What is a coin board?
A coin board is a cardboard panel, typically measuring 11" wide by 14" tall, designed to hold a particular series of collector coins by date and mint. These boards were produced by seven different publishers at various times between 1935 and 1948. Starting in 1939-40, they began to be replaced over the next several years by more convenient coin folders, which are book-like in form. The large, vintage coin boards of the 1930s and '40s are now highly collectable, and they vary from common examples to great rarities that are highly sought by enthusiasts.
Who invented the coin board?
The coin board was invented by Joseph Kent Post, Sr., an engineer employed by paper products manufacturer Kimberly-Clark in Neenah, Wisconsin. Post had extra time on his hands in 1934, as his working hours had been cut back during the Great Depression. A coin collector himself, Post struck on an idea that would revolutionize the hobby and also promised to supplement his reduced income. There were then only expensive and bulky albums available to collectors, so J. K. Post devised a more convenient and affordable means of storing and displaying a series of coins. This product consisted of a single cardboard panel with holes punched into it the size of the pennies it would hold. To keep the coins in place, a paper backing was applied to the back. Though his 1934 prototype was a bit oversize to be convenient, Post quickly reduced his penny board to fit a standard 11" by 14" picture frame. He contracted with Whitman Printing and Lithographing Company in nearby Racine to manufacture his boards, and then he took to the road to market his invention to potential retailers.
Rebuffed by most of the established coin dealers, who though this notion was silly, Post concentrated on placing his invention with variety stores, stationery stores, newsstands and similar retail venues where they would be discovered by persons not already involved in collecting coins. Realizing that he needed a hook that would appeal to these novices, he inscribed his early boards for Lincoln Pennies with the catchy challenge to "FILL ME IF YOU CAN." Curious buyers took the boards home and began to search through their change to do just that, only to discover that it wasn't all that easy to complete the collection. Though the Lincoln Penny series was then only 25 years old, there were already a few date-and-mint combinations which were difficult to find. The public was soon hooked by this activity that was partly a game and partly a puzzle. Post's boards, which he published under the name KENT CO. COIN CARD, were an almost immediate success, and he was soon adding more titles to the line so that hobbyists could work on sets of all coins then circulating from cents through dimes. He'd begun designing boards for quarters when Whitman, impressed by the number of units it was producing for Post, bought the rights to this product late in 1935. Over the next seven years, Whitman would print and distribute perhaps a million or more coin boards before converting to the more convenient folder format still popular today.
Rebuffed by most of the established coin dealers, who though this notion was silly, Post concentrated on placing his invention with variety stores, stationery stores, newsstands and similar retail venues where they would be discovered by persons not already involved in collecting coins. Realizing that he needed a hook that would appeal to these novices, he inscribed his early boards for Lincoln Pennies with the catchy challenge to "FILL ME IF YOU CAN." Curious buyers took the boards home and began to search through their change to do just that, only to discover that it wasn't all that easy to complete the collection. Though the Lincoln Penny series was then only 25 years old, there were already a few date-and-mint combinations which were difficult to find. The public was soon hooked by this activity that was partly a game and partly a puzzle. Post's boards, which he published under the name KENT CO. COIN CARD, were an almost immediate success, and he was soon adding more titles to the line so that hobbyists could work on sets of all coins then circulating from cents through dimes. He'd begun designing boards for quarters when Whitman, impressed by the number of units it was producing for Post, bought the rights to this product late in 1935. Over the next seven years, Whitman would print and distribute perhaps a million or more coin boards before converting to the more convenient folder format still popular today.
Joseph Kent Post, Sr. circa 1935
Post's original prototype board from 1934 (right) measured roughly 12"x17" and had no border. This example bears a stamped copyright statement of "C1A A 164095 / JAN 11 1935" on its reverse.
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This revised version from early 1935 measures just under 11"x14". It was offered for a very short time before being extensively redesigned .
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Post's KENT CO. COIN CARD was upgraded further to feature a title font that today is so recognizably a product of the 1930s. The limited number of coin openings (as of 1935) for the nickel and dime boards permitted him to include charming illustrations of each coin type. The Kent line also featured boards for Liberty Head Nickels, Morgan (Barber) Dimes and Mercury Dimes, while Post's design for a Morgan Quarter board was ultimately produced by Whitman in 1936.