LYMAN WILLIAM HOFFECKER (1868-1955)

Last week The E-Sylum had an item about the papers of Lyman Hoffecker. There was a good biography of him in The E-Sylum of April 30, 2017. I will try to add a little that was not in that article.

His full name was seldom mentioned in The Numismatist. He was just referred to as L. W. Hoffecker. He was born on September 27, 1868, in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. In 1870, the town population was 953. He was the son of Hiram Hamaan Hoffecker (1839-1912) and Hannah Evert Mack (1836-1906). His father was a carriage maker and Postmaster.

He started collecting coins in 1886 while working at the Post Office in Dalton, Pennsylvania.

He married Cora Knapp (1868-1915) and had a daughter. His second marriage was to Sara Jane Watkins (1889-1954) on September 22, 1917.

Hoffecker was not always a successful businessman. In 1899 he was declared bankrupt and listed his assets of $54 invested in wearing apparel. If he had any rare coins at the time, they were not declared. He got a fresh start in El Paso in 1900.

Hoffecker began business with a one-hundred square foot millwork shop for the El Paso Sash and Door Co. He filed for bankruptcy gain in 1910. His real estate holdings were sold at a trustee's sale in 1911.

After the First World War he went to Europe to buy and import glass, being one of the first to do that. With an inventory of several hundred thousand square feet of glass, he shipped to customers around the country. That business made him wealthy. He installed 90% of the store front show windows in El Paso.

Hoffecker did not always get along well with his employees. In 1913 he was charged with assault for attacking a former employee in a court room. He was charged with assaulting another employee in 1916. In 1917 he was found not guilty when charged with assault.

Sometimes Hoffecker was just there when an assault occurred. In 1918 he was a witness in a murder trial.

The Hoffecker house had a swimming pool twelve feet wide, forty feet long, and four to seven feet deep. It was in a glass enclosure and the site of frequent pool parties.

Hoffecker sold his glass company in 1922 and retired to a life of leisure and travel. While in the glass business he had gone to Europe on buying trips. After retirement he had gone around the world and eventually to 72 countries. He gathered world coins but also collected common cultural items like hats and shoes.

In February of 1933, Hoffecker exhibited a collection of footwear from 17 countries in the window of the Popular Dry Goods Co. In April of 1933, he had an exhibit of thirty-two hats from around the world along with photographs of the men wearing them.

In September of 1933, Hoffecker was appointed permanent chairman of the local NRA (National Recovery Act) Compliance Board.

On June 7, 1935, an exhibit opened at the Popular Dry Goods Co. store in El Paso. It featured nine thousand coins and pieces of currency from the Hoffecker collection. This was claimed to be the largest west of the Mississippi. An exhibit was shown there again in 1936.

In June of 1935, Hoffecker began taking orders for the Old Spanish Trail Commemorative half dollars. Profits were intended for the International Museum Association in El Paso.

The community was divided over a location for the museum. One faction advocated for the museum to be built on the campus of the College of Mines about two miles out of town. Hoffecker wanted the museum downtime. Both sides circulated petitions.

The El Paso Herald Post of December 14, 1935, reported that Hoffecker had resigned from the Chamber of Commerce. He opposed building the museum outside the City of El Paso.

"I have worked hard to get a museum for El Paso in a location where it will be appreciated. I don't want to hear the word "museum" again. I am going to continue paying my taxes here, which is more than lots of people in town are doing. I will attend to my own business. As far as establishing myself in the good graces of El Paso women who oppose my idea for a museum, I am not losing any sleep over that. I am tired of abuse."

A newspaper article in the Pittsburgh Press for October 27, 1935, about the 1935 commemorative coin stated, "The reverse shows a map of the train with a Yucca plant superimposed and bears the inscription, "Old Spanish Train" around the border above the dates "1535-1935" below." I will only comment that there was no train from Florida to El Paso in 1535.

The coins arrived in El Paso on Friday, October 5. With help addressing envelopes, the coins were all shipped by October 10. After orders were received, funds were returned for 2000 coins ordered above the limit of 10,000.

On December 24, 1935, Hoffecker added a gold coin to his collection, a copy of a unique 200 Mahours coin of India. Later that year he imported a large piece of Yap stone money.

In 1936, he took orders for the Elgin Centennial half dollars at $1.50 each. Proceeds of $8,000 were intended to install a Pioneer Memorial based on a model by Trygve Rolvestad. The monument was dedicated November 11, 2001. I wrote a column about this published in The Numismatist in October 2001. As I wrote this, success was projected but not assured.

Also in 1936, he testified before Congress on abuses of commemorative coin programs.

With his experience with commemorative coin programs, he served as chairman of the legislative committee for the American Numismatic Association. He was elected to the board and served 1936 to 1939. He was president of the ANA in 1939 to 1941.

Hoffecker sold coins gathered during world travels with the Watkins Coin Company, named for his second wife.

He died at home in El Paso, Texas, on January 13, 1955. He is buried with his first wife, Cora, in Evergreen Cemetery in El Paso. As a member of the Masons, he had been responsible for local funerals and received a Masonic funeral for himself.

Today the International Museum of Art in El Paso gives credit to Hoffecker and the Old Spanish Trail half dollar. That story, like the story of the Old Spanish Trail, is a bit of a fabrication.

A good source for this article was the Newspapers.com site. They have 14 listings for Lyman William Hoffecker, 17 for Lyman W. Hoffecker, and 4031 for L. W. Hoffecker. Many of the listings are for classified ads with no biographical information. There is much more that could have been included.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
LYMAN WILLIAM HOFFECKER (1868-1955) (coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n18a13.html)
L.W. HOFFECKER ARCHIVE DISCOVERED (coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n45a07.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web