MARKS, ARTHUR ELBRIDGE

Copyright 2000-2019 John N. Lupia, III

Arthur Elbridge Marks (1853-1917), was born on February 12, 1853, at Yarmouth, Cumberland County, Maine, son of Elbridge Marks (1830-), a farmer, and Mary Adele Marks (1834-).

In 1860 he lived with his parents on the family farm in Penobscot, Hancock County, Maine. Later on he emerges as one of the early prominent collectors and dealers of Maine numismatic history.

He became a real-estate developer and construction company president specializing in building residential homes.

He was a contemporary of William Theodore Curtis (1849-1897), and Charles Burleigh (1855-1916), coin dealers in Portland, Cumberland County, Maine active in 1878 and 1880 respectively and Lt. Col. Charles E. Blunt, a collector of Portland, Cumberland County, Maine, active 1881, and Ferguson Haines (1840-1925) of Biddeford, York County, Maine.

Among Marks' numismatic friends W. E. Woodward auctioned the W. T. Curtis collection on June 16, 1880.

Marks became a frequent correspondent of the Chapman Brothers beginning in the 1880's.

Marks correspondence with the Chapman Brothers postmarked Woodfords, Maine, March 10, 1887, segmented cork cancel. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive.

Marks correspondence with the Chapman Brothers sending in his bids for the May 16th coin auction sale, postmarked Woodfords, Maine, April 30, 1888. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive.

In American numismatic history is is known simply as A. E. Marks, Woodfords, Maine. Marks was a coin dealer who advertised selling early American copper cents in The Numismatist in August, 1892, on page 32. By this date he already prepared and devised arranging select coins for sale in packets to be sent on approval for clientele. His inventory lists grew into his published FPL which seems to have first emerged probably sometime in either late 1895 or early 1896.

He is ANA member no. 89.

His name appeared in the March 1892 issue of The Numismatist, in list no. 15, as number 431.

Marks 3/4 page advertisement published in the July 1893 issue of The Numismatist, page 123. Courtesy lupia Numismatic Library.

In 1894, he built the Edward E. Marks Home

In the March 1895 issue of The Numismatist, March (1895) : 74, he ran an advertisement selling 18th century almanacs.

In the April 1895 issue of The Numismatist.

In the November 1895 issue of The Numismatist his advertisement took on the flavor of a mail bid auction where people submitted concealed offers in writing typically through the mail and the best takes it.

Marks, 1896 Fixed price list (FPL) A List of Coins in Stock and For Sale by A. E. Marks, Woodfords, ME. (John Amiet, Printer, Koch, Ohio, 1896) Courtesy Newman Numismatic Portal.

Marks advertisement in the 1895 Portland, Maine City Directory.

He died at age 64 on July 30, 1917.

Bibliography :

“Our Numismatic Directory” List No. 4, No. 76,The Numismatist, Vol. 3, No. 5 & 6, March (1891) : 25

The Numismatist, Vol. 4, No. 3, March (1892) : 40

The Numismatist, Vol. 4, No. 8, August (1892) : 12

The Numismatist, Vol. 5, No. 7, July (1893) :

The Numismatist, Vol. 7, No. 11, November (1894) : ad inside front papers; Numismatist, Vol. 8, No. 1, January (1895) : [30] column two middle display ad.

The Numismatist, March (1895) : 74 ad selling 18th century almanacs.

The Numismatist, April (1895) : display advertisement 1799 Cents A Specialty.

Gnecchi, Ercole and Francesco, eds., Guida Numismatica 4^thedition. (Milano : U. Hoepli, 1903. Edition) : 563, No. 5874