Christian B. Blom III

Christian Barend Blom III, son of Christian Barend Blom II and Dorothea Johnson Blom, both of whom who preceded him in death, passed away on November 27, 2018.  A resident of West Haven, Mr. Blom was born on December 2, 1935 in Mt. Kisco, New York, grew up in Pleasantville, New York and later moved to Hawthorne, New York. 

He graduated from Pleasantville High School in 1953 and graduated Syracuse University in 1957 where he pursued his lifelong love of the study of history, which included the genealogy of his mother’s family, second U.S. President John Adams as well as Priscilla Mullins and John Alden, whom both arrived on the Mayflower.   He embarked on a lifelong career as a professional numismatist, specializing in ancient Greek and Roman coins, world coins and so called obsolete banknotes and merchants scrip of the type circulating prior to the Federal Government undertaking of issuance of its own paper money during the Civil War.  Mr. Blom was especially well known in the numismatic trade as one of the pioneering dealers in obsolete banknote field.  He was a contributor to a number of the standard reference texts in that collecting specialty.  From the late 1950’s until the 1970’s  he was a frequent attendee and booth holder at numerous major numismatic conventions in the New York City Metropolitan area including the New York International Numismatic Convention from its inception.  He relocated to Arlington, Virginia in the late 1970’s and was active in numismatic circles in that region, affiliating with M&M Numismatics and fellow professional Numismatist Lucien Birkler until the time of his retirement.  During that period, he was a frequent booth holder at collecting events hosted by the International Numismatic Society.  Mr. Blom was a member of the American Numismatic Association, Central States Numismatic Society and local collecting groups.

His sister, Juliana Bates and a nephew, Moses Bates, survive him.  Surviving cousins are Lynn Dodson, Neal Johnson, Wayne Johnson, Dale Walsh and Elizabeth Whelan Carroll. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will celebrate Mr. Blom’s life on Saturday, April 27, 2019, 11am at our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church, 600 Jones Hill Road, West Haven, CT.  Interment to follow at St. Lawrence Cemetery, 280 Derby Avenue, West Haven, CT. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. 

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