EDGAR HOLMES ADAMS

The answer is Edgar Holmes Adams.

Adams was born in Grafton, West Virginia, on April 7, 1868. When he was twelve years old (1880), Adams tripped over a loaded shotgun, the gun went off and Adams was shot in the leg. He was home-schooled and took up the hobby of numismatics as a sedentary activity. In later life, he walked with a cane. Adams married Sarah Sadie Ellen Degnan in 1895. They had no children.

Adams took up swimming for exercise, got to be competitive and joined the New York Athletic club. He competed in the Plunge for the Metropolitan AAU and was the champion for 1902 to 1905.

At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, there were five competitors, all American, in the plunge for distance event. The athlete jumps into the water and coasts under water without any effort at propulsion. The one who travels the greatest distance under water is the winner. Adams placed second and was awarded a silver medal.

Adams wrote a numismatic column for the New York Sun. In one of his columns he recommended the formation of local coin clubs. He followed up as one of fourteen founders of the New York Numismatic Club in 1908.

He contributed regular articles to The Numismatist after 1908. He and his wife regularly attended the ANA conventions. In 1912, Adams became the first paid employee of the American Numismatic Association and received $60 per month as editor of The Numismatist. He continued in that role until 1915.

On February 10, 1911, he conducted an auction of pattern coins that were duplicates from the collection of William H. Woodin. In 1912 he ran an ad in The Numismatist offering pattern coins. Then in 1913 he and Woodin published United States Pattern, Trial, and Experimental Pieces based primarily on the collection of Woodin.

Adams wrote several books on numismatic topics that included California gold coins, pattern coins, Hard Times Tokens and Store Cards. He exhibited coins from his pattern collection at ANA conventions and at the ANS. A group of 350 pattern coins from his collection was sold at auction in 1935.

Late in life, Adams was an invalid confined to his home. He died at home on May 5, 1940, and is buried at Bayville Cemetery in Bayville, New York.

In 1969 he was inducted into the American Numismatic Association Hall of Fame.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
FIRST PLACE MEDAL AT THE 1896 OLYMPICS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n30a15.html)

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