ORION THOMAS MASON (1865-1943)

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 47, November 25, 2018, Article 14

The topic of O. T. Mason came up last week when Ray Williams was searching for information on a colonial paper note pedigreed to an O. T. Mason. John Lupia provided biographical information about anthropologist and collector Otis Tufton Mason, but it remained unclear whether THAT O.T. Mason was THE O.T. Mason that Ray sought. Reader Julia Casey did some digging and submitted this information. Thank you! -Editor

There was an Orion Thomas Mason (1865-1943) who I think could be a candidate to have been the O.T. Mason listed in connection to Ray's note. Orion Thomas Mason lived all his life in Medway, Massachusetts. He was a politician and civic leader. He was the town historian and a market gardener with the firm of Hodges & Mason. He wrote the book "Handbook of Medway History 1713-1913."

In the Springfield Republican Wednesday, December 26, 1934 there is an article (reprinted from the Lowell Courier-Citizen) entitled "Commodity Currency" which states:

"Hon Orion Mason of Medway has lent us from his fine collection of colonial and early state currency and notes a document which may help to an understanding of this subject."

I have attached this article and another (Boston Herald, June 25, 1932) as well as a photograph and brief bio which I found attached to a thread on a stamp collecting forum. The poster there said that it is from "Who's Who in Massachusetts Politics" from 1915.

To read the complete article, see:
US Army Postal Service (https://www.stampcommunity.org/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16199)

Ray also contacted David Sklow, Director of the Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library at the American Numismatic Association, who writes:

There was an Orion T. Mason from Massachusetts who joined the ANA November 1930 - membership number 3832. That is all we have on him.

Harley Freeman bought a colonial paper collection from an O. T. Mason in 1935. This evidence is no smoking gun, but documents that THIS O.T. Mason was alive in 1935 and owned a colonial paper money collection as of 1934. That makes him much more likely to be our man. Thanks, everyone!

Intrigued by the reference to "Prof. Fisher's commodity dollar" I did a little digging of my own to learn that Fisher was an American economist and proponent of a plan to issue a stable paper currency tied not to a fixed amount of gold but to an amount of gold sufficient to buy a standard basket of commodities. I came up empty looking for a numismatic connection - no medals, prototype commodity notes etc. Let us know if you find any! -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
OTIS TUFTON MASON (1838-1908) (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n46a12.html)