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James C. Johnston Jr. was born in
the historic Oliver Pond House in Franklin, Massachusetts where he has lived
for 58 years. He holds B.A. and
 M.A.
degrees in History and is the author of several books. He has also written
more than 1,500 articles and monographs in The Numismatist, Linn’s Stamp
News, The Regional Recorder, and other publications.
Johnston was a teacher in the Franklin system for 34 years and has been
associated with Johnston Antiques since 1962. He is a well known appraiser
of antiques, books, fine arts, stamps, and coins. He is a founding member of
the Massachusetts Suburban Antique Dealers Association, a member of the
American Numismatic Association, and the American Philatelic Society. He has
also been President of the Franklin Historical Society since 1985.
Johnston is also a well known lecturer whose topics cover a wide range of
social history, antiques, coins, stamps, and the fine arts, as well as,
politics and political and military history.
My Calendar
By the way, did I tell you how
much I love collecting rare books, antiques, and art? When you are a
collector, the world is a moveable feast. I hope
that you will be catching up with me in March at the shows. On March 2,
2003, I’ll be at Richard Murphy’s Coin and Stamp show at the Holiday Inn in
Dedham, Mass. The Holiday Inn is at Routes 1 and 128 (Exit 15A). Show hours
are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
I will be at the Bay State
Coin Show at the Radisson Hotel at 200 Stuart Street, Park Square, Boston,
on March 7, 8, and 9. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday
(March 7 and 8), and 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 9.
On March 23 I’ll be at Tom Lacey’s “Greater Worcester Show” at
Auburn, Mass., in the Ramada Inn on Route 12 North, just off Massachusetts
Turnpike Exit 10. Show hours are from 8:30 a.m. for the “early birds” to
3:30 p.m. I suggest you come before 2 p.m, because some dealers may leave
early.
I hope to see all of you
Journal readers there. I have enjoyed meeting so many of you at these shows,
at which I set up as a dealer. Stop by and chat.
You can also log onto my website at
www.johnstonantiques.com
for
further updates.
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This 1933 St. Gaoudens $20 gold piece, which
just sold for $7.59 million, was from Farouk’s collection. |
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Coins
and Stamps Are Fraternal Twins by James C. Johnston Jr. |
Today many coin dealers and collectors have a great deal of scorn for stamp
collectors and dealers. Why is that? One coin dealer told me
what I think is the unvarnished truth: “Stamps are the competition. Stamps
suck up dollars that could be spent on coins!”
Economic truth seems to be behind the anti-stamp mentality. I still find
this to be a sorry thing. I am of the old school harking back to the days
when most coin collectors also collected stamps. Indeed, I still collect
both. For me, they always seemed to go together.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt was better known for his interest in stamps
then for his coin collecting. |
Josiah K. Lilly Jr. was
not only a kingpin in the pharmaceutical industry but a great
collector of coins and stamps |
Col.
Edward H.R. Greene collected stamps, coins, and women with equal gusto. |
Josiah K. Lilly Jr. was one of the greatest coin collectors of all time. He
was the grandson of Eli Lilly, who founded the Lilly pharmaceutical empire.
His mansion has been featured on television’s “American Castles.” In
his castle, he had a coin and stamp room that was fitted out with special
desks, cabinets, and tables to accommodate his huge collection.
Col. Edward H.R. Greene collected both stamps and coins, along with
collections of chorus girls and objects of curiosity such as a 14-foot-long
whale penis, which he had stuffed and displayed in his home on a balcony.
Some guests visiting him might have been shocked, but Col. Greene was, after
all, the ultimate collector.
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These
rare imperforate stamps of Bahwalpur were once in the
collection of King Farouk of
Egypt. |
Columbian Half Dollar Minted for the Columbian Exposition 1893. |
This
$2 stamp is from a series of 16 stamps issued to commemorate the 400th
anniversary of the discovery of America. Although the stamps carry the date
1892, they were printed in 1893. This stamp from the set pictures “Columbus
in Chains.” |
In his coin
collection, Green had all five 1913 “Liberty Head” 5-cent pieces. He also
owned all 100 of the 1918 inverted-center 24-cent United States Air Mail
stamps. This stamp is widely known as the “Upside Down Airmail.”
King Farouk of Egypt had a huge coin and stamp collection. His
1933 $20 St. Gaudius gold piece recently sold for almost $8 million. His
huge stamp collection was auctioned off in the 1950s by the Egyptian
government. I have a number of rare pieces in my own collection that once
graced Farouk’s.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the great
presidential stamp collector, also collected coins. He knew that the two
hobbies of coin and stamp collecting were fraternal twins.
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The $5
value from the
Columbian
commemorative set of stamps carries a portrait of Columbus that seems to
mirror the half dollar. |
The
U.S. Post Office issued a five value set of stamps celebrating the
centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the
U.S. in 1803. This stamp shows a map of the
United States showing the
area added by the
purchase. |
Left:
This gold dollar was minted to commemorate the centennial of the Louisiana
Purchase and shows Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United
States, who proposed the buying of New Orleans and all of Louisiana from the
French. Right: Lewis and Clark, who explored the Louisiana Purchase from
1804 to 1806, were featured on either side
of this gold
commemorative dollar. |
The United States government often paired commemorative stamp
and coin issues and mintages. The U.S. had not issued such
commemorative items until 1892 and 1893, to mark the 400th anniversary of
the discovery of the
Americas by Christopher Columbus. Commemorative half dollars were minted
featuring a portrait of Columbus, and a quarter dollar was minted with the
portrait of the first woman ever depicted on a U.S. coin, Queen Isabella of
Spain. The government then contracted with the American Bank Note Co. to
produce a wonderful series of 16 stamps to celebrate the Columbian event. A
great world’s fair was held at Chicago, to celebrate the 400th year of
discovery, in 1893 and was attended by millions.
The next pairing of coins and stamps was the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
A set of five stamps was issued to celebrate the event, and gold dollars
were minted depicting Thomas Jefferson and Lewis and Clark. A great fair was
held at St. Louis in 1904 to celebrate the Louisiana Purchase.
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Top
left: A 50-cent commemorative coin minted in honor of the Panama-Pacific
Exposition.Top center: The goddess Athene, or Athena, is depicted on the $50
gold coins of the Panama-Pacific series. The reverse side of the coin
features the owl, symbol of Athene and her city of Athens. This design was
in honor of the beautiful Athenian coinage of ancient Greece. These $50
coins were minted in both round and Octagonal shapes; Top right: The $1 Gold
Panama-Pacific commemorative coin features a Panama Canal workman. Left: The
beautiful two-and-a-half-dollar Panama-Pacific Exposition coin. Bottom
left: The 10-cent value of the Panama-Pacific series of commemorative
stamps pictures the “Discovery of San Francisco Bay.” |
In 1913 a special series of four stamps was issued to celebrate the Panama
Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. These were joined by a series of five
coins in 1915 consisting of a half dollar, gold dollar, two-and-a-half
dollar, and two $50 coins, one round and one octagonal.
In 1920, the government printed a set of three stamps
celebrating the tercentenary of the “Landing of the Pilgrims” at Plymouth
(or Plimoth). Two handsome commemorative half dollars, one dated 1920 and
one dated 1921, were also minted showing a Pilgrim and the Mayflower. As a
direct descendant of John Alden and Pricilla Mullins, I’ve always loved
these stamps and coins.
In 1926, the government printed a
sesquicentennial stamp featuring the Liberty Bell and a half dollar and a
two-and-a-half dollar gold piece to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the
United States.
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The
5-cent value of the three-stamp series,
honoring the tricentennial of the landing of the Pilgrims, showing the
signing of the
Mayflower Compact.
The
half dollar
commemorative coin minted in 1920 and 1921 honoring the Pilgrims and the
tricentennial of their landing at Plymouth.
The
150th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord was commemorated
by the mintage of this half-dollar in
1925.
The
high value of the 1925 series of commemorative stamps depicts Daniel Chester
French’s bronze statue “The
Minute Man.”
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All of these pairings clearly demonstrate how closely coin collecting and
stamp collecting are related. They are fraternal twins. These two hobbies
should be very closely associated.
I mourn the death of the “coin and stamp shop.” Fewer and fewer
of these great places still exist. One of the reasons I enjoy doing Richard
Murphy’s N.E.S.S. Show in Dedham, Mass., on the first Sunday of each month
as a dealer is that it is one of the last “old time” coin and stamp shows.
More than just being nostalgic, I get to buy some great postal history,
stamp proofs, and coins for myself. I love both coins and stamps. In fact I
have written articles for both The Numismatist and Linn’s Stamp News.
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