Martin Luther Beistle

Martin Luther Beistle (1875-1935) was born in Cumberland, Pennsylvania, the fourth son if David W. Pisle Beistle and Mary Elizabeth John. In January 1895, he married Anna Mary Amanda Dewalt (1875-1946), daughter of John Jacob Dewalt (1858-), the radial arm saw inventor. They had five children : Arthur Erwin (1895-1961), Ruth Amanda (1897-1975), Pearl Henrietta (1899-1995), Edna May (1901-1967), and Dorothy Elizabeth (1910-1996). Their first child was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Beistle began his career as a specialty salesman for the Pittsburgh Calendar Company.

Around 1900 he started his business, the Beistle Company. From the basement of his home on Walnut Street in Cartier's Township he, his wife and her brother fabricated decorations for hotels, especially artificial plants. He continued working as a specialty salesman saving the company profits in order to expand into their own factory building.

In 1904, he patented the Medicine Spoon, a spoon that had a bent handle to assist in liquid medication. According to the U. S. Patent Office Beistle filed the patent while living in Ingram, Pennsylvania.

About 1905, he rented the W. W. McBride Paper Company factory where he had worked as a salesman. Late 1905 through 1906, the Beistle Company felt the effects of the looming Banking Crisis and was forced to close the factory. Beistle relocated back to his humble origins in his basement. In 1907, he moved his basement factory into his father-in-laws wagon shop, then in 1909, he moved into a new factory location in Shippensburg. Things must have been looking up because he began to publish a company catalog of the novelty and party paper products produced by his company. In 1910, he began making specialty paper items that catered to the seasonal market, specializing in Christmas decorations. He patented several processes in specialty paper manufacturing.

He also ran a coin dealership under the Beistle Company name. By 1913 he had started specializing on American half dollars and in 1928 he discovered a niche that allowed him to combine his paper business and his numismatic interests. He patented the "Unique Coin Holder" for holding coins in ring binders specially designed for that purpose.

Beistle died of a heart attack in 1935. His estate sold off his immense coin collection in two sales through Milford Henry Bolender, Sale No. 100, November 30, 1935, and Sale No. 103, April 18, 5 and 1936.

In 2009 the Numismatic Bibliomania Society conducted a survey of the 100 Greatest Items of United States Numismatic Literature, and Beistle's "A Register of Half Dollar Die Varieties and Sub-Varieties; Being a Description of Each Die Variety Used in the Coinage of United States Half Dollars as far as the Issues are Known, Covering the United States Mint at Philadelphia, and Branches at New Orleans, San Francisco, Carson City and Denver. (1929)" ranked 64th on the list.

Sourced mainly from the NumismaticMall.com with most content from an article by John N. Lupia III.