The Norweb Collection - An American Legacy

Bert married Katherine Davis on April 27, 1894. The couple's firstchild, Elizabeth Davis, was born the following year. Bert was disappointed that his first born had not been a boy, but youngElizabeth soon became the center of his attention. When the couple planned their second child Bert was determined it would be a boy, and decided to name him after his father; but nature intervened and a second daughter was born on November 30, 1896 in Salt Lake City. Frustrated in his desire for a son, Bert insisted on naming the baby Emery anyway, taking his father's middle name. His wife extracted from him the concession of a feminine middle name, and the child was called Emery May. A third daughter, Katherine Davis Holden, was born in Salt Lake City two years later. Bert never had a son to carry on his name.

The Numismatic Scene in 1908

The year that Albert Holden applied for membership in the American Numismatic Association, 1908, saw many interesting events in numismatics. The ANA, with approximately 650 members (slightly fewer than 500 were active members, the others were in arrears for their dues), was the focal point for the dissemination of information, opinions and data. In the early part of the year, through the June issue, The Numismatist, official journal of the organization, continued to be published by Dr. George F. Heath, of Monroe, Michigan, who founded the monthly magazine in 1888, later affiliating with the ANA when the group was formed in 1891. Following Heath's death on June 16, 1908, the preparation of The Numismatist was transferred to Farran Zerbe, who at -the time was American's most active promoter of numismatics:

Zerbe, whose interest in coins began when he was a child in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, when he was fascinated by a strange French coin he received in change, went on to form an immense and very diverse collection of money of the world. His exhibit, which was shown frequently at national fairs and exhibitions, ranged from primitive money of Africa and the South Seas to current United States coinage, and just about everything in between. Zerbe accomplished much, including the presidency of the American Numismatic Association (in 1908), the holding in 1915 of the franchise to sell commemorative coins at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and the publication in 1926 of the standard reference on political tokens and "money" associated with the 1896 and 1900 presidential campaigns of William Jennings Bryan. A promoter par excellence, he did much to build the hobby during the early part of the present century. Today, the American Numismatic Association's highesthonor, the Farran Zerbe Award, is named after him.

First and foremost in the minds of the collectors in the early months of 1908 was the new gold coinage. Several years before then, President Theodore Roosevelt, during a visit to the Smith-sonian Institution, was impressed with the "sculptured" and very artistic appearance of ancient Greek coins. Believing that current United States coins were pallid by comparison, he sought to have the different American denominations redesigned, from the cent to the double eagle. Departing from the century-old tradition of having mint employees prepare new motifs, he commissioned Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of America's best-known sculptors, to do the work. Spurred on by Roosevelt's infectious enthusiasm, and by a stipend of $5,000 provided by the government, Saint-Gaudens, working in his Cornish (New Hampshire) studio, prepared sketches for various denominations. The artist, in failing health, died during the summer of 1907. The redesigning of the entire coinage spectrum was never accomplished, but what he did achieve was of memorable import and created a sensation. First to be released in circulation were Saint-Gaudens' new $10 coins, featuring on the obverse the stylized portrait of an Indian and on the reverse a perched eagle. These were followed, in the autumn of 1907, by the most dramatic American design ever released: the MCMVII High Relief double eagle, with the obverse and reverse in medallic relief and detail.