The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 37, September 16, 2007, Article 15

CHARLES "CHUCK" ERB 1917-2007

[I learned last week that a good friend and numismatic mentor had
passed away - Chuck Erb of Pittsburgh.  Chuck was one of the senior
members of the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society and became
one of my numismatic role models.  Chuck took his hobby seriously,
and his passion and sense of detail impressed me immediately.
Chuck's specialty was Bust Halves, and he quietly assembled one of
the best collections in the country. But he had other interests as
well, in very diverse areas such as Swiss Shooting Talers.  His
talks at local clubs were a wealth of information.

When Chuck began selling his collections I purchased his Confederate
Half Dollar restrikes and related New Orleans pieces.  These were
auctioned last year by American Numismatic Rarities when I sold my
Civil War collections.  I saw Chuck last winter when I visited his
home to pick up his numismatic library, which I packed and shipped
on his behalf to Fred Lake who sold it in a recent sale.  Below are
excerpts from Chuck's obituary in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
He was a solid man of a solid generation if WWII vets.  Like my
late friends Glenn Mooney and Jules Reiver, they are of a disappearing
generation whose knowledge and courage will be sorely missed.
-Editor]

Charles "Chuck" N. Erb approached everything he did with passion,
devotion and attention to detail.  Whether building and inspecting
bridges, studying rare coins, volunteering with the Boy Scouts or
caring for his family, he was fully involved.

Mr. Erb, of McCandless, died Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007, of complications
from diabetes. He was 89.

"Anything that he was involved with, he seemed to jump in with both
feet," said his son, Thomas Erb. "He was quiet but quite firm (and)
assertive. He was very much a straight arrow in the sense of duty
to country, family and job. He really took that stuff very seriously."

Mr. Erb served in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II,
first as an instructor at the Engineering School in Fort Belvoir, Va.

As company commander and captain, he led the 538th Light Pontoon
Company, a floating bridge unit, in Europe. His unit was responsible
for maintaining and guarding three floating bridges on the Rhine River
in Germany and maintaining the bridge at Remagen, the region's only
intact bridge.

"We were world travelers," said his wife of 25 years, Frances Erb.
"He liked Switzerland best, because he's of Swiss descent."

He was an avid numismatist, serving as an expert to other collectors
who sought his help identifying rare coins, Frances Erb said. He sold
his large collection a year ago and invested the money for his four
children, she said.

Mr. Erb focused his collection on half dollars from the late 1800s.
He approached his hobby like a scholar and sometimes found rare coins
in dealers' collections that the dealers had failed to recognize,
Thomas Erb said.

He also enjoyed deer hunting, Civil War history, performing Swiss
folk dances, Swiss sculpture, music and the opera.

To read the complete obituary, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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