Canadian collector Howard Engel, the owner of Richard Stockley Books, is one of nearly 40 speakers set to lead virtual presentations at this weekend’s second annual Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP) Symposium.
The free three-day virtual event kicks off tomorrow – March 19 – at 10 a.m. (ET), with Engel, a Winnipeg resident, set to speak at 2 p.m. (ET).
Entitled “Bert Koper of Winnipeg: A Canadian Numismatic Pioneer, Tragic Hero and Archetype,” Engel’s talk will look at late numismatist Bert Koper, who was born in the Netherlands in 1899 but later moved to Winnipeg.
Koper “almost single-handedly kept the torch of organized numismatics burning in Canada through the dark years” of the Great Depression and the Second World War, according to Engel.
“His Park Coin Shop, Canadian Numismatic Art Society, and subsequent Canadian Coin Club Society … filled the gap between the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Montreal’s demise in 1934 and the Canadian Numismatic Association’s birth in Ottawa in 1950. Numismatic literature aficionados collect his publications; his enthusiasm inspires collectors today.”
Koper, who died in 1963, is also remembered for nearly forming a national numismatic association; however, he passed the torch to the collectors who formed the Canadian Numismatic Association (now the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association, or RCNA) in 1950, Engel said.
ENGEL’S COLLECTING HISTORY
Engel began collecting coins as a Centennial project in 1967, when his father gave him travel change from Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States—plus a few Canadian George VI decimal coins.
In 2013, after a 38-year hiatus from active collecting, he once again returned to his hobby, this time joining the Manitoba Coin Club (MCC) just as it was set to host the 2013 RCNA Convention in Winnipeg, where he displayed his first non-competitive exhibit. Since then, he has entered competitive exhibits at each RCNA Convention plus non-competitive ones at MCC shows.
In 2019, Engel bought long-time literature dealer Richard Stockley’s business before moving the operation from Senneville, Qué., to his hometown of Winnipeg.
In addition to the RCNA and MCC, Engel is also a member of the Canadian Centennial Collectors Club, the Canadian Association of Token Collectors and the American Numismatic Association.