by Matthew F. Erskine, Trustee
John Kittredge was well known as a generous and supportive member of the numismatic community, both in Worcester, MA and in New England. What is not as well known is the extent of his collection, and what I am doing, hopefully with your help, to carry on John’s Intent after his death.
John’s family was makers of many of the grave monuments in Hope Cemetery in Worcester MA and elsewhere. My family had worked with his family for many years, having met through the Worcester Rotary Club. After his stroke, some 15 years before his death in 2005, John retired from the business and lived with his sister, Margaret, who has survived him.
John was very private about the extent of his collection, but he was an avid collector. A few months before his death, John finally decided that he should do something with the collection to preserve it and to promote coin collecting in general in the Worcester area. As I concentrate my practice on estate planning, with a particular specialty in people who have collections, I was able to crystallize John’s intent into a workable solution. What I failed to realize at the time was just what a great resource John’s collection could be both in the New England area and for a much broader audience.
At his death, John’s collection and a sizeable cash endowment, went to a Foundation I formed for John, the Kittredge Numismatic Foundation. I am the Trustee and Margaret Kittredge is on the Board of Advisors. As best I can tell, John never sold a coin, and was meticulous in detailing all of the data of the coins, including the date, cost and seller of each coin. Although John’s collection concentrates on Crowns and Talers from the 15th century through the 20th century, he also had a collection of U.S. coins, NENA medals, tokens, ancient Greek coins and other items. All told he had over 7,200 coins and other items that are now in the collection. The mission of the Foundation is to preserve John’s collection, to promote numismatics in this region, and to generally provide an educational and research source for the greatest community possible.
Because of the scope and nature of John’s collection, and the endowment of the Foundation, there is an exciting prospect, although one that does not lend itself to the traditional museum setting to achieve John’s goals. The first steps to fulfill this potential have already been taken, as I have had each coin and other item in John’s collection, along with an image of the sleeve information, digitally imaged and I am in the process of having those images, and the information on acquisition, posted to the Web on a research oriented website. This site should roll out buy the middle of the summer of 2008. I have now begun the second step in this process, which is to ask what you, as local collectors and dealers, see as the greatest need and benefit to collecting in general and numismatics in general for the wider New England Region. I have met with Bob Moffatt, Arthur and Pru Fitts and several others privately about the possible ways the Foundation can support numismatics in New England region and, in no order, are some of the ideas:
- Provide a permanent meeting space in Worcester,
MA for the WCNA and other numismatic clubs to
meet, that would include
- Meeting space for 75 to 100 people,
- Space adjacent to the meeting area for a Bourse for members and dealers to buy, sell and swap coins,
- Space to have a monthly “dealer day” by invitation with adequate security,
- Sponsor the rental of hotel like space to bring single day and multi-day shows, and perhaps the annual NENA shows, to Worcester (but not in competition with any existing shows),
- Provide space to a monthly meeting of the WCNA and NENA,
- Provide a secure space for dealers to meet with clients rented on an hourly basis
- Provide space for display and educational events for the wider public.
- Provide a website that would include:
- An online searchable database for coins, tokens and medals
- A forum for discussions on coins and collecting
- A Secure platform for collectors to display their collection for educational purposes to a wider audience
- An “ebay” like auction platform specializing in coins
- Promote education and collecting though:
- Programs that bring collections into school for teaching history, social science, metallurgy and other topics,
- Sponsor the annual NENA educational events
- Scholarships at local Colleges and Universities
- Prizes and scholarships to Middle and High School children on numismatic related topics
- Develop traveling exhibitions of coins through ANA
I am now in the “brainstorming” stage of this process, so I am open to all suggestions and I would like you to give me those suggestions you might feel are helpful. I have placed my contact information at the end of this article and if you send me an email or a note, I will get in touch with you to hear your thoughts. Having spoken about John and the foundation, I would like to speak a bit about who I am and what I do. Although I am a lawyer, and I am the fourth generation to practice law in Worcester, I am a collector, and I come from an even longer line of collectors. I have inherited a coin collection of classical Greek and Roman coins begun by my great grandfather, William T. Forbes, when he taught at Roberts College in Constantinople in the 1870’s. I have my great aunt Esther Forbes research library from her writing her books such as Johnny Tremain and Paul Revere and the World he Lived In for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. I have every watch ever purchased by the family, dating back to the 1790’s, and they all work. I have had to build a 6,000 s.f. Addition to my family home just to hold all of this, and I am still collecting now.
In being a collector, and an estate planner, I have found that collections are unique, and most planning does not work unless it is customized to the special nature of collectors. This uniqueness opens collections, and collectors to unique risks, costs and issues that I am specializing in handling. What I do is “lift out” the collection from the collector’s other wealth planning in such a way that they can confidently answer the following three questions:
Who will care for my collection after I die?
How can I preserve my collection, now and in the future, without losing control?
How can I avoid making preserving the collection a financial burden to my heirs?
John’s solution was the formation of the Kittredge Numismatic Foundation, but what others solution really depends on what the Collector intends for his or her collection, now and into the future.
Again, I am happy to hear from you and get your input on how I might work with the regional numismatic community to better achieve John’s intent. Here is my contact information.
Matthew F. Erskine, Esq.
Erskine & Erskine
30 Highland Street
Worcester, MA 01609-2704
Vox (508) 753-7100
Fax (508) 753-8088
www.erskineanderskine.com