MORE ON NBS COFOUNDER JACK COLLINS

In his obituary of Jack Collins in The Asylum, George Kolbe summed Collins up well when he wrote that whereas some people march to the beat of a different drummer, Collins marched to the beat of a different orchestra. Collins's real name was Charles Meredith Brainard, and he was born in 1939 in Detroit. You will find confirmation of this detail at this link to the 1990 update of the genealogy of the Brainard family: archive.org/stream/1990updatetogene01brai/1990updatetogene01brai_djvu.txt

This can also be confirmed by looking at ANA member directories from the early 1960s, where Charles M. Brainard is listed at the same address in South Gate that Jack Collins is known to have lived at later on. Brainard/Collins was no relation, so far as I know, to Karl M. Brainard, who founded the Numismatic Association of Southern California.

Collins continued to live at the same address in South Gate in Los Angeles County, and his mother, who retained the name Brainard, lived there as well, so the change of identity was somewhat transparent - Collins was no Reggie Perrin (to say nothing of John Stonehouse or John and Anne Darwin).

He was a brilliant photographer - his black and white photographs have a unique look - he lit the coins with a very intense light that makes it easy to see the dies and die states. His photographs are in the Breen half-cent and cent books.

My own experience with Collins was quite positive. I never met him in person, but I once had a good conversation with him on the telephone. He was very helpful to the American Numismatic Society in its search for the large cents that had been stolen by Dr. Sheldon.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: ALAN WEINBERG RECALLS JACK COLLINS (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n13a05.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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