Erik Goldstein is Senior Curator of Mechanical Arts, Metals, & Numismatics at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He originally hails from New York City, and is a lifelong student of the numismatics, arms, militaria, and material culture of the 17^th & 18^th centuries. After receiving a BA in Fine Arts/Illustration from Parsons School of Design, he spent the next 12 years as a professional numismatist and consultant.

Since joining Colonial Williamsburg, Erik has focused on using his diverse specialties as educational platforms. He is a regular speaker at conferences across the United States and has lectured at Fort Ticonderoga, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the Museum of the American Revolution, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and Colonial Williamsburg’s annual Antiques Forum.

In addition to dozens of journal articles on varied subjects, he has authored six books relating to antique weaponry and military history; The Bayonet in New France 1665-1760 (1997), The Socket Bayonet in the British Army 1687–1783 (2000), 18^th Century Weapons of the Royal Welsh Fuziliers from Flixton Hall (2002), The Brown Bess, an Identification Guide (2010), Ray’s Story, A Lost Air Gunner of the 454^th Bomb Group (2013), and The Swords of George Washington, published in early 2016. 

Goldstein’s awards include the Man at Arms Cup for outstanding service to the field of Arms & Armor, the Numismatic Literary Guild’s Best Article awards for 2010 and 2019, the American Numismatic Association’s Heath Literary and Raymond Literary awards for 2019, and an honorary Doctorate of Numismatics from the Florence Schook School of Numismatics at the American Numismatic Association.