Missouri Coin Collection Began With Rare Penny

ST. LOUIS (AP) —
Eric P. Newman, 102, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Heritage Auctions)
Eric P. Newman, 102, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Heritage Auctions)

A rare St. Louis coin collection that sold for more than $23 million at a two-day New York City auction can be traced to when the collection’s 102-year-old owner received an 1859 one-cent piece more than nine decades ago from his grandfather.

Retired St. Louis lawyer Eric P. Newman only paid about $7,500 for the 1,800 piece collection of early American coins that sold for much more at the auction. Most of the coins had been off the market for 50 years. Auctioneer Jim Halperin said the items represent just one-third of Newman’s total collection.

The auctioned items included a 1795 U.S. silver dollar in almost mint condition that sold for $910,625 and another one from 1799 that sold for $822,500. A rare quarter-dollar from 1796, the first year the denomination was produced by the U.S. Mint, sold for $1,527,500 — compared to the $100 initially paid by Newman.

Halperin called Newman one of the world’s most accomplished numismatists, or professional coin collectors. He’s written at least five well-received books and countless articles on the topic in a journey that began with a present from his grandfather when Newman was just seven.

“He helped invent it. He saw the future before anybody,” Halperin said of Newman’s early forays into collecting coins. “He really predicted what future tastes would be like.”

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