HomeCollecting StrategiesDavid Lange Acquires Massive "Midwest Collection" of Vintage Coin Boards

David Lange Acquires Massive “Midwest Collection” of Vintage Coin Boards

David Lange - Coin Boards

By Coin Board News ……
 

In a very rare opportunity, vintage coin board collector and dealer David W. Lange has negotiated the purchase of more than 400 antique coin boards from the 1930s and ’40s. Far from a random hoard, this collection represents many years of careful selection by a discriminating individual in the Midwest. It is from this source that Lange has dubbed the assemblage the “Midwest Collection“.

Included are pieces from all seven publishers of the original 11″ x 14” coin boards that predated the folders widely used today. Even the very rare 1940 coin boards of New York City’s Gramercy Stamp Company are present. In a truly remarkable opportunity, the collection also features a single board from the exceedingly rare publisher Earl & Koehler of Portland, Oregon. To date, just over a dozen boards have surfaced of this obscure brand that was in production for just the single year of 1939.

Coin Boards

Although many of the boards will be familiar to veteran collectors as among the more commonly seen brands and titles, the collection is particularly rich in “vendor stamped” boards that are highly prized for their historic associations. It was the practice of many retailers to rubber stamp or sticker coin boards with their name and address. Most such vendors were in the Upper Midwest, which was the home turf of the earliest coin boards after this product’s invention by Joseph K. Post in 1934. It was these inexpensive and widely distributed coin boards that put coin collecting on the map and made it an “everyman” hobby between 1935 and 1940. When the current coin series became too long to fit on a single-panel board, the more adaptable coin folders began to replace boards starting in 1939.

“I’m still going through these hundreds of pieces to determine which items are new varieties or upgrades to my own collection,” Lange observed. “I’m an eager collector of vendor stamps myself, as they have the local appeal that has attracted so many collectors of tokens and national bank notes.”

The other boards will be placed first with those having want lists with Lange, while the remaining pieces will be included in future price lists. Lange has produced 40 such lists since 2008, and he sends these out along with his quarterly publication Coin Board News, which recently celebrated its 50th issue. In addition, he maintains a website devoted to vintage board collecting: coincollectingboards.com.

The Midwest Collection is the second-largest assemblage of coin boards that Lange has acquired in his nearly 40 years of searching for vintage pieces. Still the record holder is the Karl Manthei Collection that Lange purchased in 2006 on the eve of publishing his book, Coin Collecting Boards of the 1930s & 1940s: A Complete History, Catalog & Value Guide, which is available for purchase at his website.
 

David Lange
David Lange
The author of several books on United States numismatics, David W. Lange received numerous awards and accolades from both the ANA and the NLG. David was the former President of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society, the California State Numismatic Association, and the New Jersey Numismatic Society. He also had memberships in the ANA, the NLG, the ANS, the LSCC, the EAC, the BCCS, and the Rittenhouse Society. Career highlights included the launching of NGC's Photo Proof and writing historical copy for the United States Mint's website and H.I.P. Pocket Change program for kids. His specialties have included Seated Liberty silver, Philippine coinage under U.S. administration, and British coinage from 1816-1970. In 2007, David published the first comprehensive reference to Coin Collecting Boards of the 1930s and '40s, and for over a decade published Coin Board News four times a year. David Lange died on January 16, 2023. He is missed.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I have a 2004 p double die obverse Roosevelt dime I’ve had it for 4 years would like to have it authenticated

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