Joel Lawrence Malter (May 9, 1931 – June 5, 2006), an internationally known dealer in ancient coins and antiquities, became a recognized expert, scholar and pioneer in these fields.

Career

Upon graduating from the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

in 1953, Malter enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

, with an initial station in England and later one in

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli (; ar, طرابلس الغرب, translit= Ṭarābulus al-Gharb , translation=Western Tripoli) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.1 million people in 2019. It is located in the northwe ...

. He quickly earned the rank of Captain, and his new bride Adele joined him in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. (During his duty in England in 1954 his first child Lisa was born.) After serving abroad, Joel and his new family returned to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, where he began his teaching career as an instructor in history and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

at Webster Junior High in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. During this time he received from his Uncle George in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

a gift which changed his

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

: an ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

silver coin Silver coins are considered the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–33 ...

that George had found in the

North African North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

desert while on active duty during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Captain Malter's service abroad greatly heightened his quest for learning more about this very old

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

. He searched in local libraries for more knowledge about this and other ancient coins. The coin that he received as a gift came from the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Ancient Egypt—a silver

tetradrachm The tetradrachm ( grc-gre, τετράδραχμον, tetrádrachmon) was a large silver coin that originated in Ancient Greece. It was nominally equivalent to four drachmae. Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard coin of the An ...

of Ptolemy I,

Soter Soter derives from the Greek epithet (''sōtēr''), meaning a saviour, a deliverer; initial capitalised ; fully capitalised ; feminine Soteira (Σώτειρα) or sometimes Soteria (Σωτηρία). Soter was used as: * a title of gods: Poseidon ...

, pharaoh between 305 and 283 B.C. Malter sought more ancient coins to collect, research and use in school to help educate his students. His strong passion for learning as much as he could about ancient

coins A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

and then teaching what he had learned to his students made his ancient-history class one of the most sought-after courses in the entire school. In a matter of a few years,

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

had consumed his teaching duties and had steered him towards a new career. He quit his teaching job in 1961 and became a full-time classical

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

. At the time of this move only a handful of individuals in the entire United States dealt full-time in ancient coins. more than one hundred - and perhaps double or even triple that amount - ancient-coin firms dealt mostly via the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, a method of selling ancient coins first started by Malter's firm in the early 1990s. Malter's auction catalogues, articles published in ''

COINage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Neologism, coinage of a new word * '' COINage'', numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Protologism ''Protologism'' is a term coined in 2003 by the American literary ...

'' magazine in the 1970s and 1980s, and various other scholarly works on ancient coins, antiquities and collecting have become much sought-after and respected by collectors and worldwide dealers alike. Malter began his small one-man business in the garage of his home in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

, and soon started to realize profits unachievable at that time in teaching. His move paid off. The 1960s and 1970s saw his small business turn into one of the most successful ancient-coin dealerships in the world. In 1978, upon his graduation from California State University Northridge, Joel Malter's son Michael Malter joined what became the

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...

. The firm bought and sold and auctioned ancient coins and related

antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Artifacts from earlier periods such as the Meso ...

worldwide from a prominent address on

Ventura Boulevard Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east–west thoroughfares in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Ventura Boulevard is one of the oldest routes in the San Fernando Valley as it was originally a part o ...

, Los Angeles. Malter's daughter Debbie Poe joined Joel L. Malter Inc. in the late 1980s. During his lifetime Malter's collecting interests changed and diversified to include fine coins and collectibles from all over the world. He also assembled one of the finest numismatic and art libraries, which rivaled many university collections. On June 4 and 5 2006 a public and Internet auction at his California home sold Malter's prized numismatic library. Malter passed away hours before the second session of his auction, scheduled for later that morning.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malter, Joel Lawrence 1931 births 2006 deaths Place of birth missing