Q. David Bowers
Encyclopedia
Quentin David Bowers is among the best-known and most noteworthy numismatic
authors of the last 50 years. Beginning in 1953, Bowers’s contributions to numismatics have continued uninterrupted and unabated to the present day. He has been involved in the selling of rare coins since 1953 when he was a teenager. A 1960 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University
, Q. David Bowers was given the Alumni Achievement Award by that institution's College of Business Administration in a ceremony in 1976.
In 1945–46, his next exposure to numismatics was a friend’s home in which a dozen or more Indian pennies were embedded face-up in a concrete walk near the front door. In 1948, his family moved to Forty Fort
, Pennsylvania
(about an hour away from Honesdale
).
As a 13-year-old high school student, Bowers's interests included reptiles, scouting, short-wave radio, Strombecker kit models of World War II airplanes, and rocks and minerals. During this time Bowers became an interested in the written word. He received Raymond L. Ditmars' Reptiles of North America from his mother as a Christmas gift in 1952. According to Bowers, Ditmars, who was curator of reptiles at the New York Zoological Garden (Bronx Zoo
), had a way of making just about anything sound fascinating. From such experiences, Bowers learned the power of the written word and how it can spur one to a great enthusiasm for acquisition.
s, pointed to one of the first openings, and showed that he had paid $10 for that particular coin. He carefully explained that it was a Lincoln cent made in the first year of issue, 1909, with the initials of the designer, Victor David Brenner, V.D.B., on the reverse. Bowers would soon discover that the reason for the high value was that beneath the date, there was a tiny "S" signifying it had been made in San Francisco. This mint mark
jumped the value from a few cents up to the $10 he had paid. Bowers discovered that 484,000 had been minted and became inspired to find one himself. Rusbar would give Bowers a couple of blue Whitman coin folders and a few mintmarked Lincoln cents to get started. Inspired with the idea of making money by selling coins, rather than cutting grass, Bowers traded a $10 bill for 1,000 mixed Lincoln cents. Bowers' goal was to find the 1909-s VDB., 1914-D, and 1931-S pieces.
From finding Lincoln cents in circulation, Bowers moved towards other series, including Mercury dime
s and Standing Liberty quarter
s. Seeking to gain more knowledge, Bowers discovered the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, a monthly journal put out by brothers Lee and Cliff Hewitt in Illinois. The dozens of pages were filled with stories and tales about coins and coin collecting, but advertisements offering things for sale were a catalyst in stimulating Bowers' affinity for coins. The first coin Bowers ever ordered through the mail was an Indian cent, an 1859 proof at a price of $11 from the Copley Coin Company run by Maurice Gould and Frank Washburn in Boston.
His enthusiasm for the Numismatist Scrapbook Magazine also resulted in an accumulation of back copies dating to 1935, and a file of several decades of The Numismatist. A local insurance agent, George P. Williams, would take Bowers under his wing. Together, they would attend meetings of the Wilkes-Barre Coin Club held in the YMCA
.
Bowers became a vest-pocket dealer in 1953, when he was not quite 15 years of age. He had begun collecting coins just a few months earlier, and he found he had an aptitude for buying and selling them advantageously. Bowers would start running advertisements in the classified section of the local paper seeking coins. As his growing dealership prospered, so would his capital. He would buy coins locally from the public and from other collectors and then sell them at the coin club and to collectors he met there. In the early years, becoming a dealer had its challenges as there were no guides to use as a reference. One of the risks included the authenticity of a coin, while another point of tension was condition. As there were no published standards, what one person called Gem Uncirculated could be what another might call About Uncirculated.
By his senior year in high school, his business was flourishing, and coin dealing had become the young entrepreneur's principal extracurricular activity. Academically, he excelled as well. He was a finalist in the first National Merit Scholarship competition in 1956, and he won further academic distinction at Penn State University, graduating with honors in 1960.
In 1958, while still in college, Bowers teamed up with James F. Ruddy — the first of several partners to figure in his career — to form the Empire Coin Co. in Johnson City
, New York
. The company rode the crest of the mail-order boom in the early 1960s to become one of the nation's leading coin dealerships. In 1965, Paramount International Coin Corp. acquired Empire. Bowers left the coin business to indulge one of his other great passions: automatic musical instruments.
(1983–1985). From the PNG, he received their highest honor, the Founders Award; and he has received their Friedberg Award a record seven times. From the ANA, Bowers has received its two most distinguished awards: Numismatist of the Year and the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award
.
He was the first ANA member to be named Numismatist of the Year (1995), has been inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame (at the ANA Headquarter in Colorado Springs), and has received more Book of the Year Award and Best Columnist honors given by the Numismatic Literary Guild than any other writer. He has lectured at Harvard University
and appeared on the Today Show as well as on programs on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, the Discovery Channel
and the History Channel.
He has authored other works which have become standard references in their fields.
He is highly regarded as a very prolific numismatic author too, having produced 50 works, mostly written in the field of rare coins, including the following:
Bowers serves as Numismatic Director of Whitman Publishing LLC, where he has produced another group of books including the Red Book series. His latest books, The Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins, was expected to be released in 2008.
and sold to a dealer in old prints. Since then he has built an archive of cinema periodicals and publications, including many items formerly the property of George Kleine, Martin Quigley
, William Fox
, and other notables in the industry.
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
authors of the last 50 years. Beginning in 1953, Bowers’s contributions to numismatics have continued uninterrupted and unabated to the present day. He has been involved in the selling of rare coins since 1953 when he was a teenager. A 1960 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
, Q. David Bowers was given the Alumni Achievement Award by that institution's College of Business Administration in a ceremony in 1976.
Early life
His maternal grandfather, Chester L. Garratt, an attorney by profession, was a hobbyist and researcher in many areas. Garratt gave him his first "rare" coin, a well worn 1893 Columbian half dollar. This would be his first exposure to numismatics.In 1945–46, his next exposure to numismatics was a friend’s home in which a dozen or more Indian pennies were embedded face-up in a concrete walk near the front door. In 1948, his family moved to Forty Fort
Forty Fort, Pennsylvania
Forty Fort is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,579 at the 2000 census. It neighbors the boroughs of Kingston, Wyoming, and Swoyersville...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
(about an hour away from Honesdale
Honesdale, Pennsylvania
Honesdale is a borough in and the county seat of Wayne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northeast of Scranton. The population was 4,874 at the 2000 census....
).
As a 13-year-old high school student, Bowers's interests included reptiles, scouting, short-wave radio, Strombecker kit models of World War II airplanes, and rocks and minerals. During this time Bowers became an interested in the written word. He received Raymond L. Ditmars' Reptiles of North America from his mother as a Christmas gift in 1952. According to Bowers, Ditmars, who was curator of reptiles at the New York Zoological Garden (Bronx Zoo
Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo is located in the Bronx borough of New York City, within Bronx Park. It is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, comprising of park lands and naturalistic habitats, through which the Bronx River flows....
), had a way of making just about anything sound fascinating. From such experiences, Bowers learned the power of the written word and how it can spur one to a great enthusiasm for acquisition.
Interest in numismatics
Robert L. Rusbar, a local tax collector, had a collection of rocks and minerals, and Bowers visited him. After a session with rocks and minerals, Rusbar asked Bowers if he collected coins, to which he replied in the negative. Rusbar presented a small green-covered album of Lincoln centLincoln cent
Below are the mintage figures for the Lincoln penny-Mintage figures:Lincoln wheat cent, 1909-1958 Lincoln Memorial cent, 1959-1982 ...
s, pointed to one of the first openings, and showed that he had paid $10 for that particular coin. He carefully explained that it was a Lincoln cent made in the first year of issue, 1909, with the initials of the designer, Victor David Brenner, V.D.B., on the reverse. Bowers would soon discover that the reason for the high value was that beneath the date, there was a tiny "S" signifying it had been made in San Francisco. This mint mark
Mint mark
A mint mark is an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced.-History:Mint marks were first developed to locate a problem. If a coin was underweight, or overweight, the mint mark would immediately tell where the coin was minted, and the problem could be located and fixed...
jumped the value from a few cents up to the $10 he had paid. Bowers discovered that 484,000 had been minted and became inspired to find one himself. Rusbar would give Bowers a couple of blue Whitman coin folders and a few mintmarked Lincoln cents to get started. Inspired with the idea of making money by selling coins, rather than cutting grass, Bowers traded a $10 bill for 1,000 mixed Lincoln cents. Bowers' goal was to find the 1909-s VDB., 1914-D, and 1931-S pieces.
From finding Lincoln cents in circulation, Bowers moved towards other series, including Mercury dime
Mercury dime
The Mercury dime is a ten-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from 1916 to 1945. Designed by Adolph Weinman and also known as the Winged Liberty dime, it gained its common name as the obverse depiction of a young Liberty, identifiable by her winged Phrygian cap, was confused with the Roman...
s and Standing Liberty quarter
Standing Liberty Quarter
The Standing Liberty quarter was a 25-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from 1916 to 1930. It succeeded the Barber quarter, which had been minted since 1892. Featuring the goddess of Liberty on one side and an eagle in flight on the other, the coin was designed by sculptor Hermon Atkins...
s. Seeking to gain more knowledge, Bowers discovered the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, a monthly journal put out by brothers Lee and Cliff Hewitt in Illinois. The dozens of pages were filled with stories and tales about coins and coin collecting, but advertisements offering things for sale were a catalyst in stimulating Bowers' affinity for coins. The first coin Bowers ever ordered through the mail was an Indian cent, an 1859 proof at a price of $11 from the Copley Coin Company run by Maurice Gould and Frank Washburn in Boston.
His enthusiasm for the Numismatist Scrapbook Magazine also resulted in an accumulation of back copies dating to 1935, and a file of several decades of The Numismatist. A local insurance agent, George P. Williams, would take Bowers under his wing. Together, they would attend meetings of the Wilkes-Barre Coin Club held in the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
.
Bowers became a vest-pocket dealer in 1953, when he was not quite 15 years of age. He had begun collecting coins just a few months earlier, and he found he had an aptitude for buying and selling them advantageously. Bowers would start running advertisements in the classified section of the local paper seeking coins. As his growing dealership prospered, so would his capital. He would buy coins locally from the public and from other collectors and then sell them at the coin club and to collectors he met there. In the early years, becoming a dealer had its challenges as there were no guides to use as a reference. One of the risks included the authenticity of a coin, while another point of tension was condition. As there were no published standards, what one person called Gem Uncirculated could be what another might call About Uncirculated.
By his senior year in high school, his business was flourishing, and coin dealing had become the young entrepreneur's principal extracurricular activity. Academically, he excelled as well. He was a finalist in the first National Merit Scholarship competition in 1956, and he won further academic distinction at Penn State University, graduating with honors in 1960.
In 1958, while still in college, Bowers teamed up with James F. Ruddy — the first of several partners to figure in his career — to form the Empire Coin Co. in Johnson City
Johnson City, New York
Johnson City is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 15,535 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The company rode the crest of the mail-order boom in the early 1960s to become one of the nation's leading coin dealerships. In 1965, Paramount International Coin Corp. acquired Empire. Bowers left the coin business to indulge one of his other great passions: automatic musical instruments.
Numismatic legacy
His work with rare coins is so voluminous and so extraordinary that he was named by COINAge magazine as one of the Numismatists of the Century. Bowers’ dedication to the hobby and his lifelong interest in rare coins, along with his pursuit of scholarly knowledge, have made him one of the most honored and revered numismatists of all time. Bowers is the only person to have served as president of both the Professional Numismatists Guild (1977–1979) and the American Numismatic AssociationAmerican Numismatic Association
The American Numismatic Association was founded in 1891 by Dr. George F. Heath in Chicago, Illinois. The ANA was formed to advance the knowledge of numismatics along educational, historical and scientific lines, as well as enhance interest in the hobby.The ANA national headquarters and museum is...
(1983–1985). From the PNG, he received their highest honor, the Founders Award; and he has received their Friedberg Award a record seven times. From the ANA, Bowers has received its two most distinguished awards: Numismatist of the Year and the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award
Farran Zerbe Memorial Award
The Farran Zerbe Memorial Award is the highest honor conferred by the American Numismatic Association. The award is named after Farran Zerbe, a one-time president of the American Numismatic Association. It is given in recognition of numerous years of outstanding, dedicated service to numismatics...
.
He was the first ANA member to be named Numismatist of the Year (1995), has been inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame (at the ANA Headquarter in Colorado Springs), and has received more Book of the Year Award and Best Columnist honors given by the Numismatic Literary Guild than any other writer. He has lectured at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and appeared on the Today Show as well as on programs on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
and the History Channel.
Literary career
Bowers is the author of over three dozen books on various historical subjects, including the following:- Muriel OstricheMuriel OstricheMuriel Ostriche was an American silent film actress. She was also the face of Moxie.She was signed by the Thanhouser Company based in New York City and starred in 134 films in her career....
: Princess of Silent Films, (1987) ISBN 0911572643 - Nickelodeon Theatres and Their Music, (1999) ISBN 0911572503
- The History of U.S. Coinage (for Johns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
) - The Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments, Vestal Press (1973)
He has authored other works which have become standard references in their fields.
He is highly regarded as a very prolific numismatic author too, having produced 50 works, mostly written in the field of rare coins, including the following:
- American Numismatic AssociationAmerican Numismatic AssociationThe American Numismatic Association was founded in 1891 by Dr. George F. Heath in Chicago, Illinois. The ANA was formed to advance the knowledge of numismatics along educational, historical and scientific lines, as well as enhance interest in the hobby.The ANA national headquarters and museum is...
Centennial History, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Incorporated (August 1, 1991) ISBN 0943161290 - Adventures with Rare Coins, Bowers & Ruddy Galleries (March 1996) ISBN 0914490001
- Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States (two volumes) Bowers & Merena Galleries, Incorporated (July 1993) ISBN 0943161487
- A California Gold Rush History He has also written hundreds of auction and other catalogues, and several thousand articles.
Bowers serves as Numismatic Director of Whitman Publishing LLC, where he has produced another group of books including the Red Book series. His latest books, The Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins, was expected to be released in 2008.
Interests
Bowers' interest in cinema history dates from August 1957, when on a visit to Philadelphia's Pine Street district of antiques shops he purchased a collection of one-sheet Biograph, Vitagraph, and other silent film posters which had been deaccessioned by Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and sold to a dealer in old prints. Since then he has built an archive of cinema periodicals and publications, including many items formerly the property of George Kleine, Martin Quigley
Martin Quigley
Martin Quigley is a retired Irish sportsman. He played hurling with his local club Rathnure and with the Wexford senior inter-county team in the 1970s and 1980s...
, William Fox
William Fox (producer)
William Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...
, and other notables in the industry.
Business
Bowers was the Co-Chairman of Stack's, a company that endeavors in rare numismatics auctions. It is based in New York City. During his career, he has catalogued and sold at public auction many of the finest and most valuable and important collections ever assembled. They include:- the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, the only complete United States coin collection ever brought together
- the Harry W. Bass Jr. Collection
- the Ambassador and Mrs. R. Henry Norweb Collection
- the John Work Garrett Collection sold by order of The Johns Hopkins University
- the Childs Collection, the highlight of which was the finest known 1804 silver dollar, the second most valuable coin ever auctioned