My name is Ben Z. Swanson, Jr.  After graduating from dental school and becoming a career officer in the United States Air Force Dental Corps, I renewed an earlier interest in numismatics and developed a formidable collection of Canadian and British Commonwealth coins.  In 1971, I was posted to England and my collecting interests took a new turn.  I started a thematic or topical (subject) collection of items related to the profession of dentistry.

I retired from the Air Force as a full colonel in 1983 and moved to London to study for a masters degree in the history of dentistry at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.  My primary motive was to research my collection and make it more meaningful.

The Dean of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, Dental School, University of Maryland (the first dental school in the world) recruited me to come to Baltimore and start a museum dedicated to dentistry which would surpass any American dental museum and compare favorably with the great dental museums of Europe and the Far East.  The National Museum of Dentistry opened its doors in 1996.  I have since resigned from the museum, but taught the history of dentistry at the dental school for two years after leaving the museum.

I am now turning my attention once again to collecting.  My primary areas of interest are paper ephemera, tokens and containers (especially tins) related to dentists, dentistry and dental products (see My Wants List page).

For many years I advertised to buy medical and dental items.  As a result, people sent me duplicate artifacts plus other objects that are rare and interesting, but outside the scope of my primary collections.

With the help of my colleague, Ruth K. Wilson, I now buy and sell on eBay virtually full time.  If you have particular wants in the medical and dental field, it might be worth your asking.  We invite you to visit our eBay auctions regularly.

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