Former United States Assay Commissioner and Numismatic author, Larry Spanbauer passed away on September 4th at the age of 75. He was born on November 1, 1942 in Oshkosh,WI and lived there his entire life.

Larry was one of the leading counterfeit experts in the 1970's. In 1975 he self-published the book, Colonial Copies, Private Mint Replicas, Modern Counterfeits of UnitedStates Coins. He wrote the "Focusing on Fakes" column for Numismatic News (1976-1978). In 1976 he was appointed to the United States Assay Commission by PresidentGerald Ford. In 1979 he and co-author Virgil Hancock wrote the Standard Catalog of United States Altered and Counterfeit Coins, published by Durst. The first catalog of itstype and very useful for the time, however, Larry became disenchanted with the publisher and the process and he ultimately retreated from the hobby. He became a leading scholarand memorabilia expert of Oshkosh, Wisconsin history.

Larry's interest in numismatics started in 1967 when his grandmother showed him her large accumulation of old coins. He went on to serve as president of both the Oshkosh CoinClub and the Numismatists of Wisconsin, also as the editor of that organization's quarterly magazine, NOW NEWS. During the early seventies he turned his interest fromgenuine United States coins to the spurious variety, selling or trading most of his genuine coin collection to obtain the counterfeit pieces necessary to help facilitate thepublishing of his first book.

I became acquainted with Larry perhaps 20 years ago when we would see each other at the annual Oshkosh Coin Show. I began helping set up the shows and Larry would occasionallyset up a display of Oshkosh memorabilia, sometimes non-numismatic, but his tables were always fascinating for Oshkosh residents. Larry loved to educate people about the town'spast.

In 2012 he wrote the book Oshkosh Neighborhood Taverns and in 2015 he wrote a book about the Oshkosh Cigar Industry, and he set up a four-table display on thesubject at the coin show, including piles of wooden cigar boxes from the 1800's. Some of the cigar company's owners were prominent Oshkosh businessmen that had their hands inother projects that struck tokens for various reasons - these tokens were also on display to tie in the numismatic angle.

At the 2016 show, Larry set up a display commemorating the 40th anniversary of the last Assay Commission, of which he was a member. There were his letters of appointment,photos, documents of recognition, and of course his medal. Again, his tables were inundated with interested people. Larry was understandably proud of his appointment.

I was lucky enough to collaborate with Larry on a number of small articles for NOW NEWS, and he would occasionally call me when he had an interesting piece to perhaps writeabout. I enjoyed going over to his home and spending hours looking over his meticulously arranged and organized notebooks, articles, documents, coins, and tokens. A couple yearsback he decided to part with most of the coins and tokens, simply putting them in a rummage sale. He afforded me the chance to get first dibs on a number of items which I holddear. Larry was just a super-nice, genuine man of integrity, generosity, and spirit and he will be sorely missed.

Lawrence "Larry" Spanbauer passed away on Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at the age of 75 due to complications from heart failure. He was born in Oshkosh on November 1,1942, the son of Lawrence "Barney" Spanbauer and Margaret Fretschel. On February 9, 1963 he married the former Carol Jean Ames. Larry was the embodiment of Oshkoshcitizenship through his education, work and volunteerism.

Larry attended Sacred Heart Grade School, Oshkosh High School and the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh and was employed by Rockwell International for 36 years and thenCurwood-Bemis part time for 14 years

Larry was on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Axle/Citizens First Credit Union for 25 years and was the Recording Secretary for UAW Local 291 - (Rockwell) for six years.He was part of the Carl Traeger School Referendum Committee, Chaired the East Side Firehouse Relocation Committee, was a member of the Lakeshore Golf Course Committee and Chairedthe Oshkosh Gateway Committee.

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Lawrence Spanbauer(https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thenorthwestern/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-spanbauer&pid=190150981)