The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 40, October 7, 2007, Article 12

REMEMBRANCES OF ARLIE SLABAUGH

Regarding last week's item about the Arlie Slabaugh, John
and Nancy Wilson write: "It is hard to believe that we have
lost one of the greatest numismatists of all time with the
passing of our good friend Arlie Slabaugh, from Springfield,
PA on September 26, 2007.  This renowned numismatist was
a collector, exhibitor, researcher, author, coin club
officer and worker.  In 1941, Arlie joined the American
Numismatic Association and later that year he was stricken
with meningitis (in the pre-penicillin days) and subsequently
became permanently deaf.

"This illness never stopped Arlie from his numismatic pursuits.
In 1989, he received the Krause Publications Ambassador Award.
The ANA honored him with their Lifetime Achievement Award in
2004, the Medal of Merit in 1991, the Glenn Smedley Award in
1997 and the President's Award in 1997.  In 1981, he received
the coveted Numismatic Literary Guild Clemy Award. This
numismatic icon received many coin club, literary and other
awards during his lifetime which are way too numerous to mention.

"When Arlie was seven, he found an 1864 Indian head penny
near his parents' farmhouse and though it fascinated him,
he didn't start collecting until the age of 16 (around 1938)
when he sent ten cents to a coin dealer for a banknote and
foreign coin.  Arlie is well known for his numismatic writing.
He had his own collector magazine in the late 1930's or
early 1940's, “The Hobby Spotlite,” and in 1954 he was
appointed Associate Editor of Numismatic Scrapbook magazine.

"Following this, he went to work for the Franklin Mint in
1967.    Arlie has also written for Numismatist (1948-49),
Paper Money (SPMC), Krause Publications (now F+W) for which
he had a column, and others.  He is well known for his
Confederate States Paper Money book which is in its 10th
Edition.  Besides those mentioned, he has written several
other references.  Arlie told us that he has been writing
since the late 1930's.  Arlie was very proud of his
assistance to younger collectors which took place in
the 1970's.

"We visited Arlie not too many years ago and were amazed
at his many collecting interests.  Like us, he collected
everything in the numismatic hobby (except ancient coins)
and even had a complete set of the wonderful publication
“Hobbies Magazine.”  Rest in peace Arlie, as your numismatic
legacy will live on forever. The below obituary was found
in a local newspaper where Arlie resided."

 Arlie R. Slabaugh of Springfield, PA died on Wednesday,
 Sept. 26, 2007.

 He was the beloved husband of the late Margaret M. (nee
 Williams) Slabaugh; and dear father of Brenda Keech (Bill),
 Wendy Turner (Michael), and the late Kathryn Douros. He is
 also survived by 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
 Relatives and friends are invited to attend Arlie's Life
 Celebration on Saturday, Sept. 29, from 9 to 10 a.m. at James
 F. Knoetgen Funeral Home, 746 Kedron Ave. (Route 420), Morton,
 followed by his funeral service at 10 a.m.  Interment will
 be in Edgewood Memorial Park.

Joe Boling writes: "I was there the night that Arlie won
the NLG Clemy Award. Being deaf, he was not easy to
understand. He did not speak in public often (maybe not
at all), but he delivered an acceptance speech that night
that was moving in its courage."

Tom DeLorey writes: "I did not know Arlie well, but the
fact that I had written for The Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine
in the last year of its existence (1975 to March, 1976) put
me in good standing with him. We chatted at ANA conventions,
and though his deafness gave his speech an interesting,
lilting cadence, it was easy to understand, and he lip-read
beautifully. I liked him, and am sorry to hear that he
is gone.

"After I published my article on Elder medals in the June
and July 1980 issues of The Numismatist, he came up to me
at the American Numismatic Association banquet the next
month and congratulated me on the article, and with a
great big smile said "You know the 'Numismatic Knights
of the Round Table' piece in silver that Elder called
unique? I have it!" I solemnly shook his hand, and said
'Congratulations! So do I!' It was my first confirmation
that Elder frequently lied about his mintage figures."

Marc Charles Ricard writes: "I was saddened to hear of
the passing of Arlie Slabaugh, who I met through my father
in the early 1970's and saw many times at subsequent
numismatic conventions.  He was the first hearing-impaired
person I had ever come in contact with, and because I didn't
have a real understanding of the numismatic subject matter
being discussed, I focused on the way he communicated.

I will always remember that throughout their conversations
over the years, and several pages of hand-written notes
on his indispensable note pad, they would always seem to
come away with a better understanding of the hobby, and
each other.  I recall the twinkle in his eyes as he
discussed numismatics, and it was that joy of the hobby,
albeit gained peering over my father's shoulder at Arlie's
note pad, that I will always remember. His publications
are not the most expensive in my library, but they are
among my most valued."

Clifford Mishler writes: "While I do not recall just
when I first established contact with Arlie Slabaugh,
it would have been back around 1959 or 1960. Our initial
contact would have been via correspondence, and I probably
didn't meet him until the 1962 ANA convention in Detroit.
From the beginning and going forward we were in regular,
though not necessarily frequent contact. Our last exchange
came during the Christmas season of 2005, at which time
he was resident at the Sunrise for Seniors facility in
West Chester, Pa.

Arlie was, indeed, deaf, but one could converse with him
on a limited basis, as he could read lips and enunciate
on a limited basis. In that connection I'll never forget
the experience of going out to lunch with him in Chicago
back in the early 1960s, during an ANA or Central States
convention. I remember him trying to carry on a conversation
with me as we walked beneath the “L” tracks structure, on
Wabash Avenue as I recall, which was certainly an exercise
in futility. During the course of many convention encounters
over the years, I carried out many extended “note pad”
conversations with him.

Arlie also visited Iola on two or three occasions between
my arrival there in 1963 to join the Numismatic News staff
and his departure from Chicago in 1967 to join The Franklin
Mint. In later years, following his separation from the
Franklin Mint, as a result of my having acquired rights to
the “Numismatic Information” series booklets from Lee Hewitt,
I interacted with him in exploring ongoing publication of
titles from the series which he authored, in particular
the Confederate currency title which went through several
subsequent editions.

Also, through the years, I acquired from Arlie three or
four of the specialized exonumia collections that he had
assembled. In particular, there was his collection of
encased coin issues, which included a number of rather
exotic and rare pieces. These I have melded in with
selections also acquired from the collection of young
Mike Kolman when it was auctioned by Kurt Krueger, and
my own significant accumulations through the years.

And, by the way, I am also the owner of a set of “The
Emergency Money Collector,” mine missing issues number
one of both volume one and two, which I believe a acquired
from one of Frank Katen's offering lists back in the mid-
1950s. That was back in the dark ages, so to speak, when
one really had to scratch around for reliable numismatic
information. At the time, I was endeavoring to build a
numismatic library of sorts, with most of what I acquired
eventually being absorbed into the Krause Publiations
library, which I did not seek to retrieve upon my retirement.
Arlie's publication, however, was not among the items that
were so dispatched; I also have four editions of “The Hobby
Spotlight,” from January 1942 to Winter 1942-43 kicking
around as well.

Arlie certainly was an outstanding numismatist, both as a
collector and as a writer. He was both selective and
perceptive in his collecting. His technical accuracy as
a writer was outstanding from the standpoints of both
historical accuracy and presentation. During his time
with the Franklin Mint he was responsible for developing
the accuracy of the historical contexts of both programs
and issues. By and large, his travels through our hobby
community circle were beneath the radar. He plowed a
good bit of virgin ground in his pursuits."

Katie Jaeger writes: "Arlie Slabaugh was one of the nominators
for the '100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens' project.
He had been an active contributor to the Token and Medal
Society Journal from 1960 onward.  I'm in the process of
creating a searchable cumulative index of the TAMS journal,
and I found the following articles listed under his name."

Amendment to Our By-Laws 14-230
American Labor on Tokens and Medals 7-133
Additional American Labor Tokens and Medals 9-116
Announcement 20-166
Another AB.T. Bill Changer Token 7-182
Antiquary, The 20-226
Baby Ruth has a Twin V-64
(biographical sketch) 14-114; 18-126
"Bone" to Pick, A 7-90
Child's Bimetallic Tokens 9-159
Civilian Conservation Corps, The 7-106
Classification of Medals and Tokens, The V-9
Coal Mine Scrip 6-25
Collecting Coal Mine Scrip 6-71
Collecting Trade Tokens by Denomination, 1/10¢-$100.00  8-36
Countdown, The 11-120
Cut-Out Tokens 7-169; 8-2, 192
Denomination Tokens 10-62
"Embossed or Shell Store Cards" 15-105
Encased Coins 7-45
First Impressions of Europe 16-92
France-An Empire that Was 6-78
Frank Buck 6-121
George T. Morgan was an Englishman 10-21
Help Needed on Encased Coins 18-150
Here's Bryan! 6-46
Holyland Souvenir, A 8-115
Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, The IV-40
It's Greek to Me!! 7-44
Ku Klux Klan Tokens and Medals IV-11, 99
Largest Embossed Cards? V-156
Largest Token? 8-143
Lawyers do not Advertise V-32
Marines "George Medal," The 8-59
Peep Show Token, A IV-150
Phone Your Wife You'll be Late from Work 8-29
(photo) 8-145; 14-186; 20-181
President Cleveland Takes a Bride 7-69
President's Message, The 18-189, 234; 19-7, 108, 
156, 191, 236; 20-8, 60, 97, 145
Rambler-The Bicycle that Became a Car II-118
So-Called Dollars Update 18-188
Some "Civil War Tokens" that are not Civil War Tokens 6-105
Some Unlisted Shellcards 45-136
Stevens-Duryea Car, The IV-87
United States Token with a Chinese Reverse, An IV-31
Unlocking Prison Exonumia  22-84
When Kaiser Bill Made a Bad Trade V-189
Which is the Oldest Private Mint? 20-104, 188
Who's My Double? 7-154

The citations are to Volume and page number.  At the
beginning of the index is shown the pagination in each
volume, like this:

Volume 9, 1969
 1-32 February
 33-64 April
 65-92 June. "

[So those seeking more background on Arlie Slabaugh should
be sure to look for the biographical sketches of him in
the TAMS Journal: Vol 14, page 114 and vol 16 p126.
Many thanks for our readers for their interesting comments
on Slabaugh.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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