Fred Maher 2012-A Hall of Fame Coin

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Even if Adelia and I had not not purchased the Fred Maher School of Ventriloquism in 1969, I still would have included Fred Maher high on my personal list of "vent heros".   Nearly a decade earlier I had enrolled in the Maher Home Study Course as my first serious study of the art.  Like so many others, I had answered a classified ad found in Popular Mechanics magazine and subsequently enrolled in the correspondence course.  I never had the honor of meeting Mr. Maher personally.  He had passed away some 6 years earlier (1952).  But his writing was personal, his enthusiasm and passion for ventriloquism was vibrant and contagious.  His words of instruction were easy to follow accompanied by a sense that he was sitting by one's side.  The confidence he communicated through the written word was amazing.   I do believe my experience as a student of the Maher Course had a great deal to do with my desire to continue the work and tradition of Fred and Madeleine Maher when the opportunity was presented to me.  And now that I have had years to peruse Fred's notes and files, meet and correspond with hundreds of past students and customers, I have come to think of Fred Maher as a friend and confidant.  It is with pleasure we have produced this coin in his honor.  (Note:  While the number of coin sets produced are limited to 200 per issue, the total number of Fred Maher coins produced was 1,000 - the only Hall of Fame coin produced in that quantity.)