The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V23 2020 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 51, December 20, 2020, Article 9

MARTIN GENGERKE (1947-2020)

I learned on Facebook this weekend that Martin Gengerke passed away on December 18th, 2020. I'm very sorry to hear this news. Pete Smith submitted these remarks and an updated profile from his book American Numismatic Biographies. -Editor

US paper Money Records book cover American Numismatic Auctions book cover

I met Martin Gengerke about thirty years ago through Remy Bourne. Remy was a major contributor to Martin's compilation of catalogs and I also made a minor contribution. It was about that time that Martin came to Minneapolis for a visit and Remy invited me to join them. Logically, much of the conversation was about auction catalogs. My impression is that he was unwilling to keep up with listing new catalogs because he needed to spend more time on activities where he could make a living.

The last time I saw Martin was at the FUN show about fifteen years ago. In those days, Fred Lake hosted an NBS meeting at the show. I recall Martin was sitting in the back. I was not able to speak with him for very long.

When I knew Martin, he lived in New York. I don't recall that he attended the NBS meetings during ANA conventions. I lost touch by the time he moved to Bushkill, Pennsylvania.

I have updated his listing for American Numismatic Biographies on the Newman Numismatic Portal.

Gengerke, Martin Researcher/Writer (b. 8/27/1947 d. 12/18/2020)
Born in New York City. Attended Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Married to Beatrice. Employed with the United Parcel Service.

He sold currency under his own name in 1976. Employed as cataloger for Lester Merkin, NASCA in 1979, Herbert I. Melnick, and Stack's.

Gengerke, American Numismatic Auctions Gengerke was a specialist in paper money. Compiler of American Numismatic Auctions. 125 copies of the 8th edition were published in 1990. One hundred were GBC bound and 25 were hardbound with additional pages listing consignors. Author of U. S. Paper Money Records. 100 copies were published. Editor of The Asylum 1995 to 1996.

Gengerke collected fractional currency and credit cards. He claimed to have the only complete collection of regular issue fractional currency ever formed. This was sold at auction by Currency Auctions of America on January 6-7, 1995.

Martin's monumental cataloging efforts still drive the U.S. Paper Money and numismatic literature worlds today. When we first set up the Newman Numismatic Portal, Martin kindly sent me an electronic copy of his American Numismatic Auctions data, and we used this to populate the NNP auction database. He will be greatly missed. -Editor

Here's an uncaptioned photo from Martin's Facebook account. -Editor

Martin and Beatrice Gengerke

Remy Bourne writes:

"A goodbye to a long time friend, gentleman and a professional numismatist who was always attentive and eager to help."

P. Scott Rubin writes:

"I was sad to hear of the passing of Martin Gengerke. This was not the first time I was given this news. The first time was by Martin himself a few years ago. On calling him one day he informed me that he had died and been revived a few weeks before the phone call. He seemed to be feeling good by the time we talked and we had spoken a few times since.

"I do not remember when I met Martin, but we had a lot in common. He kept records of appearances of U.S. Currency and I U.S. Coinage. We both kept lists of U.S. numismatic auction catalogues, however Martin did it in book form. Once I knew of his work we communicated quite a lot. I still find computer discs around the house that Martin sent me with updates of his book.

"I was honored to be asked to write a Foreword to his last printed version of his book, which by the way there is a third version of the bound book - a half leather bound issue of only six copies done by Money Tree.

"Martin and I talked about many numismatic topics over the years, one that I remember was while updating his paper money listing he came across a finest known of one issue. But, to his surprise when checking his listings he realized he had catalogued the same note and it had been 'improved' since he last saw the note and he could not tell it had been done.

"Martin and I were both close friends with Carl Carlson. Martin knew him before I met him and because of this friendship we became even closer. It is very sad for me to realize I will not be able to call Martin when I have a question, which he was always happy to answer if he could."

Joel Orosz writes:

"I'm sorry to learn that another major figure in the history of collecting numismatic literature has left us too soon."

Dave Bowers writes:

"He was a great contributor to the numismatic record and scene, and an all-around nice guy."

John and Nancy Wilson of Ocala, FL write:

"We have known Martin for close to four decades and have always admired him for his dedication to the hobby and his many dozens of contribution. Like us, Martin was a Charter Member of the Fractional Currency Collector Board (the initials of the organization were used from the name of one of the most famous U. S. Postage & Currency luminaries and collectors Frederick Charles Cogswell Boyd (1886 - 1958). That organization is still going strong today. Martin put together a complete set of U. S. Postage and Fractional Currency which was sold by Currency Auctions of America in January, 1995. He published two important references, U. S. Paper Money Records and American Numismatic Auctions. He was also the Editor of Milton Friedberg's Encyclopedia of U. S. Postage and Fractional Currency. He was the author of many articles that appeared in numismatic publications like SPMC's Paper Money, ANA's The Numismatist, The Essay Proof Journal, Bank Note Reporter, Coin World, Friends of Financial History and others. He was also an exhibitor winning awards for his displays.

"Martin was also a a dealer starting in 1956 but his most important job was as a cataloger for several companies which include Stacks-Bowers, Christie's, Sotheby's and others. We recently read that he was also employed by Paper Money Guaranty (PMG) in 2015 for his many decades of experience in grading, cataloging and dealing. He also consulted for numerous organizations or agencies such as the Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia; as well as the Smithsonian Institution and Colonial Williamsburg.

"He received the ANA President's Medal and the first award ever bestowed by the Numismatic Literary Guild for Excellence in Cataloging. These are just some of Mr. Martin Gengerke's contributions to the numismatic hobby during his many decades of service to our great hobby. We will always remember him for the many times helping us with our questions regarding fractional currency related subjects and also helping us to add notes to our collection which included our purchases from his CAA sale held in 1995.

"Rest in Peace our Friend and all of our prayers and thoughts are with your family during this sad time."

Bruce Hagen writes:

"Martin is remembered by the FCCB (Fractional Currency Collectors Board) and NBS members and others as a researcher and collector. What's forgotten is he brought NASCA and Stack's into the computer age, designing their cataloging systems using XyWrite to print catalogs and interface with accounting software to conduct auction sales. I saw this first-hand working at NASCA-Smythe and Stack's. Though I worked with Martin on the same payroll only briefly at Smythe, this programming helped create the look of hundreds of auction catalogs for both firms including the Ford catalogs."

Harvey Stack writes:

"It is with deep sympathy that I learned of Martin's passing. For a good many years he worked for Stack's and helped with cataloging our paper money for consignments and general inventory. He introduced us to using the computer as a good source of reference, and others followed his technical skills with much interest.

"As a former friend, fellow worker and expert in his field the hobby will use all the information he gathered and wrote about for many generations to come.

"Mourning his loss, I am as always

"Harvey G. Stack"

HLRC E-Sylum Generic ad02 HLRC.com


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      

V23 2020 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2020 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin