Robert Hewitt, Jr.

Robert Hewitt, Jr. was a successful real estate investor in Manhattan, New York, and a notable numismatist.Johnson, D. Wayne. [http://coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n09a12.html “Medals in Books Led to Two Art Medal Series”] , "E-Sylum", vol. 8, no. 9, article 12, February 12, 2005. Numismatic Bibliomania Society website, accessed September 3, 2007.] Hewitt began collecting coins as a young man while serving a mercantile apprenticeship and compiled a comprehensive Abraham Lincoln medal collection considered by numismatists as one of the greatest of its kind. [Schuyler, Montgomery. “A Medallic History of Lincoln”, "Putnam’s Monthly and the Reader", vol. V (October 1908-March 1909), 679.] [Chicago Historical Society. “Charter, Constitution, By-Laws/Membership List/Annual Report for the Year Ending October 31, 1908”, 275.] In 1908, Hewitt produced a medal to commemorate the centennial birth of Abraham Lincoln. Hewitt commissioned sculptor Jules Edouard Roiné of Paris for the design and the medal “offered a stinking frontal bust in high relief.” [Peterson, Merrill D. "Lincoln in American Memory" (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 182. See also "The Lincoln Centennial Medal" (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908) and Krans, Horatio Sheafe, ed. "The Lincoln Tribute Book" (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1909).]

In 1918, Mrs. Hewitt donated the Robert Hewitt Lincoln collection to the U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian Institution). [Smithsonian Institution. “1918 Report of the U.S. National Museum”, "Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution", published 1919, 27.] At the time of donation, the U.S. National Museum reported that the collection included “1,200 specimens of medallic souvenirs of President Lincoln, and includes medallions, plaques, medals, medalets, coins, tokens, and…campaign” items. [Smithsonian Institution. “1918 Report of the U.S. National Museum”, 27 and 28.] Hewitt’s extensive collection of Lincolniana provided both an important historical and artistic view of Lincoln.

In addition, Hewitt founded the important numismatic group the Circle of Friends of the Medallion in 1909 with other medal enthusiasts and produced the first privately created medal series in America. Also,Hewitt served as the Corresponding Secretary of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society (currently the American Numismatic Society) in 1868-69 [American Numismatic Society. [http://www.numismatics.org/archives/ANSSecretaries.html “Secretaries of the American Numismatic Society”] , "The American Numismatic Society website". Accessed September 11, 2007.] and the Second Vice President in 1880-84. [American Numismatic Society. [http://www.numismatics.org/archives/ANSVicePresidents.html “Vice Presidents of the American Numismatic Society”] , "The American Numismatic Society website". Accessed September 11, 2007.] [Lossing, Benson J. "History of New York City Volume II" (New York: The Perine Engraving and Publishing Co., 1884), 598.]

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