Personal Connections to American Coins
Dennis: In 2023 I visited the Starr Clark Tin Shop and the Underground Railroad Museum in Mexico, New York, sites expertly maintained by the Mexico Historical Society. Starr Clark was a tinsmith and businessman who bravely used his own resources and his personal influence in the region to support the Underground Railroad from the 1830s until the end of the Civil War. [Image: Inside the Starr Clark Tin Shop in Mexico, New York, an important stop on the Underground Railroad, 1830s to 1860s. (Photo by Dr. Alexander Santos)]
The Historical Society describes how Clark and his wife, Harriet Loomis Clark, “welcomed freedom seekers, provided housing for them either in the tin shop, or their own home, or in the homes of other anti-slavery families, arranged schedules for forwarding ‘the goods,’ and provided transportation to the next station.”
Clark helped to organize Mexico’s first anti-slavery society, wrote the first anti-slavery petition sent from the town, and worked to strengthen the anti-slavery wing of the Whig Party. He wrote letters, was active in the Mexico Vigilance Committee, and gave money to help many slaves find their way to freedom.
If your travels ever take you to Central New York, plan a visit to the village of Mexico. The support of Starr and Harriet Clark made it one of the most active abolitionist centers in the state. The buildings and artifacts that have survived are tangible connections to an important movement toward equality and civil rights—something people in New York (and every American) can be proud of.
[Image: Replicas of obsolete paper money used when Starr and Harriet Loomis Clark were helping slaves on their way to freedom.]
I grew up in Central New York, and the state’s importance to the Underground Railroad is something we learned about in school. That history makes me feel a personal connection to several coins the United States Mint has produced in recent years. The 2024 Harriet Tubman commemorative coins (a half dollar, silver dollar, and gold $5 piece) are among them. When I served on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, I felt honored to review design candidates for those coins.
We also reviewed designs for Ohio’s 2023 entry in the American Innovations dollar program. Our liaison for the State of Ohio was Mr. Stephen George, Senior Advisor to the CEO of Ohio History Connection. He described to the Committee how Ohio chose the Underground Railroad as the innovation to be commemorated on its dollar coin: “I think the governor was particularly interested in the Underground Railroad because he did see it as a social innovation for good. One of your members said earlier that innovation is whatever makes the world a better place or the country a better place. And certainly the Underground Railroad aimed to do that in the lives of so many people.”
Whenever I see a coin related to the Underground Railroad, I think of the part of New York State I grew up in.
Steve, are there any recent quarters or dollar coins or commemoratives that you feel a personal connection to?
Dennis, the first thing that comes to mind is the 2004 Michigan 50 States quarter dollar as I was honored to serve on the State Quarter commission, and it’s my home state. The end result was a textured outline of the state with the Great Lakes outlined – to which you’ll surely say “groundbreaking” – but Michigan does have a distinctive shape worthy of celebration. I suppose I have a personal connection to 80 percent of the state quarters that year. [Image: Michigan State Quarter; courtesy U.S. Mint]
As an art appraiser, I appreciate the art history collection with the use of Iowa’s most famous artist Grant Wood’s painting “Arbor Day” which depicts a schoolhouse. It directly relates to three of the five final ideas that the Iowa state selection committee decided on: tying in the artist of “American Gothic” – Wood’s most famous painting now in the Art Institute of Chicago, and the broad themes of “Foundation in Education” and “The Beautiful Land.” Selective editing meant the omission of some elements of Wood’s painting, but it's rare to see an artist’s name so prominently featured on a coin. 
I spent some happy years in Texas, so the simplicity of the Texas quarter with its textured depiction of the state (which like Michigan, has a distinctive outline), a five-pointed star, and the text THE LONE STAR STATE with a rope circling the rims takes me back to another time in my life. Isn’t that one of the interesting things about seeing these quarters in your change: they bring up memories.
Oh, and there’s Wisconsin with two of my favorite foods: corn and cheese, with the added bonus on the 2004-D extra leaf corn varieties that always have me getting my loupe out when I find any Wisconsin quarter in change. [Image: Wisconsin State Quarter; courtesy U.S. Mint]
The other of the five 2004 reverses is the one that I don’t connect with: Florida’s quarter with three disconnected images seems the most “designed by committee” of the five 2004 reverse designs. An old wooden ship, a space shuttle launching from Cape Canaveral, and two palm trees on a beach don’t relate to one another and have a sense of clip art rather than a unified design. But 80 percent is still a passing grade!
Be on the lookout for another installment of Collecting Friends next month or subscribe here and never miss a post! In the meantime, explore beautiful coins from the ANA's Edward C. Rochette Money Museum Virtual Exhibits.
About the Collecting Friends Blog
Hello! And welcome to the ANA’s blog series, “Collecting Friends.”
We decided to approach this much like a conversation between friends. One of us starts with a topic, then the other responds. Simple as that. Along those lines, we’ll keep the tone conversational as much as possible.
We both write about coins professionally, and will keep our relative style guides in our writing. For Dennis, former Publisher at Whitman Publishing, that means capitalizing “Proof” and italicizing Red Book and never saying anything bad about Ken Bressett, who’s awesome anyway.
For Steve, who’s written with Coin World for 15 years, it means Winged Liberty Head dime instead of “Mercury” dime, and similar nuances and oddities. And, it means writing A Guide Book of United States Coins (better known as the “Red Book”).
Both of us started collecting when we were little, introduced to coins by a chance encounter with an old coin that sparked our curiosity. One of Steve’s interests is coin valuation, and he gravitates towards the intersection of art and coins. Dennis enjoys medals and world coins, and studying modern U.S. coins in the context of older series, what came before.
We met in 2012 at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia at an event hosted by the Austrian Mint where there was both a Ben Franklin and a Betsy Ross impersonator. We’ve become great friends in the past decade. We even were appointed together to sit on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee starting in 2016, but Steve resigned soon after he was appointed to accept a full-time job at the Treasury Department while Dennis was re-appointed in 2020.
We taught a course together on numismatic publishing and writing a few years ago at the Summer Seminar, and while life has gotten in the way of us teaching another class, we jumped at our friend Caleb’s suggestion that we write a column. We hope you enjoy it!
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About the American Numismatic Association
The American Numismatic Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect coins and related items. The Association serves collectors, the general public, and academic communities with an interest in numismatics.
The ANA helps all people discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of educational programs including its museum, library, publications, conventions and numismatic seminars.