JOHN GIDEON LAIDACKER (1867-1927)

John Gideon Laidacker (1867-1927), was born the son of German-American parents : Daniel Laidacker (1844-1929), a third generation Pennsylvania farmer and miller, and Christiana Wertman Laidacker (1836-1890), on Christmas day, December 25, 1867 at Turbotville, Montour County, Pennsylvania. The Laidacker and Wertman families record their origins in America to the time of the Revolutionary War.

He worked as a station ticket agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad. There he was able to cherry-pick the best coins and paper money specimens replacing them in the cash box with his own money. From this daily exchange he was able to compile complete sets of coins and surplus stock sufficient to advertise as a coin dealer. This is clear since many coins and medals in collections both public and private have a Laidacker provenance. He was able to assemble several sets of U. S. Large Cents this way which he traded for antique weapons.

He is considered the greatest gun collector in American history. He was also an amateur archaeologist and excavated Indian relics. This was sparked by local farmers finding old coins, arms, and Indian relics while plowing. He then went to targeted sites to dig where Indian relics were know to be found. Some of his finds and their renderings were published in archaeological journals.

Laidacker correspondence with the Chapman Brothers sent on his business stationery with corner card from his curio shop in Pottsville.

In 1898, he and his brother Nelson Elbert Laidacker enlisted in the United States Army in the Spanish-Cuban-American War. At the end of that war, on June 2, 1898, he married Katie Mae Deibler (1875-1957). They had six children.

On June 19, 1900, he stopped a train at the South Danville Station by signaling the train brakeman saving the life of George Hoffman who slipped and was about to be run over.

He is ANA member 728 and listed living at St. Clair, Pennsylvania in The Numismatist, October, 1905, page 300. While at St. Clair, he published a catalogue of the coins and curios in his shop and advertised it in the American Society of Curio Collectors Bulletin (1906).

Laidacker at his store in front of his rifle mount display circa 1911. Published in Magazine of Antique Firearms, July 5, 1911

He ran a curio shop at Shickshinny that won fame and attracted important collectors including Henry Ford. Magazine of Antique Firearms, July 5, 1911, ran an article on Laidacker's curio shop which contained over 1,500 Kentucky rifles considered the largest and most complete collection in the country. He amassed over 13,000 firearms of all sizes and types.

He served in several public capacities including as representative of the Pennsylvania Good Road Train, and as board member and Secretary of the Shickshinny School District, and vice-president of the Shickshinny Hose Company. He was a Veteran of the Spanish-American War and a member of the Grand Old Army (G.A.R.) and served as toastmaster delivering his speech "The History of Our Country on the Field of Battle" at a reunion in Shickshinny on May 20, 1913.

He died of a ruptured appendix on June 9, 1927 at the hospital at Nanticoke, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. His wake was at Shickshinny, Pennsylvania. He is buried at the Sweitzer's Memorial Cemetery, Berrysburg, Mifflin Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The second known Estate Auction known of the Late J. G. Laidacker included the remaining coin collection was sold posthumously at public auction in Jake Borry's Auction House, June 20, 1959. Martin Gengerke notes "many coins in original Chapman envelopes".

To read the complete article, see:
LAIDACKER, JOHN GIDEON (https://sites.google.com/a/numismaticmall.com/www/numismaticmall-com/laidacker-john-gideon)

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