Neil Shafer - A Sad Loss to the Community 1 1

[The 12th Denticle]

Neil Shafer, world-renowned currency expert, author, ANA Hall of Fame inductee and recipient of the Chester L. Krause Memorial Distinguished Service Award (formerly the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award), has passed away. 

Neil Shafer is probably best known for his interest in Philippine numismatics, and his books on this subject: United States Territorial Coinage for The Philippine Islands (Whitman Publishing, 1961); A Guide Book of Philippine Paper Money (Whitman Publishing, 1964); and Philippine Emergency and Guerrilla Currency of World War II (Western Publishing, 1974).

Although I did not know Neil Shafer personally, his books have been invaluable for me when I was learning about US-Philippine coins and currency.

He passed away on August 24, 2023. He was 90 years old.

The following is an excerpt of a tribute from the Philippine Collectors Forum by John Riley:

We are greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Neil Shafer, a Giant in the world of Coins and Paper Money research and collecting.  Among many areas, issues of the U.S Philippines 1903-45 was a particular passion.

Neil was unquestionably the pioneer in this research and publishing:  his knowledge and experience was recognized, respected and sought by everyone who attended our meetings over the years.  Although he admitted that early on he had no real, personal connection through military service, etc to the Philippine Islands, he was fascinated by U.S. Federal coin and paper money “connections” to those of the Islands and was the first person in the United States to recognize and appreciate the unique series of coins, tokens and paper money as bona fide regular U.S. issues.  Most importantly for us now, he actually DID something tangible about it while working for Whitman Publishing -  namely, he produced the seminal collector references.

In later years, Neil continued to regularly present topics of interest to the PCF and unfailingly would pull some amazing artifact out of his battered brown briefcase to delight and captivate us!  Neil embraced modern technology, no small feat for members a fraction of his age, and it would be a boon to keeping the numismatic conversation going in the age of COVId-19.  We conducted two “virtual meetings” via the ZOOM application during the Pandemic and Neil expertly provided video interaction on financial instruments made of paper - Manila’s Santo Tomas Internment Camp meal chits, early U.S. Army Camp Exchange “tokens” and other similar items in paper - all quite rare.   Neil even invented a new word - Exographica - for the topic (a nod to Russell Rulau’s now-standard term of exonumia for tokens).   Neil kept us in touch with ongoing publishing and encouraged us all along the way to participate in his latest co-written effort, with co-author Matthias Voight, to be published on Volume II of Philippine Emergency “Guerrilla” paper issues.

But, larger than all else, was that he WELCOMED all at every collecting level and he truly ENCOURAGED everyone he encountered in this wonderful community of ours.   That simple kindness and skill in taking time to listen and graciously sharing what he had learned over the years is the shining model of what it means to be a MENTOR.   We take away now this vital lesson to do our best in living up to Neil’s example.

                            🕊️

Rest in peace, Neil. My condolences to the Shafer family.

Edited August 29, 2023 by The 12th Denticle
Added information

[Hoghead515]

Condolences for Mr. Shafer's family and friends. 

[VKurtB]

The ANA Exhibit Judging fraternity has lost another one. I had the honor of serving with Neil.