WILLIAM DONAL CRAIG (1924-2014)

Last week contributor Paul Withers of Galata Coins wondered if numismatic author William D. Craig was still with us. Sadly, he passed away a few years ago at the age of 90. Ron Haller-Williams writes:

It seems that W D Craig was younger than your sources had indicated. (These were "born about 1920" and "95 years old in Feb.2014".) He died on 12-Mar-2014, after consigning his collection to Downies but nearly four months before the auction.

William Donal "Bill" Craig was an American-born Australian numismatist, philatelist, and attorney. He is most notable for authoring the popular Coins of the World 1750–1850 and various philatelic publications.

At some point, Craig developed an interest in coins, particularly those of Germanic origin. His first work, Germanic coinages (Charlemagne through Wilhelm II), focused on this area of study, and was privately published in 1954. It was followed in 1966 by the first edition of Coins of the World 1750–1850, which was split into two volumes: Coins of the Western World and Coins of Africa and Asia. In 1971 both of these volumes were consolidated into one large second edition, which was followed by a third edition in 1976. The Standard Catalog of World Coins, which has since largely replaced Coins of the World 1750–1850, currently includes some catalog numbers from Craig's work, denoted by a C# prefix. Having also acquired an interest in Australian revenue stamps, Craig published nine catalogs on the subject from 1978 to 1999.

Before his death in 2014, Craig consigned his collection to the Australian auction company Downies. It was sold as part of Downies auction 317, which took place during July 2014.

To read the complete Wikia article, see:
William D. Craig (http://currencies.wikia.com/wiki/William_D._Craig)

This article shows him as one of the "73 Cadets Receive Their Degrees At Marmion June 14" (Observer, June 14, 1942)

When young William Donal was also at Annapolis Naval Academy in 1943, he looked up the Baum family in Washington DC and met the 15 yo Alexandra Porter about to depart with her date- apparently Bill decided he was going to make it difficult for the 16 year old date- placed himself on the couch and kept them in conversation...

They began a young relationship - one that blossomed over two continents and spanned the next three years, culminating in their marriage on December 28, 1946 at Treasure Island Chapel in San Francisco Bay.

One clarification: The 1966 edition of CoTW has both “parts” (NOT “volumes”) bound as one - “Coins of the Western World” occupies pages 1-593, and “Coins of Africa and Asia” occupies pages 594-747, with a shared "index and finding list on pp 748-753. The “large second edition” of 1971 was larger format but fewer pages.

It was great to see the appreciation of William D. Craig and "Germanic Coinages." This title was among the first "foreign" coin titles I obtained as a 14 year-old collector in Miami, Florida. We were lucky to have a brand-new public library that offered four shelves of CIRCULATING coin books as well The Numismatist and Numismatic Scrapbook in the reference library. We also had a full time dealer of mature years, the late Frederick A. Newman, NUMISMATIST, PHILATELIST as was emblazoned in gold leaf on his massive safe. Newman was a survivor of the 1930's U.S. commemorative coin boom. He also sold books, including Craig's remarkable work.

A few years later, I saw Craig's series of poignant ads in Scrapbook headed LAST CHANCE TO OBTAIN GERMANIC COINAGES at a close-out price. These tiny ads radiated disappointment and almost belligerent regret, offered his book at something like $5.00 "to tide me over the last months of penury before I enter real estate..." Seemingly he had anticipated lively book sales that would have supported himself and his family, but these never eventuated.

Perhaps on a more upbeat note, Pat and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary December 3. Even this has a numismatic sidebar, as we spent our honeymoon at the New York International Numismatic Convention at the Americana Hotel, Seventh Avenue and 55th Street, covering the convention for Coin World!