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Colonial Coin and Stamp Company - New York City
Leiser Wolf Schnelling was the proprietor of this business, which operated from 1932 to 1942 and was one of New York's biggest dealerships. Beginning in 1935 it published elegant coin boards that featured top-notch graphics and cellophane backings which permitted viewing of both sides of the coins, a feature unique to this company.
Finer than competing boards, the Colonial brand titles cost ten cents more, selling at 35 cents apiece. Colonial also offered attractive, bound sets of its boards with brown, leatherette covers. Such board albums are extremely rare today. |
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Earl & Koehler -
Portland, Oregon
One of the rarest brands of coin boards is that by the partnership of Ben Earl and Frank Koehler. Printed in 1939 only, these boards are seldom found outside of Oregon or California and remain rare overall.
Most of the few known Earl & Koehler boards are for Lincoln Cents. This rare title for Mercury Dimes is one of just two known. Subtitled the "Bonus Collection Card," the intent was for users to fill the board from circulation and then sell it back to the publisher for a profit. Earl & Koehler was one of just two such premium card issuers, the other being Oberwise.
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Lincoln Printing Company - Los Angeles
Lincoln Printing Company operated from 1928 until the early 1980s. Owned and managed by Robert Ritterband, it produced coin boards for a very short time. From 1937 to 1941 it issued just four titles for the most popular series.
There are numerous varieties of Lincoln Printing Company boards, as the dates and mintages appearing on the boards were updated frequently, and the information printed on their backings was also revised.
Robert Ritterband was well known as a prominent vecturist, a collector of transportation tokens. He also collected tokens and medals associated with the printing business and issued his own tokens, as well.
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 Gramercy Stamp Company - New YorkAnother rarity in the coin board collecting field is this board for Indian Head Pennies. Unique for its landscape format, the only other title by this publisher was for Lincoln Pennies. Both feature charming graphics designed to appeal to new collectors. The Lincoln title is also known overstamped for the Trenton Saving Fund Society, which likely gave them out as customer premiums.
The Gramercy boards were not sold separately. Instead they were offered only as part of a complete boxed set titled the PENNYHOBBY COIN COLLECTIN' OUTFIT. A similar set was marketed for stamp collecting, and both appear to have been published only in 1940.
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