Intrigued by U.S. Coins
Like many of his fellow seventh graders who grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, N.Y., in the early 1960s, Dr. Lawrence Brown was active in sports but he also grew intrigued with collecting U.S. coins after being exposed to the hobby by a classmate.
“My mother seems to think that part of it had to do with that fact that I was among the more frugal of her children; I could keep the coin in my pocket, No. 1,” recalled Dr. Brown, who practices in public health at Cornell University, New York. “No. 2, the art of collecting early [in life] is probably what motivated me. I learned that there were different years of different coins, and I learned that different mints made different coins: Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco.”
If he obtained paper money, he would convert it into coins at the grocery store or the bank.
“At that time, you would commonly see a buffalo nickel or a Mercury dime,” said Dr. Brown, who is also senior vice president at the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation in Brooklyn. “It amazed me that there were so many different topical reasons for our coinage, unlike now, when all of our coins are [represent] deceased presidents, which I think is a major mistake. I don't disagree with history; I'm a history buff. But we lose some of our artistic display when we focus just on people and not on other artistic subjects.”
Early on, one of the favorite coins he obtained was a 1909 penny designed by New York sculptor Victor D. Brenner under consent of President Theodore Roosevelt. Known as the VDB Lincoln, the coin has the head of Lincoln on the front and the back features a coat of arms. “I was overwhelmed, because that was like a needle in a haystack,” Dr. Brown said. “It wasn't in the best condition but to find it was amazing.”
In the early 1970s, he purchased a subscription to a U.S. Mint publication, which enabled him to buy proof sets and mint sets each year. His devotion to collecting waned during medical school and during a military tour of service in Vietnam, but it was rekindled in 2000 when he learned that the American Numismatic Association was staging its annual meeting nearby, and he decided to attend.
The goal of his current collection, known as the Erasmus Hall Collection in a nod to the Brooklyn high school he graduated from in 1969, is to assemble complete sets of modern coins by year and by mint mark. Modern is defined as any coin minted after 1960. “I focus on getting at least one type of a coin and add to the full completeness of a set,” said Dr. Brown, who spends about 1 hour each evening on his hobby.
“Then, I will work to improve the quality of the coin. In coin collecting, that's called a grade: How robust is the strike by the U.S. mint, how much wear is on the coin, and a number of other factors such as luster.”
Proof coins from the U.S. Mint are struck twice whereas circulated coins are struck once.
Dr. Brown displayed the Erasmus Hall proof set (1968-present) at the 2007 American United Numismatists convention. At the time, the proof set comprised 361 coins, but it has since grown to 382 coins.
Overall, Dr. Brown estimates that he owns more than 1,000 coins.
Dr. Stanford T. Shulman has about 3,000 stamps with a medical theme.
Source Courtesy Audio Visual Dept., Children's Memorial Hospital
This is one of the several stamps in Dr. Shulman's collection that highlights AIDS prevention.
Source Images Courtesy Dr. Stanford T. Shulman
Above is 1 of the more than 150 stamps that have been issued to honor French microbiologist Louis Pasteur.