DELMA KENNETH ROMINES (1935-2013)

When I interviewed Del Romines, he estimated that his collection in 1990 included about a half-million coins and he continued collecting. Would that be the largest American coin collection?

Romines was born in Slick Rock, Kentucky, on November 8, 1935. He was the son of Carlos Winston Romines (1909-1993), a farmer, and Eula Mae Carter (1907-1991).

In 1944, he found a small magnifying glass in a box of Cracker Jacks and began to study coins in detail. In 1948, he discovered the 1943/2 Jefferson nickel but had difficulty getting worn pieces authenticated. The variety was not confirmed until 1971 when a high-grade specimen was found.

Romines served during the Korean Conflict before attending business college from 1955 to 1957. In 1957 he returned to active duty in the military.

In 1962, he discovered the 1942/1-D Mercury Dime. Then his numismatic study was interrupted by the Vietnam War 1967 to 1970. Romines served 27 months in Vietnam and flew more than 400 missions as an aerial observer. He received an Air Medal with 17 Oak Leaf clusters.

In 1970, he was an ROTC instructor at Culver Military Academy in Indiana. He was married to Joyce Ann Smith on November 24, 1971. They had a daughter, three sons and a step-son.

He left military service in 1971 and worked as a supervisor with Phillip Morris Industries until 1975. Then he worked as a metal fabrication instructor for a branch of the U. S. government 1975 to 1989. He retired February 14, 1989.

He was named the ANA Outstanding Adult Advisor in 1981. He was named a Numismatic News Numismatic Ambassador in 1988. In 1994 he was inducted into the CONECA Hall of Fame.

Romines was a specialist in the minting process and has discovered thousands of die varieties. He served on the board of directors of CONECA in 1983 and as an authenticator for die varieties.

 

Romines was also an expert on hobo nickels and wrote the book, Hobo Nickels, Prisoner Nickels, Shop Tokens, Modern Engravings published in 1982. An updated version was published in 1996 as The Hobo Nickel by Joyce Ann Romines, wife of Del.

He produced crude dies for exonumia including his personal Hobo Token in December 1981. He produced a token in 1982 to promote sale of his book. In 1983 he produced a four-piece set of 1 5/16 medals in copper, nickel, brass and aluminum for the error coin Museum and a rectangular piece 2 x 1.5 inches struck in copper. In 1984, he produced a 20 th anniversary medal for the Metropolitan Coin Club of Atlanta. His pieces are easily recognized for their crude die work but have a certain charm because of it.

In 1991 he contributed a four-part series of articles to The Numismatist defining five dies states that indicate the extent of die wear while dies are in use.

By 1992 he had identified 54 different dies used to produce doubled die 1946 Roosevelt dimes. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here by beginning collectors who search for double die coins. Since this is not a Red Book variety the distinction is insignificant for most collectors and there is no premium added to the value.

His collection included die varieties, die states, die breaks, doubled dies, repunched mintmarks and errors. Much of what he found are minor varieties that would be ignored by most collectors. Age and poor health caused him to give up his study. He sold his coins to two dealers and moved to Louisville, Kentucky in 2001.

He was ill for several years before his death in Louisville on October 1. 2013. I didn't see a death notice in The Numismatist Coin World or The E-Sylum. I found his obituary on the web while doing research on large coin collections.

To read the full obituary, see:
Delma Kenneth "Ken" Romines (https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/louisville/name/delma-romines-obituary?id=7170776)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
WHO HAD THE LARGEST COLLECTION IN THE U.S.? (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n06a15.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web