COIN BOARD NEWS FROM DAVID LANGE

There are several important developments this quarter, mostly involving Whitman boards. The most exciting is the discovery of a board long suspected to exist from a fuzzy photo in an old eBay listing that was little noticed at the time. This item is the first incarnation of Whitman’s board for COMMEMORATIVE HALF DOLLARS. It measures only 7 inches wide by 9 inches tall and is a bright blue with white printing. Like the previously known variety of this title, which is of conventional size and appearance to other Whitman boards, it has no backing so that both sides of the coins may be viewed, and the printing is identical on both sides. This new board is dated to the Second Edition by its Publisher Number, 364, which appears on all Second Edition boards and is different from that of the conventional variety, Number 388.

The newest list of Coin Boards for Sale #126 is another special edition, this time highlighting my inventory of boards published by Colonial Coin & Stamp Company of New York City. This business was established by German immigrant Leiser Wolf Schnelling around 1931. His first coin boards appeared in 1935, with only J. K. Post’s Kent Company boards predating them by a few months.

Colonial brand boards were a cut above Post’s simple 25-cent items, as they used transparent cellophane as a backing instead of opaque paper. Colonial boards also featured attractive, though not always accurate, illustrations and a handsome logo of a boy examining his coin collection at a table. The First Edition of Schnelling’s boards from 1935 showed this boy as a rather effeminate-appearing figure from the 1900 period, but this was quickly revised to a contemporary image that was more suitable. These Second Edition boards are effectively the only ones collectable, as I’ve never had a duplicate of a First Edition title.

I recently acquired a book for which I’ve been searching a long time. This is L. W. Schnelling’s Illustrated Catalogue of United States Gold, Silver and Copper Coins 1934 which was described on page 112 of my coin board book. Published in 1933 on the date of his naturalization as a United States citizen, it is really nothing more than one of many similar publications put out during the last century to entice new collectors. His book includes a list of dates, mints and retail values, with illustrations that were probably lifted from some earlier publication. This was also very common among coin dealers at the time. It is of no use in research, but it makes for a wonderful tie-in item with his coin boards. Someone else must have recognized its rarity and/or historic significance, as I had to place a very high bid to win this quite humble publication.

For more information, see: www.coincollectingboards.net

Wayne Homren, Editor

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