LOYE L. LAUDER (1911-1964)

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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 3, 2026, Article 20

Craig Sholley submitted this article about "amateur" collector Loye L. Lauder, who assembled an impressive collection of U.S. and colonial coins. Thank you! I wasn't familiar with her, but she's an important numismatic personality and pedigree entry. -Editor

A few months ago, I had the good fortune to purchase the silver 103-EE Betts Fantasy "Fugio Pattern," ex Loye Lauder, in the November 2025 Stacks Bowers Showcase Auction. While I'm sure I've seen Mrs. Lauder's name before as there are numerous early US pieces with her provenance, the name did not register at the time. The brief biographical sketch at the beginning of the catalog gives a solid appreciation of Loye's numismatic focus and what she had accomplished in such a short time:

Loye L. Lauder was an enthusiastic and truly "amateur" collector in the classic sense of one who pursues an interest out of love for the subject matter.

In only eight years she nearly accomplished her goal of obtaining an example of every Colonial and early U.S. copper coin listed in the Red Book. Had she not died at the age of 53 she would surely have gone on to complete the collection. From the notes she left it is evident that she was pursuing a number of specific pieces, a strawberry leaf cent, for example, and was by then intent upon upgrading varieties already obtained.

Unlike the over-the-top hyperbole in many auction catalogs, a review of her coins shows that Loye had a great eye and appreciation for both quality and rarity. Her sale started off with five very rare Sommer Islands "Hogge Money," the second of which is just one of three known. The seventh coin in the auction was the NE sixpence, Noe-2, Red Book plate coin.

In the federal series, she had every Red Book rarity, often in quite high grades. Her collection ended with numerous high-grade proof and pattern Indian Head cents, along with a Lincoln cent die trial, 1909-S VDB, 14-D, and a couple Matte Proofs. And her catalog photograph showed a stunningly elegant woman. I simply had to know more about her.

Loye "Betty" Lark was the daughter of the prominent New York City lawyer, Charles T. Lark. She was born in 1911, had two older brothers, and lived in Hackensack, NJ. She attended upper-class boarding schools and graduated from Columbia University. She was the Chairman of Volunteer Service for the American Red Cross of Bergen County and served with the Red Cross through World War II. She is not related to the Lauders of cosmetics fame as widely misreported.

Loye was a born collector. In her early 20s it was reported that she had dozens upon dozens of bone china and glass dogs. A comment on her collecting from the Feb. 23, 1937 issue of the Bergen County Record reveals a true collector's soul, "She advances no good reason for collecting those toy dogs which overflow her bedroom, except that it amuses her to do it and harms no one."

In 1941, she married her first husband, Allison Laytham, then Vice President and heir to the Laytham Iron and Steel Works in Patterson, NJ. When Allison died in 1956, Loye became president of Laytham Steel and remained so until her passing in 1963, even though she had remarried outside of the Laytham family. She must have been a truly extraordinary businesswoman to not only succeed her husband in the 1950s, but to remain in control of a male-dominated industry.

In 1957, Loye married George Lauder III, a prominent yacht builder and racer. George was the grandson of George Lauder, a billionaire Scottish iron and steel engineer, who was a friend and partner of Andrew Carnegie. Newspapers of the time report that the Lauders often wintered in Miami, sailing their yacht and deep-sea fishing in the Gulf Stream.

Once again, there is no family connection between the Scottish Lauders and the family of cosmetics renown. The Lauder fortune came from Carnegie Steel.

Loye never had any children, but she was stepmother to George's daughters from a previous marriage. And in an interesting turn of fate, Loye was related by marriage to Gene Tunney, the heavyweight boxing champion from 1926 to 1928. Tunney had secretly married George's sister, Polly Lauder, in 1928. While the newspapers billed it as the love story of the decade, the family (excepting George and Loye) apparently had a fit. Nonetheless, Polly and Gene remained married until their deaths.

While Loye had an amazing life, she sadly passed away from a heart attack on Sept. 28, 1964, at just 53 years of age. Since her collection was not auctioned until nearly 20 years after her passing, we can only presume that George kept her collection out of memory for her until just three years before his own passing. Perhaps it took him that long to let go or perhaps he knew his health was declining and he wanted to see her coins get new homes before he died.

Loye's coins brought serious money for the time and today her scarce and rare pieces sell for tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. She had a great eye and left us way too soon.

Author's note: Many thanks to Julia Casey for finding several interesting tidbits about Loye. Julia and I had a great time emailing back-and-forth with our finds.