MARTIN ANTHONY LOGIES (1960-2025)

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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 14, 2026, Article 9

David Gladfelter alerted me to last year's passing of collector and bibliophile Martin A. Logies of The Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation and author of The Flowing Hair Silver Dollars of 1794. Here's an excerpt from his online obituary. -Editor

Martin A. Logies, 64, of Middlefield, OH, passed away Thursday morning, March 6th, 2025 at UH-Geauga Medical Center. He was born in Cleveland, OH on October 25th, 1960 to the late Raymond C. and Joan R. (Pishnery) Logies.

Martin was a graduate of Case-Western Weatherhead School of Management and a CPA, a long-time owner of his own firm in Sunnyvale, California. He was also a well-known author and numismatist, specializing in rare Early American coins, and an avid floriculturist, growing and photographing roses and orchids.

While Martin Logies received much publicity for his collections, he left very little record of his personal life.

Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 20, 1960. His parents were Raymond C. Logies (1924-2017) and Joan R. Pishnery Logies (1929-2002).

As a high school senior in 1978, he received an award "for exceptional classroom achievement" in science.

He graduated from Case-Western Weatherhead School of Management. He did business as Martin A. Logies & Co., a CPA with Logies Skirtich & Co., in Sunnyvale, California.

Logies joined the American Numismatic Association in 1995 and 2001. He was life member 5927.

Martin had an extensive library that he used to establish pedigrees for coins in his collection. He served on the board for the Numismatic Bibliomania Society for two terns 2009 to 2013.

He died on March 6, 2025, at UH-Geauga Medical Center in Chardon, Ohio. There was no public service and his death went generally unnoticed in the numismatic press for more than a year.

For a 2004 article in The Numismatist, he wrote, "As a collector with a particular interest in early U. S. silver dollars, I have researched the series intensively for more than a decade and published several books and articles." I am not familiar with these publications.

Logies established the Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation in 2003 devoted to research and education, The Cardinal is a red bird, and symbol of his home state of Ohio. There are other institutions in Ohio named The Cardinal Collection including a virtual museum for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Coins from the Cardinal Collection have been featured in a number of auction sales. The Stack's Bowers sale of January 24, 2013, included a number of finest known U. S. large cents, the highest graded 1792 half disme, and the 1794 silver dollar described as the first silver dollar struck at the Mint.

In 2010, Logies bought that first 1794 silver dollar from Steve Contirsi for 7.85 million dollars. At the time it was described as the most expensive coin in the country. It was acquired at auction in 2013 by Legend Numismatics for $10 million.

The Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation published Karl Moulton's book, Henry Voigt and Others Involved in America's Early Coinage in 2007.

Logies wrote The Flowing Hair Silver Dollars of 1794: An Historical and Population Census Study.

"He bought the 1794 PCGS SP66 for his foundation (The Cardinal Foundation). I did the appraisal, as a non-profit required one. He later consigned it to auction and it was the first coin to sell for 10 million dollars. The foundation owned other coins but that was the only involvement I had with anything he purchased."

"I knew Martin fairly well and was aware of his death. He was very private, though, so word didn't get around much. He was the Cardinal Collector, and was responsible for forming and curating the collection and library sold under the name of the Cardinal Collection. Our Sales 164 and 166 had a lot of his library in them—as did others.

"He wanted pretty much anything American, but was especially interested in auction catalogues. He formed some wonderful sets of the classic 19th-century cataloguers, often buying multiple large groupings to combine them and form the best he could assemble. His set of Steigerwalt catalogues was particularly memorable. He was one of my best customers back when I was a solo act, and remained a strong K&F customer for a decade or so."

The Neil/Carter/Contursi specimen 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar was sold in May for $7,850,000, setting a new record as the world's most valuable rare coin. Graded PCGS Specimen-66, it is the finest known 1794 dollar and believed by several prominent experts to be the first silver dollar ever struck by the United States Mint.

It was sold by Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Irvine, California, to the nonprofit Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation (CCEF) in Sunnyvale, California. Collector and numismatic researcher Martin Logies represented the foundation of which he is a director and its numismatic curator. The private sale was brokered by Greg Roberts, President and Chief Executive Officer of Spectrum Group International of Irvine, California.

David Lisot interviewed Martin Logies, Curator Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation at the Long Beach Expo in June 2010.

The Cardinal Foundation Collection specimen of the 1794 silver dollar recently set a record price as the most expensive coin selling for more than $10 million. Steven Contursi of Rare Coin Wholesalers sold the coin to the Foundation in 2007 and comments on the price realized.

To read the complete online obituary, see:
Martin A. Logies (https://www.bestfunerals.com/obituary/MartinA-Logies)