The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V27 2024 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 27, Number 35, September 1 2024, Article 16

THEODORE GRAHAM WEAR JR. (1902-1974)

On the Numismatic Bibliomania Society Facebook group, Marcus Davis posted photos of some recent library acquisitions including Coin Collecting in a Nutshell by Ted G. Wear. Kerry Wetterstrom commented,"I don't think I've ever heard of Ted G. Wear before now. A pseudonym perhaps?" Well, I'd heard of him and had a couple of his books in my library, but didn't know anything about him. I passed the question along to E-Sylum Feature Writer and American Numismatic Biographies author Pete Smith, who submitted this article. Thanks for the detective work! -Editor

  Ted G. Wear
Theodore Graham Wear Jr. (1902-1974)

Coin Collecting in a Nutshell book cover My topic this week is author Ted G. Wear, as suggested by Wayne Homren. My first hour of research provided almost no results. Eventually I found a few good sources.

Ted G. Wear wrote three books on numismatic topics.

  • Strange Moneys of the World (1957).
  • Coin Collecting in a Nutshell (1963).
  • Ancient Coins: How to Collect for Fun and Profit (1965).

Wear was born in Joplin, Missouri, on September 23, 1902. His parents were Theodore Graham Wear (1865-1935) and Marie Price Dawson (1875-1954). They were divorced in 1909 on grounds of abandonment and incompatibility. She had gone to California and told her husband she did not wish to return. In 1910, Ted Jr. was living with his mother and grandmother in Topeka, Kansas.

Wear attended Columbia University for two years and graduated from the University of Kansas. He began working as a reporter for The Topeka State Journal in 1925. He covered topics of the theater, movies, business and the railroads. He was promoted to city editor in 1954.

He was married to Verna Anne McCue on August 28, 1930. The 1930 Census showed her working in advertising for a dry goods store. I suspect they were both divorced and remarried.

Wear retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel and served with the New York Selective Service system in the 1950's and into the 1960's. His draft card shows that he was 6' 1" tall and weighed 185 pounds. He worked in New York as a free-lance television writer and public relation writer.

  Strange Moneys of the World book cover 1957 Ancient Coins How to Collect for Fun and Profit book cover 1965

He joined the ANA in May 1963 as member 49688 and promptly donated a copy of his book to the library. The Numismatist (February 1964) carried a review of his 1963 book Coin Collecting in a Nutshell.

"Another of the run of the mill books which offers little new information on coins and collecting. The book does attempt a chatty fictionalized lightness but it does not quite come off. The subject would have fared better with more straight prose. Of little use to the coin collector with experience, it may appeal to the layman who has no knowledge of the subject."

Perhaps this is why Ted G. Wear is not a well known numismatic author.

Wear promoted his book with interviews for newspapers and spoke to a local coin club. However, I found no references to him as a coin collector or an active club member.

He died in New York City in July of 1974. I did not find a published obituary.

I had the Ancient Coins title and I'm pretty sure I had Nutshell, too. But I don't recall having Strange Moneys of the World.

To paraphrase Will Rogers, I've rarely met a book I didn't like, at least a little. Every author brings a new perspective and arrangement, highlighting different aspects of the topic. But not all books are 'keepers'.

Smartypants Dennis Tucker added this comment to Facebook. -Editor

"It's hard enough collecting coins in the suburbs. I can't imagine collecting them in a nutshell."
— Lincoln Vanderblatt, in his review of Ted G. Wear's book

Kolbe-Fanning E-Sylum ad 2020-05-17

E-Sylum Northeast ad02 buying



Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V27 2024 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2023 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin