Michael Hodder and Q. David Bowers
Her sponsors for membership were the Moore brothers, E. Vernon and Waldo C., both of Lewisburg, Ohio. Waldo C. Moore joined the ANA in 1904, receiving regular membership number 673. Later, in 1922, he was one of the original eight ANA members to take a life membership in the organization, receiving life membership number 7. In 1914, when Emery May applied for membership, he was Secretary of the ANA, so his sponsorship of her application was probably a pro forma affair. Waldo C. Moore died in January 1953. His brother, E. Vernon Moore, was a talented musician, serving as head of the music department in the Lewisburg public school system until shortly before his death in 1926, at the young age of 40. He was a member of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, and was associated with his brother as assistant treasurer of the People's Banking Company. His sponsorship of Emery May's application was probably at his brother Waldo's request, and so was likely a pro forma affair also, although, as the Moores and the Holdens lived in the same state, they may have known each other.
Between 1913, when her father died, and 1916, when she left for France, Emery May was a boarding student at the Westover School in Connecticut. Each year she returned to her guardian's home in Bratenahl, Ohio for her summer vacation, but the rest of the time she was away at school. Consequently, the time available to her for numismatic activity was very limited, and, as her father's collection was stored in a Cleveland bank, she had no ready access to it.
In July 1916 Emery May left the United States for work in France with the American Ambulance Corps. In October 1917 she married R. Henry Norweb. For almost the whole of the next two decades, from 1917 until late in 1934, the Norwebs concerned themselves with raising their family and cultivating R. Henry Norweb, Sr.'s diplomatic career. Judging from their inventory books, which record the dates they purchased coins of their own (i.e., coins whose purchase dates fall after May 1913, when Albert Holden, the original collector, died), there was no significant collecting activity until October 1934. The Norweb family was stationed far from home during most of this time, and returning from posts as far away as The Hague, or Santiago, Chile, was not something to be undertaken lightly during vacation time. Just traveling from an overseas station back to Cleveland consumed much of their allowed vacation time. Today, we take the speed of jet travel for granted; in the 1920s and 1930's intercontinental travel was by steamship. A voyage from Europe to New York could last as long as a week; traveling from Chile could take twice as long, or more, depending on weather.
Two factors led the Norwebs to take an active interest in collecting United States coins once again. Both occurred in 1933. In April of that year the United States officially abandoned the gold standard and ceased minting gold coins. This action had profound international economic impact and led to the hoarding of $10 and $20 gold pieces throughout the world. In the United States itself, established coin collectors were allowed to own only one specimen of each date in the eagle and double eagle series and only four specimens from the quarter eagle series (unlimited numbers of gold $1 and $3 pieces could be owned, however). As Counsellor to the Embassy in Santiago, Chile, R. Henry Norweb, Sr. would have been expected to understand the law's provisions as they applied to United States citizens, and its implications would not have been lost on him. R. Henry Norweb could have seen that regulation of the ownership of gold coins by collectors was imminent even before April 1933; it was implicit in Franklin D. Roosevelt's economic platform even before his inauguration on March 4, 1933.
The prohibition against owning gold except in the limited way allowed to recognized coin collectors explains the earliest coin purchases recorded in the Norweb inventory ledgers. These were purchases of two $20 gold pieces, an 1891-S graded by Mrs. Nor-web as VO and an 1896 graded by her as Fine; and an 1889 $10 gold piece, which she graded VE Each of these was bought by R. Henry Norweb, so besides being the first coins added to the Holden-Norweb Collection since 1912, they were also the first coins we know of which were bought by Ambassador Norweb.
The second factor influencing the Norwebs to renew their interest in coin collecting was Henry Norweb's reassignment to the embassy in Mexico City in November of 1933, where he was to hold the same position he had in Santiago earlier, that of Counsellor to the Embassy. This relocation had the most profound influence on the future of the Holden-Norweb Collection. The family was now geographically much closer to the United States than before (excepting only the short tour in Washington early in the 1920s). Vacation time could now be spent at their home in Bratenahl, Ohio without worrying about lengthy sea voyages.
The Norweb family was stationed in Mexico City from November 1933 until reassignment to Bolivia in April 1936, or almost two and a half years. The reassignment to Bolivia took them further away from home, but as it turned out, the Bolivian posting lasted only a year. Mrs. Norweb could not get acclimated to life in the capital, La Paz, whose altitude of 12,001 feet makes it the highest capital city in the world. In April 1937 the Norwebs were reassigned to the Dominican Republic, which put them closer to home.
The years they spent in Mexico City saw the beginnings of what would become the Norweb Collection, per se, for the additions the Norwebs made to Albert Holden's earlier collection enlarged it and made it really their own.
A New Start (1934-1937)
Slightly less than a year after the Norwebs took up their posting in Mexico City, Mrs. Norweb made the first of what would become later a torrent of numismatic coin acquisitions. True to her father's tradition, it was fitting that this first purchase was a colonial coin, and that it was bought from one of Albert Holden's most trusted dealers.
In October 1934 Mrs. Norweb acquired a 1652 Massachusetts Willow Tree sixpence from Thomas Elder. We do not know who contacted whom at first, but logic suggests that she contacted The prohibition against owning gold except in the limited way allowed to recognized coin collectors explains the earliest coin purchases recorded in the Norweb inventory ledgers. These were purchases of two $20 gold pieces, an 1891-S graded by Mrs. Nor-web as VO and an 1896 graded by her as Fine; and an 1889 $10 gold piece, which she graded VE Each of these was bought by R. Henry Norweb, so besides being the first coins added to the Holden-Norweb Collection since 1912, they were also the first coins we know of which were bought by Ambassador Norweb.
The second factor influencing the Norwebs to renew their interest in coin collecting was Henry Norweb's reassignment to the embassy in Mexico City in November of 1933, where he was to hold the same position he had in Santiago earlier, that of Counsellor to the Embassy. This relocation had the most profound influence on the future of the Holden-Norweb Collection. The family was now geographically much closer to the United States than before (excepting only the short tour in Washington early in the 1920s). Vacation time could now be spent at their home in Bratenahl, Ohio without worrying about lengthy sea voyages.
The Norweb family was stationed in Mexico City from November 1933 until reassignment to Bolivia in April 1936, or almost two and a half years. The reassignment to Bolivia took them further away from home, but as it turned out, the Bolivian posting lasted only a year. Mrs. Norweb could not get acclimated to life in the capital, La Paz, whose altitude of 12,001 feet makes it the highest capital city in the world. In April 1937 the Norwebs were reassigned to the Dominican Republic, which put them closer to home.
The years they spent in Mexico City saw the beginnings of what would become the Norweb Collection, per se, for the additions the Norwebs made to Albert Holden's earlier collection enlarged it and made it really their own.
A New Start (1934-1937)
Slightly less than a year after the Norwebs took up their posting in Mexico City, Mrs. Norweb made the first of what would become later a torrent of numismatic coin acquisitions. True to her father's tradition, it was fitting that this first purchase was a colonial coin, and that it was bought from one of Albert Holden's most trusted dealers.
In October 1934 Mrs. Norweb acquired a 1652 Massachusetts Willow Tree sixpence from Thomas Elder. We do not know who contacted whom at first, but logic suggests that she contacted Elder, as it is likely that he would not have known her address unless she had given it to him. From 1916 to 1934 she had lived in many different countries. It would have been interesting to learn how she first approached Tom Elder: did she have to introduce herself, or was her father's memory still alive even after so many years had gone by? Albert Holden had been one of Elder's best customers 20 years earlier, and Elder must have wondered what had happened to his collection after Albert's death in 1913.The correspondence between the two, like her father's correspondence with Elder, would have made interesting reading for a future generation of numismatic historians, had it been preserved.