963 he married the former Carol Jean Ames. Larry was the embodiment of Oshkosh citizenship through his education, work and volunteerism.

Larry attended Sacred Heart Grade School, Oshkosh High School and the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh and was employed by Rockwell International for 36 years and then Curwood-Bemis part time for 14 years

Larry was on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Axle/Citizens First Credit Union for 25 years and was the Recording Secretary for UAW Local 291 - (Rockwell) for six years. He was part of the Carl Traeger School Referendum Committee, Chaired the East Side Firehouse Relocation Committee, was a member of the Lakeshore Golf Course Committee and Chaired the Oshkosh Gateway Committee.

To read the complete article, see:
Lawrence Spanbauer (https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thenorthwestern/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-spanbauer&pid=190150981)