DOUGLAS EARL SPANGLER JR. (1946-2022)

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V25 2022 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 25, Number 48, November 27, 2022, Article 7

It is with a very sad heart that I announce the passing of Doug Spangler on the morning of November 22, after battling Alzheimer's for several years. He was seventy-five and born on December 27, 1946, in Cleveland, Ohio. Who is Doug, one might ask? With his wife Carol of fifty-three years in marriage (who ever so gently broke the news to me), they are, simply put, a pair of small-time ancient coin dealers whose contagious kindness and friendliness make this hobby worth enjoying and life worth living.

According to my records, my first coin purchase from them was on eBay, in March of 2014, and consisted of an ancient Greek bronze purportedly issued by Carystus on the island of Euboea. This city’s coinage was on my mind a lot back then (which involves a different story), so I was glad to finally snag a piece. Later on, however, I realized that it was actually an issue of Dicaea (Dikaia) in Thrace, a coin type that is confused notoriously often with its Carystian counterpart, right down to the positioning of two of the letters on the reverse! I told Doug about my discovery several months later, in December, and in spite of the long lapse in time, he wanted to take the coin back and make things right. I told him that I didn’t mind holding on to the pseudo-Carystus specimen since it was still a rare coin and a type unrepresented in my collection. (Let’s be honest: when it comes to numismatics, I am not very fussy. If I buy a beaten up LRB for $5 and it was found to be misidentified, but worth a million dollars, I will probably still keep it, assuming inflation eases a bit.)

For interest, I have enclosed the original auction photo of the Dicaea coin (which demonstrates Doug's unique way of condensing all his research into a single JPEG image) paired with a real Carystus issue of the head of Heracles/bull's head bronze type (courtesy of CNG, LLC; E-302, lot 78; 17mm, 4.59 g, 12h).

Little wonder they are such coin attributing headaches! That said, the stark differences in diameter and weight are important hints that the two are not twins.

Through that single purchase, I quickly got to know the Spangler family and I would come back again and again for more numismatic goodies that were seemingly custom-tailored to my research projects and collecting appetite. Were they psychic? I also bombarded them regularly with research questions about this or that coin, helpful answers to which were always sent via the . S. Patience. Being located in my home state, I teased them once that they gave new meaning to the phrase buy local!

Although the facts are usually uncovered gradually, they make it no less shocking to realize how many of my numismatic friends have humbly lived lives that stretched well beyond coins, into many equally amazing directions where they have done their part to help build the good side of the world that we live in today. In Doug’s case, it was his role as a submariner and a nuclear power plant consultant engineer. When the city of Holland was brought up one time during one of our many e-mail exchanges, he waxed nostalgic:

When you mentioned Holland, MI, I was filled with memories of working on Michigan’s west coast! I worked at Nuclear & some coal-fired power plants from D.C. Cook Nuke plant south of Stevensville-Benton Harbor to plants near Muskegon, Holland, Grand Haven, all the way up to Big Rock Point near Charlevoix. I would work weekdays and come home most of the weekends, except a few when Carol would come with me for things like the tulip festival at Holland. It definitely is a very nice area and somewhat more temperate than the middle of the state.

I was a nuclear instrument technician in the U.S. Navy Submarine fleet during the Vietnam era, 1967-1974, and continued it in the private sector until retiring a few years ago [in 2011]. I went into the coin business in 1976 and have enjoyed it—and even more after retirement. Now Carol and I keep the ten-acre homestead going and watch the grandkids grow! It is easy as they live on an adjoining 5-acre parcel.

What wasn’t particularly easy, though, by Carol’s own testimony, was selling coins (and some antiquities) before the advent of the Internet, back in the ‘ol printed pricelist days:

Somewhere in our cupboards we have a bunch of our old lists. Yes, there were lots of photos, taken on film and developed. Then they had to be gone through, picked out, individually cut out, mounted on large poster board sheets. Before taking them to the printers, we used Amberlith—an orange see-through covering, and then we used an Exacto knife to cut around the images—it was an interesting and time-consuming job. Then they had to be taken to the printers. Then they had to be collated, folded, labeled, and stamped. Our son & daughter remember helping with that.

That little window into the archaic past was recounted in November 2016. A bit earlier, they had kindly gifted me with one of their vintage mail-order catalogs (from 1980 if I recall correctly), thus temporarily holding back my souvenir obsession. Though handsomely simple, with a lot of juicy B&W images for the provenance hunters among us, it is still strange to think how such a booklet, shortly after its laborious printing, was probably seen as little better than junk mail in the eyes of most contemporary collectors. How times have changed!

For the Spanglers, they would change significantly in or around 1999 when they decided to set up shop on eBay. The change in venue, however, apparently did little if anything to dampen Doug’s careful scholarship (minus the occasional slip-up that even the largest auction houses are not immune to). From his auction descriptions, one could tell he was being guided in his attributions by a solid, personal library of paper and ink and not some other online seller’s cloned reiterations of questionable accuracy. One of my many research projects that sent him to mull over his stock and sale records concerned this mysterious Roman provincial issue of Vespasian:

The result of his meticulous search, however, was an apology for returning empty-handed and this clever quote: "I gave it the old college try, but then again, I did nothing worthwhile in college except meeting the love of my life, Carol. I'm eternally grateful for that."

If it wasn't already obvious from the first photo of Doug, he also had a soft spot for fishing, a sport that he continued to enjoy in his later years, even after the effects of his dementia had weakened his participation in the coin hobby.

In regards to Doug's service, his family did not want it to be forgotten. As Carol related to me in August 2018, not too long after a family trip to Minnesota:

Our daughter, Leah, had arranged to have Collin’s [Doug and Carol’s grandson’s] high school graduation reception after his Eagle Court of Honor ceremony. She contacted a submarine group in Minnesota. When asked, various organizations will send out a letter of commendation regarding making Eagle Scout. When the submarine group found out that Grandpa (Doug) had served on a sub, the fellow asked if he could come and present the letter to Collin (they usually send it in the mail). Two former submariners came. One fellow did an introduction, the other fellow read the letter of commendation and then he had Doug present the letter to Collin. Then the submariners thanked Doug for his service and gave him a commemorative Submarine coin. It was quite nice and the best part of the ceremony, at least I think so.

Carol has informed this writer that she is planning to add some more content/finishing touches to a proper biography of Doug that they had previously collaborated on, the finished product of which she will likely share with me eventually—and me possibly with the wider numismatic world (pending her permission). For the time being, readers can find a well-rounded summary of Doug’s life, in contrast to my lop-sided view, on Legacy.com, published by Eagle-Marry Funeral Home:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/douglas-spangler-obituary?id=38213904

A funeral Mass was held for Doug on Saturday, November 26, 2022, at St. Mary on the Lake Catholic Church in Manitou Beach, Michigan, followed by his burial at Calvary Cemetery in Hudson. Two coins had been placed in Doug’s pocket: one of Caesar (recalling Jesus’ quote: Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s) and a widow’s mite.

Now, normally, this would be a good place to end most obituary-themed works, but I think this remembrance of Carol's makes for a much better closing:

"This was like 10 years ago and one of my fondest memories–

Doug loved God, family, and country. He was a great husband, a wonderful father, and a loving grandfather. The grandchildren have fond memories of Grandpa at his desk, ˜working on coins.' He would put a grandchild on his lap, tell them about the coin he was working on and often surprised them with a coin and attribution just for them. Doug enjoyed listening to Grandma and the grandchildren laughing, playing games, or baking cookies. There were times with six grandchildren in the house ranging in age from 4 to 12, where the noise volume would increase tremendously.

With a knowing smile, Grandma would ask them to quiet down or ‘Grandpa will start growling,’ and on cue and much to the delight of the grandchildren, Grandpa would lovingly start to growl.

To read his online obituary, see:
Douglas Earl Spangler Jr. (https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/douglas-spangler-obituary?id=38213904)