Another nice group of articles in the latest Asylum, Volume 32, Number 4. Of particular interest to me was David Fanning's "Off the Shelf" article about "The Sales of J.M. Henderson".

I was introduced to Henderson upon reading the diaries of William Ashbrook, the Congressman from Ohio who was instrumental in securing the ANA's Federal Charter.

Both were members of the Ohio State Numismatic Society as early as 1907, from what I can glean from the diaries, and became fast numismatic friends.

I was surprised that Henderson hadn't organized an auction before 1932, as shown in David's article. Clearly, there was some interest there much earlier, as he repeatedly mentored Ashbrook in regard to buying and selling coins.

This entry is interesting, as according to Fanning's article, the Neil House was the site of Henderson's first auction some twenty years later. That auction was in conjunction with the Ohio State Numismatic Society, as were several of his other auctions. It seems that in the twenty years between the time Henderson was ANA president and his first auction with the OSNS, that he might have had some connection, albeit undocumented, with the yearly Ohio auctions.

There are nearly two dozen references to Henderson in Ashbrooks diaries between the years 1907 and 1916. Ashbrook's interest in coins deteriorated after that, but Henderson's zeal for numismatics continued.

Great article, David. Thanks!

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