NEW JERSEY EXONUMIA SOCIETY
(A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CLUB)
In 1978 Gary Patterson and the late Jerry Zara started talking about forming a club for the token and medal
collectors of New Jersey. In 1979 Al Zaika and Rocco DiGiacomo were contacted and after several meetings the
club w as formed in 1980. Al became our first president.
Robert Mitchell (formerly of Toms River) suggested the name" Jerseyana" for our newsletter. Our first annual
meeting was held in Cherry Hill at the Garden State Numismatic Convention show in 1981. A contest was held for
the club's logo and Carl W. Pannicke's design won out over the "Jersey Devil".
The club received a plaque from G.S.N.A. - awarded for displaying the largest collection of New Jersey wooden
nickels ever assembled. In 1982 the club was chosen to be the host club for the G.S.N.A 7th annual convention.
Our first buy, sell & trade session was set up by Jack Wilcox and his wife Peg held in Dunellen, N.J. on
November 28, 1982. Dave Gladfelter won the first award for writing articles in the "Jerseyana"
Damia Francis and Bill Dewey are the clubs only honorary life members. Damia helped many jersey collectors
with her listings of New Jersey tokens & medals in the Token and Medal Society's (T.A.M.S.) journal. Bill,
a great researcher and writer on the subject of admiral George Dewey, influenced many collectors through his
talks and articles.
Over the years the" Jerseyana" has reported and listed thousands of N.J. exonumia items and interesting articles
from its members. Hopefully, this will continue in the future for the new collectors coming into the hobby.
