The Norweb Collection - An American Legacy

It should be remembered that in 1930-1931 Dr. Sheldon's refer-ence work on large cents was nearly two decades away from being available, and that Miller's catalogue of Connecticut coppers did not contain sufficient plates to make attributions easy. The job of attributing two of the most difficult series of American coins is hard enough today, even with Sheldon's reference and several important plated auction sales of Connecticuts available. At the time Mrs. Norweb turned her children loose on these two areas, the job would have been daunting to an experienced numismatist let alone youngsters who had never seen an early copper coin before.

Henry remembers he always preferred to work with federal coins, particularly quarters and half dollars. He always enjoyed the two and three cent denominations, as well. In the early period, before the family's return to Cleveland in 1948, very little work was done on the gold coins in the collection. That was left for later. Henry remembers that he could recall having heard the names of many of the old time dealers, like Lyman Low, Henry Chapman, and B. Max Mehl; he says it was an enjoyable experience to walk through the Hall of Fame at ANA headquarters in Colorado Springs and see pictures of the men who had only been names to him until then.

Mrs. Norweb encouraged Henry, and the other children, in taking up and staying with a hobby, especially when they were posted overseas. She felt, he recalls, that a hobby was a good way of keeping the children occupied, especially as they were in foreign countries where they did not know the language and had few American friends their own ages. In Holland, Mrs. Norweb helped the children begin a set of small cents; presumably, coins brought from home by travelers and embassy personnel filled the gaps in their collections. They also continued the family stamp collection at this time (their grandfather's collection of stamps, still intact, is an important one even today). Mrs. Norweb decided that as soon as the children were old enough to read a coin's denomination or a stamp's value, they were old enough to begin collecting themselves.

His mother's encouragement proved fruitful, for today R. Henry Norweb, Jr. maintains an active interest in United States and Brazilian numismatics. Through his close association with the American Numismatic Society, as first vice president of the Council, Henry participates in the important undertakings of the ANS. He is a member of the American Numismatic Association, as well as the Sociedade Numismatica Brasilera (the Brazilian Numismatic Society), and the Central States Numismatic Society.

Among his many appointments and honors may be mentioned the following. Henry has been director of the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta; director of the American Horticultural Society; and mayor of the Village of Bratenahl, Ohio (1956-57). He has been a trustee of the Cleveland Audubon Society and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Western Reserve Historical Society. He is presently on the board of the John Huntingdon Fund for Education; the Musical Arts Association of Cleveland; and the Cleveland Council of World Affairs. In 1983 he was awarded the Professional Citation from the American Horticultural Society. He is a member of the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club and the Union Club of Cleveland.