MILFERD HENRY BOLENDER (1894-1977)

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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 17, 2026, Article 14

This week I asked Google a question "Who was the first to write a book about American Silver Dollars? In its infinite wisdom, Google replied, "Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis are generally credited with writing the first comprehensive book focused specifically on a major series of American silver dollars with their 1971 publication, [The Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars]." I had someone else in mind.

M. H. Bolender wrote The United States Early Silver Dollars 1794 to 1803. It was published in 1950 with reprints in 1970, 1980, 1982 and 1988. This was not the first book on silver dollars, but it did establish Bolender numbers to describe the series.

Milferd Henry Bolender was born in Orangeville, Illinois, on August 23, 1894. He was the son of Stewald Emerson Bolender (1861-1937) and Clara Alma Beaver (1865-1949). His father was a stone mason. (His name appears variously as Milferd and Milford)

Bolender developed an interest in coins at age 12 after his grandfather gave him a bag of 70 coins as a reward for scholastic achievement. This group included an 1822 English gold sovereign. His first numismatic purchase was a coin book. During the summer of 1910, he took a heavy construction job working ten-hour days at $.15 per hour. He spent his spare money on rare coins. In 1910, he could buy 1909-S VDB cents for $3 a roll and 1908-S Indian cents for half that.

He graduated from Monroe High School in 1913. Bolender was trained as a teacher in the Stephenson County Teacher Institute and was assigned to teach in their system of one-room school houses. In 1913, he was assigned to the school in Waddams Center. In 1915 he was at the Franklin School in Buckeye. In 1919 he was in Rock City. By 1922, he was the principal there. He retired from teaching in 1932.

Bolender served in the United States Army 14th Infantry 19th Division during the First World War.

He was married to Lillian Winifred Hillquist (1903-1980) on September 5, 1937, in Omaha, Nebraska.

He began as a part time dealer after the war. He and his wife left Orangeville in 1939 after they built a house at 1126 Benson Blvd. in Freeport, Illinois. They moved to San Marino, California, in 1952. Later he moved to Spring Valley, California.

In 1924, before he had joined the ANA he advertised in The Numismatist from a P. O. Box in Rock City, Illinois. In November 1924 he was advertising from P. O. Box 34 in Orangeville, Illinois, and reported that he was conducting mail bid sales every month.

M. H. Bolender joined the American Numismatic Association as member 2776 on January 1, 1925. He conducted the first ANA convention sale in 1929.

Bolender began to conduct mail bid sales in 1925. By 1960, he had conducted about 197 sales. His sale 183 of February 23, 1952, included his own collection. His business was continued by his brother Glen Bolender (1892-1988) as Liberty Coin Co.

The Freeport Journal-Standard reported in their issue of June 4, 1959: "M. H. Bolender, one of the top ten numismatists of the world, was guest speaker at the Freeport Coin Club meeting Wednesday evening at the Junior High School. Mr. Bolender, who lived in Freeport until 1952, is now the longest established coin dealer still active in the business in the United States." He contributed a column "M. H. Bolender Writes" to Numismatic News during 1961 to 1963.

Bolender was known as the "Dean of American Numismatics." He died on November 15, 1977, and is interred at Glen Abbey Memorial Park in San Diego.

The Orangeville Courier had an item in their issue of August 26, 1905. This announced that Milferd Bolender celebrated his eleventh birthday on Wednesday. Ice cream and cake were served. In all my years of doing biographical research this is the only time I have seen an eleventh birthday announced in the local paper. There was no announcement for his tenth, twelfth or any other birthday,

The Freeport Journal Standard carried a story on August 11, 1913. Milferd Bollender and two young ladies were involved in an accident on Saturday evening. While driving a buggy in a heavy rainstorm, the buggy went off the road and rolled into a ditch. The horse was uninjured and the passenger were wet with minor injuries.

He was involved in another accident on February 12, 1915, according to The Durand Gazette. While riding with the Orangeville orchestra, their bobsled slipped off an icy road and into a ditch. The riders and their instruments got soaked in an icy ditch.

In May of 1935, the Orangeville Courier reported that Milferd Bolender caught 35 pounds of fish over the weekend. This story was so momentous that it was repeated in The Davis Leader and the Durand Gazette on May 30.

The Stephenson Farmer (Lena, IL) had a story on June 25, 1936. One of Orangeville's well-known citizens, Milferd Bolender, dealer in rare coins, left Thursday for a tour of Europe in search of rarities. He was accompanied by another numismatist, Elias Rasmussen of Minneapolis. He met his future wife on that trip.

Smarty-Pants question of the week: What is the numismatic claim-to-fame for Elias Rasmussen?

This story says nothing about numismatics but says something about the character of the man. He told this story for the Freeport Journal-Standard for March 19, 1960.

"The greatest storm in my life began on April 16, 1921. That was on Friday night. I was in the Brewster Hotel in Freeport. It snowed all night and all day Saturday, and blew so hard that drifts blocked all highways as well as railroads.

I was teaching school at Rock City. In order to be there for Monday morning's classes, I spent most of Sunday walking to Rock City (13 miles). I had to walk extra miles getting around many of the too-deep snowdrifts. I wore a heavy overcoat, 4-buckle overshoes with pants legs tucked in, carried a big suitcase of clothes in one hand, and a long pole in the other, to measure the depth of drifts. I arrived in time for supper, and there was nothing wrong with my appetite, my landlady said.

Monday morning the school directors ordered no school. But Tuesday we had school again, The children had much fun walking on snowdrifts over the tops of fences that bordered the school grounds and fields."