From esylum at binhost.com Sun Apr 3 22:43:07 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Sun Apr 3 22:44:01 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#14, April 3, 2005 Message-ID: <4250A9BB.9070808@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 14, April 3, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. DAVIS MAY 7TH SALE IN WORKS Charles Davis writes: "My next mail bid sale is at the printers and will close on May 7, 2005. It includes the second offering of surplus books from the American Numismatic Society and consignments from others as well. Highlights include 150 priced 19th century catalogues including Woodward's Bibliotheca, Woodward's sale 95 with plates, Marvin's Masonic Medals, Zabriskie's Lincoln Medals, 2 original Crosby's, 1925 Browning, 1845 Riddell, Eckfelt-Dubois with gold samples, The Numismatic Chronicle near complete from 1862, first 47 years of the Spink Circular, and several lengthy runs of the American Journal of Numismatics. Catalogues will be sent next week to those on our mailing list. The catalogue is now posted, as in the past, at http://www.maineantiquesdigest.com/adimg/davis.htm " NEW MILITARY PAYMENT SCRIP ISSUED IN IRAQ The following item is reprinted with permission from the Friday, April 1, 2005 issue of the MPC Gram (Series 006 - Number 1267), an email newsletter covering "the entire World of Military Numismatics" In a startling move the United States issued military payment certificates in Iraq yesterday. The move was a surprise to military and civilian personnel, but most of all to collectors. The new issue in denominations $1 through $50 is Series 002. The notes feature vignettes of space flight on the faces and military hardware on the backs. Immediate reports from the field have personnel using the notes saying that they look like monopoly money. Even though few of the current military personnel in Iraq ever used MPC anywhere else, that is the same description often given by military personnel of an earlier time. No official reason was given for the introduction of MPC or why it was issued now rather than at the beginning of operations in Iraq. It was not stated if the Series 002 (or another series) was issued in Afghanistan or other areas. According to reports the notes seem to be lithographed (actual notes, or even photos have not been seen yet). Here are the reported major vignette pairs: denom face/back $1 rocket on launch pad/none $5 moon surface/unidentified nuclear submarine $10 Mars rover/B-52 bomber $20 solar system/tank firing $50 two space walkers/large machine gun on tripod (50 cal?) [Subsequently, an MPC Gram reader submitted images of two of the notes, which were then posted on the publication's web site: http://www.papermoneyworld.net/photos/iraq/MPC/Series002 In another surprise, a British paper was among first to report the news of the enlistment of President Bush's two daughters: "First daughters Jenna and Barbara Bush will be assigned to a high-tech unit in Iraq, the Air Force Human Resources Command has confirmed. Having finished basic training at the Officer Training School (OTS) at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, they are scheduled to receive advanced training in telecommunications at the School of Information Technology before deployment overseas with the USAF Information Operations Squadron. For security reasons, the exact dates have been withheld. The girls' surprise enlistment was kept secret until they successfully completed their basic training. During an invitation-only press conference while on leave between OTS and their school assignment - conducted, symbolically, at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where America's war dead are brought - the twins described their motives and rationale. "We'd always planned to do this," Jenna explained. "But first, we had to graduate from college, and then we had to help our father win the 2004 election, to ensure that America would continue to have the kind of strong, inspiring leadership it needs in these troubled times." "Under questioning from reporters, Jenna acknowledged that "yes, it's important for our father's credibility as Commander-in-Chief as well. People still insist on saying that he side-stepped the Vietnam war, which of course he didn't - and it's very hurtful to hear that - but because he's the President, my sister and I sort of have to go beyond what would be expected of ordinary people." The twins readily admitted to having been afraid of their parents' reactions to the news that they would enlist together and ask to serve together in a combat zone. "We're their only children, so, naturally, we worried that they'd go totally postal," Barbara said. "But we prayed together as a family, and in time we all came to the same conclusion." To read the full article, see: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/01/bush_twins_volunteer/ IS THE DIME THE NEW PENNY? Dick Johnson writes: "New Zealand stopped issuing one and two cent pieces in 1990. It now plans to abolish the five-cent coin. Its lowest denomination coin remaining in circulation will be the ten-cent dime. What does New Zealand know that other countries don?t know? That greater efficiencies are possible by eliminating low-denomination coins of little usefulness? A news article published Thursday, March 31, 2005, announced the country will drop the 5-cent coin and change the size and weight of the remaining fractional coins, 10-cent, 20-cent and the 50-cent coins. It will strike these in a lower- cost plated steel. The $1 and $2 coins are unaffected and will continue to be struck in copper-nickel. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which is charged with the country?s coin issuing, is taking this step -- unprecedented among modern coin-issuing nations! ? not only eliminating the three lowest coin denominations but changing the way the entire country must do business. Low cost items can be quoted in cents, but a "transaction price" will be required for a final purchase price, either for that single item or a multiple-item purchase. By July 2006 all transactions MUST be a multiple of the dime coin to be able to make change, the basic purpose of all monetary coins. In effect New Zealand has made its cent a "money of account." This becomes fact as well as in practice now that it has eliminated all means of making de facto transactions in cents. Obviously rounding down or rounding up to the nearest 10-cent value must occur for the "transaction price." On balance all prices one to four cents would be rounded down. All prices six to nine cents would be rounded up. This should balance out in the long run to no one?s benefit, to no one?s detriment. Critics will say this will always be to the detriment of the consumer, particularly for a price in the center ? five cents ? where a perceived disadvantage would occur to the buyer as the seller would instinctively round up. This is not always true. We have reported here in The E-Sylum (v8 n8, February 20, 2005) of the pharmacy chain in Israel where they established a policy to always round down a final price ending in 5 cents (5 agorot) to the lower amount ending in an even 10-cent (10 agorot) multiple (even when a 5-agorot coin was still in circulation). Retail businesses in New Zealand will quickly recognize an advantage over their competitors with a published policy to always round down to the customer?s advantage. A five- cent loss is paltry in a multiple dollar purchase, or in keeping the good will of a customer. New Zealand?s rising economy is driving the elimination of its low denomination coins. Such low value coins are just not necessary for small-amount daily transactions any more. And the reason for this is pure economics. Case in point is the cost of a loaf of bread over several hundred years. It is different when its cost is one cent, from ten cents, from one dollar, from ten dollars. World economies have advanced where we no longer have one cent bread or ten cent bread, thus we no longer need cent coins (or 5-cent coins) as this holds true for other commodities as well. Officers of New Zealand?s Reserve Bank understand this reality. They have taken a cutting-edge step to earn tremendous cost savings for their country, for their retail businesses, for their citizens. Savings accrue from not having to strike, transport, store, and use coins of insignificant value. Their only shortcoming, perhaps, is the abruptness of this statement after its first announcement in November last year. (Don?t they need a massive PR campaign to sell the idea before implementing it?) The vending machine industry in New Zealand will complain the loudest. They must reconfigure every machine in the country (they say at a cost of $200 a machine). This must also be done for coin changers. But the action advances the country?s economy with minimum savings of $2 million a year. My future predictions: (1) New Zealand will become a textbook case for Treasury departments of all modern world nations to watch and study. These nations will ultimately follow suit in eliminating coin denominations below the fractional value of ten. The only question is when? More progressive nations will take this action quicker than backward nations. (2) New Zealand will soon recognize it will have too few coin denominations for efficient coin transactions. It will issue $5 and $10 coins in the not too distant future. There is an optimum number of coin denominations to have in circulation for efficient commerce. (3) Coin collectors and numismatists will experience a renewed interest in New Zealand coins, buying up obsolete denominations and certainly welcoming new denominations. Its future proof coin sales will soar. (4) New Zealand?s vending industry will recover. The news report the above analysis is based upon is far too brief, but it should be read anyway: http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=11676 The Bank?s news release: http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/news/2005/1522767.html " TRANSITIONAL PAPAL COINAGE With the death this week of Pope John Paul II, there has been a tremendous amount of television coverage about the man, the position, and how the upcoming transition will be handled. Tonight I noticed a very brief news item about the Vatican coinage, saying coins with the pope's image have been discontinued, and that a new issue without a portrait is already underway to signify the void between popes. I was unable to locate more information on the web. Can anyone point us to images of the new coins, or a site that explains the history of these transitional pieces? J. C. RANDALL, ROBERT BASHLOW PHOTOS SOUGHT Harold Levi writes: "As the result of a very recent research trip I am now ready to complete my book on the Confederate cent. I am in need of two photographs (digital images would be better), J. Colvin Randall and Robert Bashlow. Also, I have been unable to locate Randall's birth year. His obits have not listed his birth year, in fact they have had little information on him. Assistance with these three items would be deeply appreciated. I sincerely thank Katie Jaeger, a direct descendant of George H. Lovett, for her invaluable assistance. She was my "discovery" last year. The actual fact is, she discovered me through the Internet. I presented her at the Pittsburgh ANA Convention last August as a part of my Confederate cent presentation. Katie and Russell Rulau are working on a book about the Lovett family of engravers and diesinkers. I thank the many people who have provided advice, encouragement, assistance, and image publication permissions. My objective has been to pull together into one place as much information about the Confederate cent as I can find. I feel I have achieved this objective, but it will be up to the readers to decide this point. I can be contacted at: haroldlevi@hotmail.com Your Obedient Servant, Harold Levi " THE MONTGOMERY CONFEDERATE NOTES Harold Levi adds: By-The-Way, the National Bank Note Company engraved and printed the Montgomery issue of Confederate notes, not the American Bank Note Company. I see the Montgomery issue attributed to the American Bank Note Company on a regular basis. I do not know who started this error, but it is in the Claud E. Fuller book, "Confederate Currency and Stamps." I have the diagnostics to prove this point should anyone wish to see it. FORGOTTEN EMPEROR'S COIN ON DISPLAY Arthur Shippee forwarded a link from the Explorator newsletter to an article about the recently-found coin of the Roman Emperor Domitianus: "The 1,700-year-old find, part of a hoard discovered by a metal detecting enthusiast near Oxford in April, 2003, proved the existence of Domitianus, dubbed the forgotten emperor. The discovery, which stunned archaeologists when it was made public last year, is returning to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford where it will eventually form a centrepiece to a new gallery to be devoted to money." "The base silver piece offers solid evidence for a long-dismissed claim that Domitianus had indeed declared himself an emperor at a time of upheaval in the Roman Empire. A high-ranking army officer, he is now believed to have staged a short lived military coup, declaring himself emperor of a western tranche of the Roman Empire which included Britain in the second half of the Third Century AD." "The claim is not new. Around 100 years ago an identical coin portraying the bearded face of Domitianus was found in central France, but was dismissed as a hoax. However the appearance of a second coin, fused inside a hoard lost for centuries is seen as proof of the long-forgotten chapter in Roman history. The fact that he was able to have coins struck in his image provides evidence that Domitianus?s bid for power succeeded at least as far as giving him control over a mint, thought to have been at Trier in Germany. Nevertheless, the fact that only two coins bearing his image are known to exist suggests to historians that his rule was extremely short ? perhaps just a few days." "The museum plans to exhibit the pieces permanently in its new Money Gallery as part of a major lottery-funded development plan." To read the complete article, see: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4293504 Another article has great images of the coin, the exhibit, and the original hoard: http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/exh_gfx_en/ART27195.html SPEARED BISON VARIETY DISCOVERER INTERVIEWED Another colorfully-named U.S. coin variety is being promoted. KLTV, a Texas television station, interviewed Pamela Ryman-Moir, who discovered and named the "speared bison" variety of the new 2005 buffalo nickel. The web page has an image of the slabbed discovery coin and a link to a video interview. "An East Texas discovery is bringing in a nice piece of change. A Van Zandt county woman found a flaw in some U.S. coins that could be worth more than a hundred dollars. Pam Ryman-Moir said she was just like most interested coin collectors, waiting on the release of the 2005 American Bison nickel. When she got them, she found more than a few were flawed. A line from the "E" in the writing appears to spear through the bison. Collector magazines are crediting her with the finding the flaw. Pam said she never thought she'd be the one to ever make a discovery." "A market value has not been placed on the nickel but she has sold some for more than $100. The coin is being called "Speared Bison" at her request." To read the full story, see: http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3145752 More information, including a nice image of the variety, is posted on the VarietyNickels web site: "Pamela Ryman-Moir of Texas was recently searching some bank wrapped rolls of 2005-D Buffalo Reverse Jefferson nickels, the third new design of the Westward Journey Nickel Series released by the U.S. Mint late last month, when she came across what she is terming the "Speared Bison" Jefferson nickel. The term comes from what is easily seen as a large vertical die gouge on the reverse directly thru the mid section of the bison. Pam was fortunate enough to find 31 of these nickels and has sent a few in for third party grading. In a recent report, coin collector John Combs of Texas has located 87 examples of this anomaly." http://www.varietynickels.com/articles/speared.htm NUMISMATICS ANSWERS QUESTION JEWELERS PONDER Dick Johnson writes: "I read a thread this week where a Memphis professor had asked a question of a jewelers? group: "Could ancient celators have done the engraving on tiny dies given their technology and without magnification?" The replies led to more questions than answers. Why, I wonder, did he think modern day jewelers had a knowledge of ancient coin technology? Jewelers appeared to have little knowledge of early technology, even a similar technology used within their own field from ancient time to the present. The replies appeared amateurish. Some were based on hearsay moreso than any basis in fact. While Internet chats fill a lot of Google?s eight billion pages, I am more convinced NOT to get truth off the world wide web. How much better to get it from ... books! An author works on a book often for years with diligent research and writing. Unless it is self-published his publishing house will edit his writing. There is an active fact checking before it reaches the frozen form on the printed page. Chat room comments appear too ephemeral. A quick reply off the top of a half-empty head. It is not vetted nor edited. To the professor?s credit, the thread ends with a reference to an article in the American Numismatic Society?s Museum Notes, and reference to volume 1 in Wayne G. Sayles? fantastic series on Ancient Coin Collecting which describes the very coin die engraving technology data he was seeking. He should have asked numismatists in the first place (and spelled Sayles name correctly!). Contrast the effort numismatists engage in the study of their collected specimens ? we seek history?s truth because our collections come from historical periods ? versus jewelers, whose apparent interest is merely selling the next item at hand. View the thread for yourself: http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/ganoskin.html " SECURITY THREAD THEORY RESURFACES On the Internet, some rumors never die, they just recirculate again and again. The web site Snopes, devoted to debunking Internet hoaxes and false rumors, updated its page devoted to the security thread on U.S. paper money on March 29, 2005. "According to scuttlebutt, the purpose of the thread isn't really to make it more difficult for the ill-intentioned to introduce Hidden money worthless currency into circulation by fooling its recipients into thinking it genuine, but instead to allow the government to know exactly how much money anyone is carrying at any particular moment. With the use of special scanners, or possibly a beam from a distant satellite, the Feds can quickly count the value of all bank notes being carried on or about one's person and thus track how much money is entering or leaving the country, and with whom. This knowledge, says the behind-the-hand whisperings, is used to finger drug dealers and smugglers. The rumor is bunk. The strip's sole purpose is the foiling of counterfeiters. It, along with a number of other security features worked into the nation's bank notes, make it far harder on the criminal element to produce phony bills that will be mistaken for the real thing." http://www.snopes.com/business/money/strip.asp OPENING VIRGIN BOOKS Nancy W. Green, Librarian of the American Numismatic Association writes: "George Kolbe is absolutely right when it comes to "virgin" books. A dull knife is the way to go. I use a letter opener and steady even pressure. There is something so sad about an "unopened" book. Doesn't anybody care what it says?" LINCOLN CENT GALVANO DIESHELL PHOTOS SOUGHT Web site visitor Joe Spiegel writes: "I was fascinated by the following passage on your site. I have been studying the Lincoln penny for years and always wanted to know what the original penny design would have looked like. Can you direct me to any photos of the original copper galvano dieshell for the Victor David Brenner penny, both sides?" The passage he refers to is in Dick Johnson's submission on 2009 cent ideas in the July 11, 2004 issue of The E-Sylum (v7n28). I'll reprint the passage here: Dick Johnson writes: "Gary Dunaier had the greatest idea for the 2009 Lincoln Cent! Return to those days of yesteryear with the original Wheat Reverse by VDB. Use Victor Brenner's original galvano pattern dieshell! The one in which his full name is signed on the lower reverse, not just the VDB initials. This dieshell still exists in the Philadelphia Mint die vaults. I held it in my hand in 1972 (centennial year Brenner's birth) when a group of Brenner fans held a centennial exhibit of Brenner's coins and medals at the Chase Bank Money Museum then in New York City's Rockefeller Center. We asked Mint Director Eva Adams if she could send something for this exhibit. She did! She sent Frank Gasparro, the original Brenner cent plaster models and the original copper galvano dieshells for both obverse and reverse made from those plaster models! Frank was most gracious. Before he let us put the items behind the wall of glass in the exhibit room he allowed each of us to have our photos taken with him, the original models and dieshells. Then he signed autographs all day long for the public. Certainly a highpoint of my life. Unfortunately Frank had to return them to the Mint vaults after this one-day Saturday showing. (The exhibit continued for several more weeks however.) But Frank told us this was the first time the models and dieshells had been outside of Mint vaults since the 1910 Exhibition of the Contemporary Medal, also in New York City, at the American Numismatic Society." http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v07n28.html [The dieshells are not pictured in David Lange's "The Complete Guide for Lincoln Cents" (1996), nor did I find anything in Andrew Pollack's "United States Patterns and Related Issues" (1994). If they remained locked in mint vaults since the 1972 exhibit, then photos are unlikely to exist. Is anyone aware of any? A query to Dick Johnson brought the following leads. -Editor] Dick Johnson writes: "We sent out a press packet after the Chase Bank Exhibit in June 1972 which included photos of all these. I believe some of the photos were printed in Coin World. I don't remember if it was in The Numismatist, which would be the easiest to check perhaps. The photos also went to Krause Publications and Coinage. I have not unpacked my boxes of photos yet so I cannot say if I still have the original photos our web site visitor wants to view. As I recall the original galvano was about seven inches in diameter, quite thin, and did contain Brenner's full signature on the reverse at the bottom. Incidentally, it was Henri Weil who, in 1909, made that galvano at Medallic Art Company for the artist, Victor Brenner (both in New York City). It had to meet the artist's approval before he sent it to the Philadelphia Mint. Obviously he sent both plaster model and galvano shell. The original plaster models accompanied Frank Gasparro to that exhibit as well. From my memory: the plasters showed their age. They were discolored and were the customary thickness of a plaster model of that period. However, as I recall, they were remarkably free of chips. The Mint had taken excellent care of the two models for all the 63 years since their creation by Brenner. Perhaps the U.S. Mint could be persuaded to bring these original plaster models and galvanos out of the vault again for a Brenner exhibit for the double centennial / bicentennial celebration in 2009 -- centennial of the Lincoln Cent and bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. I could not think of a higher honor for sculptor Victor David Brenner. His glyptic coin relief of our sixteenth president has transcended time, changes in artistic style of coin design and shifts in political management in the U.S. Treasury & Mint department. Brenner will have accomplished something by 2009 no other artist in the world can match -- he created a coin design that will have been struck every year for a full century! You must tip your hat to that monumental feat!" [A search of NIP yielded an entry for an article on Brenner. in the Numismatic Scrapbook magazine (Vol.39\1973 AUG\ Pg.692). I don't have that issue handy to verify, but since it appeared late in the following year it may be unrelated to the Chase exhibit. NIP does not index Coin World or Numismatic News, unfortunately. I suspect we'll hear from our readers with counterexamples of designs that have laster longer than a century (such as the Maria Theresa coins), but it's a marvelous achievement nevertheless. -Editor] BRENNER RESTING PLACE DISCOVERED An article in the April 11, 2005 issue of COIN World (p79) discusses an article on the January-February issue of The Knight, the official newsletter of the Lithuanian Numismatic Association. The article was written by The Knight's editor, Frank Passic, and details his search for the burial place of Lithuanian-born sculptor and coin designer Victor David Brenner. His research revealed that Brenner died of lung cancer on April 5, 1924 and was buried in what is today known as Mount Judah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens County, NY. The article notes that Passic posted the results of his search on the www.findagrave.com web site. I've created direct links to the pages below. The third link is a page of photos, including one of Brenner's grave marker. Don't miss this one! http://tinyurl.com/684n6 http://tinyurl.com/4uccl http://tinyurl.com/6xrwe [Hoping to find more information on the society, a web search failed to locate a home page for the group, but did find the following article by Passic on Lithuanian coin designs: http://lithuanian-american.org/bridges/bal99/coins.html Membership in the LNA is $15. For more information, contact the group by email at lithnumis@hotmail.com -Editor] DOLLAR BILLS ON THE WALL: "BUCK SNORTS" Last week Ron Ambler submitted an item about a Southern Maryland restaurant called The Roost where the walls are decorated with "buck snorts". While searching for the restaurant's web site, I came across a couple items from a local paper called St. Mary's Today which reported on a health scare related to the restaurant. This week Ron adds: "Cheap shot! St. Mary's Today used to be a weekly rag that went out of business years ago for inability to pay its bills. It is now a one-man Internet operation that no one down here in Southern Maryland takes seriously. The hepatitis scare was over five years ago, and as far as I know nothing much ever came of it -- certainly no judgments. There was a server with hepatitis who did work at all three of the restaurants (not a very good worker one might judge from three places of employment in such a short time). I still routinely enjoy the food and the atmosphere of the Roost, particularly the huge array of Naval aviation memorabilia, including the Bucksnort wallpaper." [Old news lives on forever on the Internet. My apologies to Ron and the restaurant. Keep The Roost on your radar for a numismatic vacation side-trip someday. -Editor] SUDBURY BIG NICKEL REFERENCES Darryl Atchison writes: "In answer to your query concerning Sudbury's Centennial Numismatic Park, I checked my records and here are several articles which our readers can go to if they wish to learn some more about this interesting architectural landmark and related numismatica. All of this information is from the Canadian Numismatic Bibliography which is now being formatted for printing. It is our sincerest hope that the text will be distributed before the upcoming C.N.A. convention in Calgary. However, I don't want t to commit to anything since I'm in Ireland and our production team is in Toronto. They are working very hard but unfortunately (since they are volunteers) they can't spend all of their time working for us. Anyhow, I just wanted to demonstrate just how useful this bibliography will be to researchers. I was able to find all of this information in less than ten minutes. It may take slightly longer in printed form but not much. Fournier, Jeff. ? <>. ? Transactions of the Canadian Numismatic Research Society : Vol. 28 (Sep. 1992). ? p. 6 - 22, ill. ? a very fine history of Sudbury?s Centennial Numismatic Park with an extensive listing of commemorative medals and trade tokens issued to promote this Ontario landmark. Some of the medals issued depict the various ?big coin? monuments in this theme park. Other medals commemorate individuals or groups which it was felt deserved particular recognition Fournier, Jeff. ? <>. ? Canadian Numismatic Journal : Vol. 39, no. 7 (Sep. 1994). ? p. 346 - 349, ill. ? a very fine history of the ?Big Nickel? erected at Sudbury?s Numismatic Park as part of the city?s 1967 Canadian Centennial celebrations. Includes details of several numismatic items depicting this world-famous Ontario landmark. Part II Canadian Numismatic Journal : Vol. 39, no. 8, p. 394 - 398. Also published in CeeTee : Vol. 24, p. 36 - 52 Miles, Ernest. ? <>. ? Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine : Vol. 39, no. 9 (Sep. 1973). ? p. 810 - 812, ill. ? an illustrated account concerning the thirty-foot nickel monument in Sudbury?s Centennial Numismatic Park Palmer, Kenneth A. ? <>. ? CeeTee : Vol. 15 (1986). ? p. 265 - 270, ill. ? a series of notes and clippings concerning various aspects of Sudbury?s Centennial Numismatic Park. Reprinted in CeeTee : Vol. 16, p. 26 - 30, 64 - 68 Rochette, Edward C. ? Medallic portraits of John F. Kennedy (a study of Kennediana) with historical and critical notes and a descriptive catalogue of coins, medals, tokens and store cards struck in his name. ? Iola, Wisconsin : Krause Publications, 1966. ? 188, 4 p., ill. ? over 600 U.S. and foreign medals are illustrated including several Canadian tribute medals - one of which depicts Kennedy?s portrait on the obverse and Canada?s Parliament Buildings (in Ottawa, Ontario) on the reverse. Other Canadian issues include the Wellings Memorial Medal and pieces depicting the ?Nickel Monument Memorial? at Sudbury?s Centennial Numismatic Park. Davis no. 884" [Thank you for forwarding the references. We'll patiently await the release of the Canadian Numismatic Bibliography. In this lightning-fast Internet age, good things are still worth waiting for. -Editor] THE VANISHING CHECK The New York Times published an article titled "Follow the Vanishing Check" on March 26, 2005. Here are some excerpts: "Larry Lyons, who is 23, vividly remembers the Saturday mornings when his mother would write checks to pay the family's bills, dispatching him to the landlord with one for the rent. When he was in sixth grade, she taught him to balance a checkbook. What he has more trouble remembering is the last time he wrote a check himself." "Mr. Lyons and other young adults may belong to the first check-free generation as they choose to handle transactions almost entirely by debit card, credit card and computer. The number of checks written in the United States peaked sometime in the mid-1990's; it has been falling precipitously for the last four years, according to the Federal Reserve. At the same time, the number of electronic payments has risen swiftly." "Checks accounted for 45 percent of all payments that were not made with cash in 2003, down from 57 percent in 2000. Signs of the decline are everywhere. Card-swipe terminals have become common at cash registers. Thirty-two percent of the households in the United States used the Internet to pay bills in some fashion in 2004, according to TowerGroup, a research company owned by MasterCard." "It is about time, said Richard Schmalensee, the dean of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of a book about the payments system. "This is an American phenomenon," Mr. Schmalensee said. "Everybody else pays by wire, electronic transfer. In Belgium, for instance, bank-initiated money transfers and credit and debit cards are far more popular than personal checks; the situation is similar in countries like Japan and Germany." To read the full article, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/26/business/26check.html BOLENDER BAIRD SALE LOT INFORMATION SOUGHT Allan Davisson writes: "In a small group of items I purchased at a coin show recently is a small oval ivory piece, 20 mm x 25 mm with a raised figure enameled in red. An old handwritten note with it calls it a "nude figure cameo" and notes it is from the Dr. Baird Collection, 1944. I assume this is the Harry Baird collection sold in Bolender sale 157, held on 2/28/44, a catalog I do not have. I would appreciate information on the lot from someone who has this catalog. Thank you." DAVE BOWERS' DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NUMISMATICS Some comments from Dave Bowers to all NBS members and E-Sylum readers: "Thanks to many of you for sending biographical and other information for use in my new dictionary/encyclopedia of American numismatics now being prepared for Whitman Publishing Co. This has been moved into the fast lane, production wise, and all input will be finessed this month (April). Here are some questions and answers, based upon some inquiries received: Scope of book: It will be a dictionary of American (not foreign or ancient) numismatic people, terms, objects, and events. Accordingly, Sylvester S. Crosby will have his due, but Barclay Head (of ancient coin fame and of foreign residence) will not. Terms will include basics such as those used to describe coins, minting, etc., over a long period of time; ranging from the obvious ?mint? and ?wire rim,? as examples, to the more obscure ?annular? and ?French bronze.? I am attempting to be very comprehensive?with thousands of entries, but also concise. Biographies: Famous numismatists (writers, scholars, collectors, dealers) of the past will be covered, the detail depending upon the importance, past or present, of the individual covered. Accordingly, Joseph W. Mickley will get more ink than Thomas Cleneay or Theodore Venn. I will not include ALL consignors to past sales (Martin Gengerke?s superb study can be used for that), but I will delineate many of them. As to present-day people, I invite YOU to submit your bio if elevant. I am not going to send out pleading letters to the many deserving recipients. In the absence of hearing from some people, if they are listed in the PNG or PCDA directories, or if I have info on hand concerning them, or if I happen to have much about them in my data base, they will be listed. However, if John/Jane Doe, president of the XYZ Numismatic Society, does not contact me, he/she may not be listed. Certain subjects appearing on coins and related items, but otherwise not of numismatic focus, will have SHORT bios. If you want long bios, such as for people pictured on the gold medallion series of the 1980s, Pete Smith?s excellent work beckons. If you want to read about the Korean War (subject of a ?38th anniversary of? commemorative, this will not be a key source. Accordingly, W. Elliot Woodward will get extensive coverage, and Abraham Lincoln (topic of coins, currency, etc.) will be treated briefly, as his bio is easily available elsewhere. William Strickland will get coverage, but only for his numismatic connections (designer of various mint buildings), not for his even better known civic architectural accomplishments. I may mention Stanford White; I haven?t decided (close ?sporting pal? of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the designer of several notable banks). Anyway, lots to think about, lots of fun! Many people have sent in nice bios of other people (thanks, Scott Travers, for example!). I welcome this. Need date of birth, numismatic accomplishments, city and state of activity, etc. The new work will be completely original and will not be based on the superb works of Frey, Doty, Smith, Gengerke, or anyone else. However, I am reviewing key listings for thoughts and inspiration. The book will be in ?almanac format,? sort of like the World Almanac, or similar, probably on inexpensive paper, a very large number of pages and thousands of entries, and will be priced to be very affordable. Scattered illustrations may be used for accent, perhaps one every 5, 10, or so pages. It is expected that the volume will be useful for anyone interested in the detailed study and enjoyment of coins, tokens, medals, paper money, and numismatic literature, as well as in Mint history, and, to a limited extent, American economic and financial history with numismatic connections. Relating to the latter, you can read about the Panic of 1837, Panic of 1857, the Embargo Act, the ?Silver Question,? etc., to the extent that you are interested in such matters. The book will be distributed nationwide by Whitman. A publication date has not been set, but is expected to be later this year. My personal thanks to all of you who have sent me useful information." A TRIBUTE TO BOB HENDERSHOTT John and Nancy Wilson, Ocala, FL write: "On Tuesday, March 22, 2005, the numismatic hobby lost one of its greatest ambassadors, Robert L. ?Bob? Hendershott. Bob was loved by everyone who knew him. He would have been 107 on August 7th. We were fortunate to be good friends with Bob and his wife Marjorie. They were a dedicated and very hard working ?numismatic team.? We send our prayers and thoughts to his family over this great loss. Rest in Peace Bob, your memory will live on in everyone who knew you.. We did the following tribute to Bob Hendershott for the Eighth Sale conducted by M. Remy Bourne, held on September 25 - 26, 1998. Bob?s numismatic library was among the offerings in this sale. What an honor it is for us to write about the ?Great One,? Robert L. Hendershott. We hope that our tribute to this dedicated and hard working numismatic ambassador gives you insight into his life and times. Bob was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 7, 1898 and was the proud son of Charlie D. and Cordelia Bartlett Hendershott. His father was a street car conductor and later owned a printing company. When the company went defunct, he went to work for another printer. He was the oldest of seven brothers. As a small child, he visited the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair with his father. In his magnum opus 365 page, 1994 book on the ?1904 St. Louis World?s Fair, Mementos and Memorabilia,? Bob reminisced about this early visit to the Fair. ?Now imagine if you will, a small boy tightly clutching his father?s hand as he gazes in awe at the astonishing sights before him. There..see that Ferris Wheel..so high that it seems to touch the clouds..and over there..Look! a cow made out of butter! Huge steam engines, huge boats, thousands of lights, people of every size, shape and description --speaking strange and unusual languages--and even people wearing hardly any clothes!!? To remember with such detail, this early Fair visit is nothing new to Bob. If you have the time to listen, he will reminisce about his life and collecting interests. A year or so ago we were lucky enough to get some insights from him on his life, times and collecting interests. As a young man Bob grew up and attended schools in Missouri. He became interested in collecting at about 12 years of age. At the age of 13, he told his father that he wanted to support himself and paid for everything except room and board. Bob?s grandfather Robert Morrison Hendershott was a drummer boy in the Civil War and also the Postmaster of Middleton, Missouri. He was a small time collector who saved some of the odd denomination and different types of coins that came in across the counter. He kept them in a small cigar box under the counter. During a visit from his grandson, he let him look at some of the coins he had saved. Bob was very intrigued by the many different varieties of coins. His grandfather said he could take them home, but he had to study them. After he studied the coins his grandfather said he could keep them. Bob told us that all the coins he received from his grandfather fascinated him but he was most interested in the old cents that he received. Like many youngsters, Bob also had a paper route which helped to supplement his collecting interests. From this first start, he became a lifelong collector of many different numismatic and odd and curious collectibles. Later on he attended Washington University and the Gem City Business College in Quincy, Illinois where he studied banking. Bob wasn?t eligible for service in World War One because of height and weight requirements so he enrolled in the Officer Training Corps. As the War ended, he still was there. In 1922, Bob married his first wife Marguerite Hamilton who was from the McComb, Illinois area. Her folks had a home in Florida so they went down there on occasion. In 1925, the Hendershott?s moved to Florida. He became involved as a real estate salesman and was able to make a nice steady income. Land in Florida was cheap back then, and Bob did very well as a salesman. It wasn?t long though before he left real estate and got a job at the Exchange National Bank of Tampa. Bob said that in 1933 and 1935 he was making $300 a month. A great salary during these late depression years. He also said that coins were cheap after the Banking Holidays in the 1930?s. He was buying commemorative sets 25 at a time in 1936 and 37 at a very cheap price. Besides Florida, he also worked at banks in Vandalia and McComb, Illinois. Around this time, he helped organize the Tampa Coin Club of which he served as President. Bob said that he first exhibited coins at a Tampa State Fair in the late 20?s or early 30?s. He placed a heavy glass on top of them, and they stayed there for 10 days. Bob also was instrumental in forming the Florida-Georgia Numismatic Society. After a good start though, the organization relocated to Georgia but eventually folded because of a lack of leadership. At a convention a few years ago, we noticed that Bob had an auction sale catalog dated Saturday, May 9, 1936. It was cataloged and to be sold by R. L. Hendershot (only one ?T?), Tampa, Florida. We said Bob, that is great, you actually had an auction back in the days when the hobby didn?t have a lot off collectors. We asked him if he brought the catalog to the show with him or bought it here. He said that Remy Bourne had a few and he purchased one. Needless to say, we went immediately to Remy?s table and bought one of the catalogs. We think Remy had three. Later on, we asked Bob about the sale. He said that he sent the catalog to the ANA mailing list and also to persons he thought would buy coins. He also said that the bank management didn?t like him taking the time off for coin cataloging. He finished by saying that everything in the auction sold, and he made $3,000. The sale catalog has 32 pages and contained 763 lots. The sale had a very diversified selection of numismatic items but mainly centered on rare U. S. coins. It is interesting to note that the terms governing the sale said that, ?a charge of 5% will be made to cover packing and mailing of lots actually purchased.? This tells you that indeed coins were very reasonable and the 5% didn?t add that much to a purchaser?s bill. Consider today what a 5% postage addition would be to your bill from any auction. Bob?s prices realized is fun to look through, and his catalog is probably very scarce. Bob also had one more auction sale, but we don?t have any information on that one. Bob once again become involved in real estate and even purchased three hotels. One of his hotel purchases was in Tampa, Florida around 1940. He purchased it for about 20% of what it was worth. At the time, only one room was occupied. Bob was able to purchase it because he had good credit and references. Being close to an Air Force Base, Bob turned it into a Military Hotel. Needless to say, it filled up quickly. Bob spent eight years as President of the Tampa Hotel Association and was involved with both the Florida and national hotel association. He also formed a private convention bureau and it wasn?t long afterward that he was running it. Later on during World War Two, he served in the Coast Guard Reserve and was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant. Some of his fondest and present memories though center around the Florida United Numismatists organization. Belonging to some clubs in the Tampa Bay area, a gun and coin collector remarked to him that this was a good place to have a coin convention. Bob thought it was time to organize a state coin group. After a first organizational meeting in late November and early December 1955 in Clearwater, Florida, the Florida United Numismatists came to fruition. The coin show would be held the first weekend after January, 1st. Bob was named the first President of the organization. He has also served on the Board and in many other capacities since its formation. He is FUN Life Member #2. It wouldn?t be a FUN Convention if Bob, who is always in his orange jacket, wasn?t there to greet and talk to you. Bob wears his jacket proudly not only there, but at virtually all the conventions that he attends. FUN holds one of the largest annual coin convention in the world every January. At the 1998 FUN Convention, Bob was honored early for his upcoming 100th Birthday Party. FUN went all out for this birthday party and had light food, refreshments and a large birthday cake. Many of his friends went to the podium and heaped tons of praise on Bob and best wishes for many, many more years of health and happiness. A photo of Bob at the 100th birthday cake can be found in this section. Bob joined the ANA in 1931 and attended his first national convention in 1945. From then to now, Bob is pretty much a regular at the annual ANA event. Bob says he looks forward to receiving his 75 year pin in 2006. We cannot remember anyone ever receiving a 75 year ANA membership pin. When he attends the 2004 St. Louis Worlds Fair Centennial, it won?t be long until Bob receives his 75 Year ANA member pin. The American Numismatic Association will be celebrating Bob Hendershott?s 100th birthday at the American Numismatic Association Convention in Portland, Oregon this August 5 - 9, 1998. Bob has been named by the ANA Board of Governors as the ANA Numismatist of the Year and will be honored at the ANA Membership Reception Celebrating Bob Hendershott?s 100th Birthday. All members, their spouses, children, and friends of Bob Hendershott are invited to this Friday, August 7, 1998, 2:00 P.M. event being held in conjunction with the show. His being named Numismatist of the Year is very well deserved. His dedication and hard work for many numismatic organizations would fill a book. At the August 8 - 12, 1967 ANA convention at the Americana Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, Bob was named Assistant General Chairman. Incidentally, the official auction by Paramount International Coin Corporation contained the J. V. McDermott, 1913 Liberty Head Nickel. The nickel was purchased by the Bebee?s who donated it to the ANA museum later on in life. He served as Exhibit Chairman for the August 15 - 19, 1972 New Orleans, Louisiana ANA convention, which was held at the Jung Hotel. At the Bal Harbour, Florida ANA convention in 1974, Bob Hendershott served as the General Chairman for the show. For his service as General Chairman Bob received the Goodfellow Medal and Plaque. This ANA award is only given to ANA General Chairman. The 1974 convention was said to be the best ANA convention in many years. ANA President, Virginia Culver said that the convention was responsible for bringing in about 600 applications for membership. She also commented about the great local and national advertising, that included Newsweek. Later on Bob joined the ANA Representatives program as a District Representative. He received the ANA Medal of Merit in 1986 for service to the ANA and the hobby. In 1993 the ANA bestowed on him their highest honor, the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award He received the coveted Krause Publications Numismatic Ambassador Award in 1978. This high award is giving to individuals who selflessly give of their time and talents to the numismatic hobby expecting nothing in return. After a long illness, Bob?s wife Marguerite passed away. They had one child Jeanne who resides in Clearwater, Florida. Bob has three grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Bob met Marjorie Owen Hendershott who was Secretary-Treasurer of the Central States Numismatic Society, and they were married in 1984. They presently reside in Jefferson City, Missouri. They are considered by many to be the dynamic duo of numismatics. We consider them the numismatic family of the century. Both of these numismatic ambassadors have contributed greatly to our hobby. In 1989 Bob ran for the ANA Board. As we sit here looking at his flyer that he passed out at conventions, it is very unfortunate that he didn?t make the Board. Quoting the flyer, ?ANA?s best candidate in the 90?s. A numismatic gentleman. The ageless experience of more than 50 years of membership. Mr. FUN. A tireless champion for numismatics, dedicated to best serve the individual ANA member through common sense and negotiation. Honored, respected & appreciated by those who know him. Put Bob Hendershott to work for all of our sakes!? Anyone who reads this would agree with all these comments. At age 91, Bob would have made a great Governor. Bob is tireless at conventions. As you enter the bourse early, he is there talking and when you leave at night he is still there talking or looking at coins. He can be seen in the lobby of the hotel still talking when many half his age are going to bed. At the age of 99 Bob has a terrific memory. Sometimes we think that intertwined in Bob?s brain is a sponge that soaks up and remembers everything it hears, reads or see?s. He is soft spoken and is as good a communicator as anyone who has lived in this or any country. We have never heard him say anything bad about anyone or anything. He is a truly a remarkable person that is as charismatic and personable as anyone we know. Bob is truly a gifted individual who shares his enthusiasm for the hobby and life with anyone who will listen. He is an author, collector, researcher, speaker, exhibitor, convention worker and dedicated club officer. Bob has probably given more numismatic talks to clubs then anyone in existence. Bob attended the 1997 and most recently 1998 American Association of Retired People (AARP) which was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He represented the ANA along with past Presidents Ken Bressett and Ken Hallenbeck Recently Bob told us about the recent Minneapolis, AARP Convention. He said it was a terrific convention that was well attended. Bob talked with hundreds of people and passed out literature. He also said that Willard Scott (NBC morning Today Show) stopped by the table. Bob said that he so intrigued Willard that he was invited to a private party in his suite later. As we previously said, when you meet Bob you just want to become his friend. Bob also belongs to several coin clubs including the International Primitive Money Society and or Odd and Curious Money Club. That club honored Bob by naming the Odd & Curious Money Exhibit Award in his name several years ago. Loved by everyone who knows him, he doesn?t have an enemy in the world. As a matter of fact Bob said that he traveled to all the states in the union and has been in many different countries. He is the numismatic Will Rogers, who never met a man he didn?t like. In 1992, we put together a slide show on the 101st ANA in Orlando, Florida, which was hosted by FUN. Bob was Honorary General Chairman for the event. We called that show a FUNtastic convention. Bob may your 100th birthday on August 7, 1998 be a FUNtastic event. We are fortunate to know him and Marjorie, who incidentally received the KP Ambassador Award in 1981. We wish them both many, many years of FUNtastic health, happiness and prosperity. Yours in Numismatics, John Wilson, ANA Governor Nancy Wilson, Past ANA Governor." KAM AHWASH STORY Henry Bergos writes: "I was in line for a photo ID at a Grand Central Convention and someone up the stairs and around the corner called out; "Kam! Kam Ahwash! Has any one seen Kam Ahwash?" He was standing right behind me. I am 6' tall and he was about 5'3" maybe 5'4". I turned around and took a quarter step forward, and with Kam's nose about embedded in my chest called back: "Kam? NOPE, I don't see him." About 20 of us laughed aloud. Kam was the BEST!!! No one was nicer or more fun to be around. He had a SHARP sense of humor and loved to share OUR hobby. He is missed by all who knew him no matter how much time passes. Another who will be spoken of highly - MANY MANY year from now." APRIL FOOL'S PRANKS The rumor-debunking web site, Snopes.com, compiled a list of well-known April Fools pranks from years past. My favorites include Burger King's "Left-Handed Whopper". Another amusing one: "Arguably the best media-generated April Fool's joke dates from a Richard Dimbleby "news report" aired on 1 April 1957 on BBC's Panorama. It opened with a line about Spring coming early that year, prompting the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland to be early, too. Against a video backdrop of happy peasant women harvesting spaghetti from trees, whimsical claims about the foodstuff's cultivation were made in a straightfaced manner. Spaghetti's oddly uniform length was explained as the result of years of dedicated cultivation. The ravenous spaghetti weevil which had wreaked havoc with harvests of years past had been conquered, said the report. More than 250 viewers jammed the BBC switchboard after the hoax aired, most of them calling in with serious inquiries about the piece ? where could they go to watch the harvesting operation? Could they buy spaghetti plants themselves?" A couple have numismatic connections: "In 1989 two police officers in Utah were suspended without pay for a couple of days for their April Fools' Day prank of placing invisible dye (used by police to catch criminals and normally put on money) in restrooms in the city-county building and the mayor's office. The colorless powder dye turns a dark purple when it comes into contact with skin ? it's harmless but takes a while to wear off, as the mayor found out when it turned him into a "marked man." "In 1977 a British newspaper published a seven-page supplement extolling the 10th anniversary of San Seriffe, a small republic in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands. Its two main islands were Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse, its capital Bodoni, and its leader General Pica. Readers intrigued by the purported charm of this little-known holiday spot were disappointed to learn the islands did not exist and the references to them were drawn from printer's terminology." [QUIZ: So what's the numismatic connection to the Republic of San Seriffe?] To read the full collection, see: http://www.snopes.com/holidays/aprilfools/pranks.asp FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is the Hellenic Numismatic Society of Athens, Greece. This was our Featured web site in the v6n2 issue (January 12, 2003). Webmaster Constantinos Laitsas notified us of the new address. "The Hellenic Numismatic Society was founded in 1970 to serve the interest of Greek and foreign numismatists and collectors concerned with every aspect of Greek numismatics from earliest times to present day." "The journal of the society, Nomismatika Khronika (NomKhron), has been appearing since 1972. It contains articles by Greek and foreign numismatists, covering the whole range of the history of coins in the Greek world, as well as related subjects (paper money, medals and decorations, tokens etc.). It is now completely bilingual: all articles are printed in the original language (usually Greek or English) with a full translation or detailed summary in Greek or English as required." http://www.coins.gr/hellenum/ Wayne Homren Numismatic Bibliomania Society The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. For more information please see our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/. There is a membership application available on the web site at this address: http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_member_app.html To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application. Membership is only $15 to addresses in North America, $20 elsewhere. For those without web access, write to: David M. Sundman, Secretary/Treasurer Numismatic Bibliomania Society, P. O. Box 82 Littleton, NH 03561 For Asylum mailing address changes and other membership questions, contact David at this email address: dsundman@LittletonCoin.com To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, just Reply to this message, or write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum From esylum at binhost.com Sun Apr 10 22:45:01 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Sun Apr 10 22:46:19 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#15, April 10, 2005 Message-ID: <4259E4AD.3010205@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 15, April 10, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. LAKE BOOKS SALE #79 AVAILABLE Fred Lake writes: "Our mail-bid sale #79 is now available for viewing on our web site at: http://www.lakebooks.com/current.html The sale features selections from the library of Terris "Terry" C. Howard. Terry spent many years in Spain and is Life Member #71 of Asociacion Numismatica Espanola (ANE) and wrote many articles for "Gaceta Numismatica". You will find some excellent reference books on Spanish, Portugese, and Latin American coinage. In addition, we have material listed for those interested in Tokens and Medals, Paper Money, Guide Books, and other areas. Of note is the first offering of the FUN 50th Anniversary edition of the "Official Red Book." APRIL FOOLS! Don Cleveland writes: "If you look at the date of the British article about the Bush sisters joining the U.S. military, I think you may have been had -- April Fool! I'm also not so sure about New Zealand dropping the five cent coin." Well, the New Zealand item is real and the item on Iraq military payment certificates really was reprinted from the MPC Gram, but it was editor Fred Schwan's April Fool's joke. I added a fake URL for the nonexistent images, and couldn't resist throwing in the Bush sisters April Fool item as well. Now back to numismatics... MORE ON TRANSITIONAL PAPAL COINAGE Regarding my question about transitional papal coinage, Martin Purdy writes: I would recommend you have a look through catalogues with detailed listings of Papal coinage, e.g. SCWC, Craig, Reinfeld & Hobson ("Catalogue of the World's Most Popular Coins" - the 1960s catalogue that I did most of my learning from) - it would appear that at least one coin issue is made for each interregnum ("Sede Vacante" or "Vacant See"), most recently in 1978. My copy of R&H lists Sede Vacante coins from 1605, and there were doubtless earlier issues. I would assume that they had their origin in the need to maintain coinage in the absence of a reigning authority and subsequently became commemorative or medallic issues. The two Sede Vacante issues of 1978 would have filled no need in terms of circulating coinage but maintain a continuity with historic issues, and the 2005 Sede Vacante coin or coins (my bet is on a whole set rather than a single coin type, given the modern market, but let's wait and see) will be the same." The term "Sede Vacante" is a key to finding information online. Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia) has an entry on Sede Vacante, but no information on the coins. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sede_vacante This paragraph appears on a page about medieval papal states coins: "As far back as 1370 there were coins struck during the vacancies of the Holy See, by authority of the cardinal camerlengo, who, after the fifteenth century at least, caused his name and his coat of arms to be stamped on the reverse of the coin, the obverse bearing the words "SEDE VACANTE" and the date, surrounding the crossed keys surmounted by the pavilion." http://medievalcoins.ancients.info/Papal_State.htm Some Sede Vacante coins and medals of 1958, 1963, and 1978 were being offered for sale on eBay this week. John Kleeberg writes: "You might try this website - http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/popes-medals.html It's maintained by a Professor of Classics at CalState Northridge, who has put together a large collection of medals of the popes, including Sede Vacante coins (issued in between popes)." [The page is nicely illustrated. -Editor] Hal Dunn writes: "For transitional coinage (and stamps) of Vatican City, the ?The International Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatics? by R. Scott Carlton provides some information. The Standard Catalog of World Coins lists pieces from the old Papal States and from Vatican City, and provides the dates of each sede vacante. Vatican City memorializes this period with non-portrait coins and stamps bearing the coat of arms of the Camerlengo. His name is Eduardo Cardinal Martinez Somalo." Stefano Quagliere of Rome writes: "The Vatican city must be regarded as an independent country, with its boundaries, laws, internal and foreign politics (although all these characteristics are sometimes hidden behind the religious aspects). In a country as such, when a pope (who is also Chief of State) is dead, all this affairs must be carried out by a cardinal (named "Camerlengo") that will handle all the aspects in the meantime until a new pope is elected. Referring to coinage the "Sede vacante coins" will show the usual euro value on one side and the Camerlengo's coat of arms on the other side." [One numismatic sideline is the study of official seals, and this interesting description from the Wikipedia discusses the role of the Camerlengo and the fate of the Pope's seal: "Chief among the present responsibilities of the is the formal determination of the death of the reigning Pope; the traditional procedure for this was to strike gently the Pope's head three times with a silver hammer and to call his name. After the Pope is declared to be dead, the Camerlengo removes the Ring of the Fisherman from his finger and cuts it with shears in the presence of the Cardinals, and also destroys the face of the Pope's seal with the silver hammer. These acts symbolize the end of the late Pope's authority." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camerlengo COINS AND MEDALS TO BE BURIED WITH POPE A Reuters news article this week noted that the Pope will be buried with a group of medals. "After the public viewing of John Paul's body ends on Thursday, it will first be laid in a plain cypress wood coffin. The Pope's long-time personal secretary and another Vatican official will place a white silk veil on his face. The Pope will wear liturgical vestments and his bishop's hat will be placed on his chest. A small bag of commemorative medals from his pontificate and a brief summary of his life, sealed in a lead tube, will be put in the coffin." To read the complete article, see: http://www.newindpress.com/popejohnpaulii/News.asp?ID=IE!20050405120107 Dick Johnson forwarded an article from the Times of London with a slightly different description, this time mentioning coins as well as medals. The article notes: "Beside him will be placed a small bag of silver coins and commemorative medals from his pontificate as well as a brief summary of his life on a scroll sealed in a lead tube." As for the medals, Dick writes: "These may be the "anno" medals -- one was issued each year of his reign." To read the full article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20709-1556815,00.html ROYAL WEDDING DATE CHANGE AFFECTS COINS >From a CNN article: "Souvenir hunters are finally starting to snap up memorabilia bearing the original date of Prince Charles's wedding after its last-minute postponement because of the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Sales had been slow after the wedding was announced in February, reflecting wide public apathy over the heir to the British throne's marriage to his longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles. But the decision to move back the wedding, originally due to take place on Friday April 8, by a day to allow the Charles to pay his respects at the Vatican has transformed the market." "In a hundred years the story of this wedding will be in the date", Hugh Gibson of china producers Royal Crown Derby told the Times newspaper on Tuesday." "The Royal Mint said the process of changing the date on the thousands of coins earmarked for distribution was under way. "There is no problem. We are making the date change", a spokeswoman said." To read the full story, see: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/05/royal.souvenirs/ [We've had discussions in the past about date changes for numismatic items (and auction sales). Perhaps some wrong- dated coins or medals will find their way out of the Royal Mint. -Editor] U.S. $10 NOTE REDESIGN UNDERWAY "Much like the redesigned $20 and $50 notes issued over the last two years, the $10 denomination will be the next note slated for a make-over. The U.S. Federal Reserve will begin issuing the new $10 note in early 2006, according to a news release. The U.S. Department of Treasury?s Bureau of Engraving and Printing will unveil the new note in late 2005. Similar to the new $20 and $50 notes? designs, the updated $10 note will feature enhanced security features, subtle background colors and American symbols of freedom. BEP is preparing cash-handling equipment ? including vending and ATM ? manufacturers for needed technical equipment adjustments before the note hits the street. BEP will provide manufacturers with test notes and specifications six months before the note?s circulation." To read the full story, see: http://atmmarketplace.com/news_story_22750.htm [Perhaps some of these new test notes will appear in the numismatic market. -Editor] NUMISMATICS AT THE MOVIES: SAHARA Jeff Reichenberger writes: "Another action movie with numismatics weaved into the plot! Has anyone seen the movie "Sahara"? I read something about Confederate coinage being part of the plot. How about a review from a numismatist?" [I've not seen the film nor heard much about the plot, so perhaps one of our readers can fill us in. The Internet Movie Database has a plot summary which notes: "In the scorching desert, Pitt finds a gold mine manned by slaves and uncovers the truth behind two enduring mysteries -- the fate of a Civil War ironclad and its secret connection with Lincoln's assassination." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318649/plotsummary -Editor] ANS BIOGRAPHIES AVAILABLE ONLINE >From the April 2005 American Numismatic Society E-News: "Since the start of the archival program in February 2004, we have added to the ANS site biographical sketches of numerous founders, curators, officers and other historical figures. Now, all of these biographies can be easily accessed through a new home page at: http://www.amnumsoc.org/archives/biographies.html " Biographies are now available for the following numismatic personalities: Charles E. Anthon Agnes Baldwin Brett Edward Groh Archer M. Huntington Herbert E. Ives Joseph N.T. Levick George C. Miles Edward T. Newell Sydney P. Noe R. Henry Norweb, Jr. Daniel Parish, Jr. Stephen H.P. Pell Augustus B. Sage J. Sanford Saltus Margaret Thompson Howland Wood Andrew C. Zabriskie ANS LIBRARY JOURNAL NEEDS Also in the April 2005, Librarian Francis D. Campbell writes that there are "two foreign journals that we would like to complete. Thank you for helping. "La Numismatica" (Monthly published in Brescia, Italy) - Vol. 18, no. 9 (Sept., 1987) and any issues for the period 1994 - to date. "Muenzen Review" - 1984 to date." If you can locate these issues, contact Mr. Campbell at: Campbell@numismatics.org TECHNOLOGY AND THE NUMISMATIC LITERATURE MARKEY Michael Sullivan writes: "The advent and expansion of our electronic culture has been a contributor to work place productivity, communication efficiency like our weekly E-Sylum, and access to information. However, the same technology may have a partial value erosion effect on mid- priced numismatic collectibles in the $150 - $300 range. For example, Elmer's History of the Early Settlement and Progress of Cumberland County, New Jersey, and of the Currency of this and the Adjoining Colonies, 1869 (Davis, 373) is now available on CD ROM for $16 vs. a typical auction price of $200. Do E-Sylum readers have any other similar examples?" [I would also like to hear our readers' thoughts on the subject, but for me, there will always be a place in the market for original copies of literature. Yes, the availability of an electronic version could affect the decision of many buyers, but bibliophiles will still prefer an original. After all, there are numerous outlets where one can find high-quality images of coins and currency, yet that doesn't make having an original less desirable. Nor does the existence of superb Gallery Mint reproductions seem to hurt the market for say, original Chain cents. To hold an original copy of Crosby's Early Coins of America, or nicely bound price and named 19th century auction catalog is to have a direct connection to those who came before us in this wonderful hobby. A facsimile is nice, but just not the same. The following item is somewhat related to this discussion, but in the case of print-on-demand, there are no "originals" -Editor] AMAZON BUYS PRINT-ON-DEMAND BOOK PUBLISHER "Amazon.com has acquired a publishing company that prints books when they're ordered rather than relying on warehouses stocked with titles, the online retailer said Monday." "BookSurge LLC, based in Charleston, S.C., offers an inventory-free book fulfillment network to publishers and authors, and has a wholesale service for retailers, wholesalers and distributors. Founded in 2000, BookSurge maintains a catalog with thousands of titles that are printed on-demand and available for sale on Amazon.com." "Print-on-demand has changed the economics of small-quality printing, making it possible for books with low and uncertain demand to be profitably produced,'' said Greg Greely, vice president of media products for Amazon.com. ``BookSurge makes it possible to print books that appeal to targeted audiences, whether it's one copy or 1,000.'' To read the full article, see: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/11309275.htm This is the on-demand publisher's home page: http://www.booksurge.com Print-on-demand could be an option for publishers of numismatic literature, since the audience is very small compared to the mainstream publishing world. Today, I only have one such book in my library - an as-told-to book about the life of coin dealer Edwards Gans of Numismatic Fine Arts (the original firm, not the incarnation Bruce McNall ran before being jailed). Part of a university oral history project, Gans was interviewed and the sessions were transcribed to text. I ordered the book from the university. It's a very rare title in the world of numismatic literature, yet anyone wanting a copy could go to the publisher and order their own. -Editor. THE "IN GOD WE TRUST" SAGA CONTINUES While some groups work to ban the motto "In God We Trust" from U.S. coins and paper money, other groups are working to expand its use. "The national statement of faith, "In God We Trust," has been appearing on coins since 1864, and has been the country's motto since 1956. But should it be appearing in each of Pennsylvania's tens of thousands of public classrooms? A proposed law, now awaiting action in the state House, would require the motto to appear in every public school classroom, auditorium and cafeteria in Pennsylvania." "The "In God We Trust" campaign new to Pennsylvania, but not to other states. Legislatures in South Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Ohio, Utah and Louisiana, among others, have either approved the display of the motto in public classrooms, or have at least discussed such measures." To read the full article, see: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05097/484170.stm NEW ZEALAND COINAGE CHANGES Martin Purdy of New Zealand writes: "A few comments on Dick Johnson's item last week, just to offer some adjustments or personal views here and there. First, the word "dime" isn't used in New Zealand, except when talking about American coins, so our smallest coin after October next year (when the old coins are demonetised) will be called the 10c piece. [NOTE: I borrowed the headline used in the National Business Review article referenced by Dick, so I'll take the blame for this. The full headline was "The dime is the new penny: RBNZ changes coin structure." -Editor] The $1 and $2 coins are in aluminum-bronze, not copper-nickel. I don't believe it's correct to say that all transactions MUST be in multiples of 10c after July 2006; just as now, they don't have to be in multiples of 5c. Goods may still be priced to 99c, and if you pay your bill by credit card or direct debit (as about 90% of transactions are these days), you pay exactly that amount. It's only if you tender cash that the bill will be rounded up to $1 or whatever the nearest multiple is. Likewise if you buy five items at 99c at the moment, you pay $4.95 (5 x 99c) either by cash or credit at the moment, not $5 (5 x $1). After next year the same principle will apply, though the rounding will be different: ten items at 99c will still be $9.90 (10 x 99c), not $10 (10 x $1). It isn't unprecedented, either - what about countries like Denmark, where small coins have progressively been phased out to the point where the smallest denomination is 25 ore? One of our numismatic colleagues, who may be on this list, told me that when Denmark still had a 10-ore stamp (but no 10-ore coins any more) he tried to buy a single one from the post office and was thrown out for his trouble! While I'm not completely happy having 10c NZ - about USD 0.07 - as our smallest coin (it must be one of the highest-value "smallest" coins in the world), it's probably quite overdue in terms of spending power. As I understand it, the 50c coin these days has, at most, the spending power of about 5c in 1967, when decimal coinage was introduced here, so 10c = 1c, which was our smallest coin at the time. By the same token, however, our smallest banknote *should* henceforth be $10 (= $1 in 1967), not $5 as at present, and we should also have a $1000 note! Our largest paper denomination has in theory never changed: given the two-for one changeover in 1967, the ?50 note that was originally issued in 1934 is the "same" as the $100 today, though our present note will represent only a small fraction of the earlier note's commercial value. Here's a link to the TV News video from March 31 - have fun with the NZ accents! http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-4245098-300,00.html The Reserve Bank of NZ announced its proposal late last year and called for submissions from the public and other interested parties; the changes announced on March 31 look exactly like the original proposal as far as I can see, strangely enough! Thanks for the title of the NBR article, which I've just looked up. Dr Bollard's comments about spending power being under a tenth of 1967 values confirm my understanding. As for the words "dime" and "penny", I can only think that the writer was aiming at a US audience (or is himself an American??), as neither of those terms is ever used in this country for the ten and one-cent pieces. As an aside, there is quite some fuss about what will happen to our postal charges, as the cost of sending a standard letter is 45c. Will it go up or down? I wrote in one of our local papers a few months ago that you just have to buy two stamps and you can have them for the correct price! People forget that back in 1967 we had 2?c stamps but no ?c coin, and people managed somehow. " INDIA HAS TOO MANY LOW VALUE COINS. Dick Johnson writes: "The Reserve Bank of India has pleaded with the Indian government to please stop striking small-denomination coins. India, which has a long history of low value coins, has four mints striking the country?s coin of the realm. The bank states it is "faced with a problem of plenty ... small-denomination coins." News article: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=87340 Website: http://www.rbi.org.in/currency/museum/c-rep.html KARL GOETZ BOOK COPYRIGHTS TRANSFERRED Henry Scott Goodman writes: "I have been a silent E-Sylum partner for nearly a year now and thought I would write to ask if you can include the following information in the next E-Sylum: Gunter W. Kienast recently transferred to me the copyright title of his two reference books, 'The Medals of Karl Goetz' and 'Goetz II: A Supplement to The Medals of Karl Goetz' I am an avid Goetz collector and I intend to digitally recreate parts of both books on my website, http://www.KarlGoetz.com. Currently I only have a web gallery on the site to display some of my collection but have plans to make it a full-fledged Karl Goetz website in the near future. If anyone has any copyright questions, suggestions for developing the website, or information pertaining to unpublished Goetz material feel free to contact me at this email address: archy2@crestviewcable.com [Scott's web site is already jam-packed with excellent images of Goetz medals; I'd recommend taking a look, particularly those who have a broadband connection to the web. -Editor] NONEY CURRENCY Michael J Savinelli writes: "I recently heard a story on NPR about "Noney currency". The concept seems interesting, especially since our current currency is not backed by any particular asset. Here is an excerpt from the Noney website: "Noney is a new currency, with each note being a hand-drawn, hand-printed and hand-signed piece of art. Each note can also be traded for things. Like all money, Noney is for people to circulate. The result is a combination of public art, performance art and printmaking. Obadiah Eelcut draws prints and issues Noney. In 2003, Noney entered worldwide circulation through a series of release events in Providence, Rhode Island." "While Noney notes have the same basic dimension, look and feel of government-issued money, they don't resemble any other currency. Noney is a new design. Ten different faces show people of Rhode Island with their favorite bird and favorite vegetable. These people entered a contest to appear on Noney, and represent a variety of lives and professions. Among them are a painter, a community advocate, a librarian, a photographer, a waiter and musicians." "Each Noney note has the same denomination: zero. This doesn't mean each note has no value... just relative value. There's no fixed exchange rate or location of operation. Noney's worth as both art and currency is something to negotiate through each individual transaction - anywhere." More information on Noney can be found at: http://www.noney.net/cultural_tender.html " UPDATE: MONEY ARTIST J.S.G. BOGGS The "Noney" notes are reminiscent of the work of money artist J.S.G. Boggs. I exhibited my collection of Boggs works at the 2004 ANA World's Fair of Money in Pittsburgh last summer. I called Boggs just before the show. He had been scheduled to be in town that week for an event at Carnegie-Mellon University, but was unable to make it. He'd been involved in a car accident and shattered his femur. He was in pain and undergoing physical therapy. Although Boggs hasn't been active in numismatic circles in recent years, he has been busy. He spent a lot of time living in Germany, and was commissioned to do a large work at Babson College in Massachusetts. >From a Babson press release: "JSG (just some guy) Boggs, known as the ?Money Artist?, will officially unveil his new digital artwork entitled, All The World Is A Stage, at Babson College Friday, March 26th, 2004. The massive 12? X 22? archival panel weighs over 700 pounds and took five people and a hydraulic lift to move into its final resting place in Babson?s Richard W. Sorenson Center for the Arts. Boggs made Babson?s student lounge area his home for three years because he likes to take in the environment and culture of the people that inhabit the space. His "office" was piles of empty print cartridges, numerous computers, printers and scissors." "The official unveiling of JSG Bogg?s All The World Is A Stage is at Babson College, the Wellesley, Mass. business school that commissioned the work. All The World Is A Stage perfectly embodies a famous quote from Publius Syrus (42 B.C.), ?Money alone sets all the world in motion.? "The work, purchased at a cost of $250,000 with private funding, joins other prominent public collections that include the Museum of Modern Art, NY, The British Museum, London, the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C., The Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL, among many others." http://www3.babson.edu/Newsroom/Releases/Boggs.cfm BURDETTE'S OBSERVATIONS ON THE BRENNER CENT Roger Burdette writes: "The comments about Victor Brenner's original cent design were most interesting and tie in with the "middle" of my three research books on the 1907-1921 coinage designs. (The other two, available in July and November respectively, cover the silver coins of 1916 & 1921, and gold coins of 1907-08.) Artistic dissatisfaction with Brenner's Lincoln design is evident in original Mint and related correspondence as early as 1909 and continues for at least the next 45 years. In 1910 Director Andrew mentioned dissatisfaction by artists with the tiny portrait. Director Roberts commented in 1911 about there being too much "bust and not enough Lincoln". He also encouraged Jim Fraser to pursue a new Lincoln portrait in 1911 (along with the Indian and Bison), and felt there was sufficient interest in replacing Brenner's work that Treasury Secretary MacVeagh was willing to support the necessary legislation. The Buffalo nickel project side-tracked this efforts. Director Ross disliked Brenner's "reduced medal" and in 1952 had pattern cents struck using Fraser's revised Lincoln portrait and and Oak Tree reverse. (See the Joseph Lepczyk 1982 sale catalog illustrating the models.) The proposed change was abandoned with the Republican presidential victory since Ross would soon be leaving office. Reverting to Brenner's original would do little for the cent except sharpen die work. Artistically, Brenner's design is the weakest of all the new designs by outside artists from 1907-1921. All Brenner did was to shrink his Lincoln centennial commemorative desk medal set (made by Gorham - reverse legend "Preserve, Protect, Defend") and replace the date "1809" with "Liberty." The portrait resembles a dozen other medallic portraits of Lincoln made for the commercial market, any one of which could have been used on the cent. Jim Fraser commented in early 1922: the purpose of the new designs (Saint-Gaudens, and others that followed) was to raise the art on America's coinage beyond the ordinary in its suggestiveness and richness. That, I think, should still be the goal - an American coinage that expresses the highest ideals of artistry and creativity possible on these small, metal tokens of value. Each coin conveys to our people and to the world the meaning of America. If Abe Lincoln's portrait on the one-cent coin conveys in some manner that meaning, then let it be created by the best of our contemporary sculptors, not by imitating the ordinary and mediocre, or copying the past." 1910 V.D.B. LINCOLN CENTS? Speaking of Lincoln cents, the following topic came up at a dinner conversation Tuesday before a local coin club meeting. The key to the series is the 1909-S V.D.B. cent, with the initials of designer Victor David Brenner, which were removed midyear following a controversy. I had been unaware of this, but varieties exist of the 1910 cent with traces of the V.D.B. initials. David Lange's "The Complete Guide To Lincoln Cents" notes that on 1910 Philadelphia cents, "Vestigal traces of the letters V.D.B. may yet turn up from leftover 1909 V.D.B. reverse dies which were only partly effaced." As for the 1910-S cents, Lange notes, "Specimens have been reported having vestigal traces of the letters V.D.B. It's not clear whether these letters remained on the working die or the working hub, but the former is more likely." Also, last week I commented that we might hear counterclaims of other coins minted consistently for 100 years, and gave the Maria Teresa thalers as one example. Ray Flanigan writes: "Two thoughts about the Maria Teresa a) I'm not sure it was produced EVERY year b) Over 350 Billion copies of Brenner's work have been produced so far - making it the most reproduced piece of art the world has ever known." BRENNER?S GRAVESITE NEVER LOST Dick Johnson writes: "The article in the Lithuanian numismatic group?s newsletter, "The Knight," the April 11th Coin World, and last week?s E-Sylum all indicated that Victor D. Brenner?s gravesite was lost. Nothing could be further from the truth. We must give credit, however, to this author for photographing a nd publishing the photo of the headstone and for his energy in tracking this down. The gravesite location was known to a small group of Brenner aficionados, including Michael Turoff, a noted VDB collector. Most recently it was also known to a contributing editor of Vanity Fair, David Margolick, who has written a rather lengthy article (even longer than typical Vanity Fair length, as yet unpublished) on the American coin sculptor. When queried, Dave emailed me: "It seems to me there was no mystery about where it was; the stories at the time [of Brenner?s death] described where he was to be or was actually buried. So while this fellow may be the first person to visit the gravesite recently, I don't think it ever 'disappeared.' " This illustrates an important point for numismatic authors ? to fully research your subject. Learn everything about your subject. Be careful about making statements that can be easily disproved. Ask around. Find out who in the field is really knowledgeable about the subject. Learn what you can from them. Dig deep. Do your best numismatic scholarship. I have learned in 40 years in the numismatic literary field that numismatists are proud of the information they have gleaned about their specialty. They are often glad to tell you what you want to know, often anxious that a writer is finally going to put this in print. (The only holdouts, I learned, where those who were planning to write their own article or book.) But who to ask to learn more information you might ask? (1) Start with the librarians at the two major coin organizations, American Numismatic Society and American Numismatic Association. Sorry, Frank and Nancy, for sending more work your way. These two overworked professional individuals often know who has been researching what subject recently, but more important who has written on the subject in the past. But you must ask them, they are not going to volunteer the information unless you ask first. (2) National coin dealers. They often know who is active in a selected subject. Not the local coin dealer, but one who is savvy about the entire field, goes to all the conventions, knows everybody in the field, who perhaps is a writer himself. (Gad, I just described Dave Bowers.) But others may know the information as well. Ask around. Network. (3) Editors of the numismatic publications. They often know who is working in what garden in the vast numismatic field. Include E-Sylum?s own Wayne Homren in this group. (4) Officers of the NLG, the Numismatic Literary Guild. They know who is writing, but not always on what subject. (Many are staff writers on coin publications who write, of course, on a variety of subjects.) (5) Me. I have a databank of over 3,300 American coin and medal engravers, diesinkers, medalists and sculptors. Email me. Convince me you are researching or writing for a legitimate purpose. I will furnish a brief biography, list of work and bibliographical references. My rules are this: I will email back only if less than six lines; over six lines I photocopy and send to a mailable address. You cannot give the photocopy to anyone else; it must be for your own use. More than five pages I charge a small fee (mostly for postage). Some artists are embargoed because of file size; Brenner, for example, is 40 pages long. dick.johnson@snet.net " FOUNDRY CASTS OF 1932 WASHINGTON QUARTER DESIGN The April 13th Coin Galleries sale features a pair of obverse/ reverse bronze foundry casts of a proposed Washington quarter design from the 1932 design competition. The designer isn't listed, but it's a beautiful coin design. Can anyone shed more light on who might have designed it? Was a list of the contest entrants ever published? My guess is that this piece was designed by Laura Gardin Fraser. I asked Roger Burdette about the competition, and he responded: "Parts of the 1931-32 quarter competition files exist in NARA holdings in College Park, MD. I have only gone through the files briefly, but did note that Treasury did not want to consider a commemorative because President Hoover said he would veto any commemorative coin legislation. However, the president also said he would support replacing the Standing Liberty quarter, which was unpopular with Treasury officials due to poor wearing characteristics. It may be possible to identify the "Foundry Quarter" artist by checking the competition correspondence. Many of the letters have drawings on them or attached, and some include long descriptions. The casts would have cost about $25 each, so I suspect the artist was someone in the mainstream of active sculptors. The eagle seems a little "odd" to me - almost a hybrid of Art Deco and classical, especially in the feather work." [While confirming the spelling of Laura Fraser's middle name, a web search located a page with several nice photos of her and her husband James Earle Fraser, designer of the original Buffalo nickel. The page is on the web site for the collection of the James Earle Fraser & Laura Gardin Fraser Studio Papers at the Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center, which serves as the library and archives of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK. >From the web site: "The records, reflected in this guide, are those that were included in the acquisition of items from the Frasers? Westport, Connecticut studio in 1968. The studio collection also included heroic-size plaster statues, plaster models of medals and coins, studio furniture, filing cabinets, artist tools, and books. The collection was acquired in order to re-create a studio as a memorial to the Frasers with the statue End of the Trail as its centerpiece. Other statuary includes Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Daniel Boone, John James Audubon, Abraham Lincoln, General Robert E. Lee, and General Stonewall Jackson. Library items were cataloged and incorporated into the Center?s library holdings. The papers, though incomplete, do convey important information about these artist's lives and careers." "Among the added materials were photocopied documents from the James Earle & Laura Gardin Fraser Papers, 1872 - 1967 held by Syracuse University. " Follow these links to the images and the archive home page. One image is of Laura Gardin Fraser working on the clay model for the Better Babies medal, created for Woman's Home Companion magazine, ca. 1913. I'd never heard of this medal until now - does it turn up in the numismatic marketplace? http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/research/r_a_fras_imag_2.html http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/research/r_a_fras.html The archive consists of 17 cubic feet of material! -Editor] CHARLES ARCENEAUX SOUGHT Dick Hanscom of Fairbanks, AK writes: "Years ago, I had a token made by, I think, Charles Arceneaux. Does anyone have an email contact or mailing address for him? Thanks very much." 1851 CRYSTAL PALACE EXHIBITOR'S MEDAL Geoffrey Bell writes: "A couple of newsletters back Jim Barry asked about the Exhibitor medal issued at the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London, England. He noted that he had located one with "United States # ---"on the edge. All exhibitors were given these medals as a thank you for exhibiting. If the Exhibitor was American, the edge read, "United States # 40" for example. This was true of exhibitors from all participating countries. If one wishes to identify who the exhibitor was, simply go to the official catalogue of the exhibition and the number and exhibitor is listed. The trick is to find the catalogue but some better quality libraries have the volume in their antiquarian book section." RENAISSANCE ARTIST COIN COLLECTION INFO SOUGHT Daniel Kurt Ackermann writes: "My reason for e-mailing this week is to ask E-Sylum subscribers if they know of any sources that list ancient coins in the collections of prominent Renaissance artists. I am working towards my MA in Architectural History at UVa and am working on a paper linking depictions of ancient monuments on coins to re-creations of those monuments in drawings. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Feel free to contact me either at my Heritage address DanielA@heritagecoins.com or at UVa DKA5d@virginia.edu " GHOST MONEY AND TOMB-SWEEPING DAY On April 5th, Reuters published an article headlined, "China's Tomb-Sweeping Day Joins Internet Age" "Chinese burned virtual candles and incense, sent digital flowers and set fire to paper cell phones on Tuesday as modern technology changes the way the ancient Qing Ming Tomb-Sweeping Day is celebrated. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional holiday when people honor their ancestors and flock to cemeteries, but many young Chinese consider conventional ceremonies like setting off firecrackers, burning real incense and paper and making offerings of food and drink as passe, Xinhua news agency said. "Internet mourning, such as on the 'online cemetery', where virtual candles or joss-sticks are lit and virtual flowers are sent, is in fashion, saving millions of people of Chinese origin the trouble of traveling long distances in order to sweep tombs for their ancestors," it said." To read the full article, see: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8085893 Among the traditional items burned is what is known as "Hell Money" There is a nice, illustrated web page on a web site describing the "Adventures of a Big White Guy living in Hong Kong" "In China, the word Hell doesn't carry the same negative connotation as western Hell. The popular story has it that zealous Christian missionaries warned all non-Christian Chinese they'd "go to Hell" upon death. In a classic case of misinterpretation, the Chinese believed Hell was the English term for the Afterlife. The word was incorporated and printed on the traditional Chinese Afterlife Monetary Offerings, otherwise known as Hell Bank Notes. Some refer to the notes as Spirit Money. I love the denominations. This first set shows the highest dollar amount I've found yet: $8 billion." "Hell Bank Notes come bundled in various numbers, depending on the currency. The paper ranges from smooth and thin to coarse and thick. The huge denomination notes were printed on low-grade paper." "It doesn't matter, as they're made to be burned. The Chinese believe that when someone dies, his spirit goes to the afterlife, where it lives on, doing much the same things it did in life. Surviving relatives want to send gifts to make the afterlife as comfortable as possible. Aside from intricate paper objects such as houses, cars, clothing, watches, mobile phones, appliances and even domestic helpers, Hell Bank Notes are most popular. Burning sends them on their way." To read the full article, see: http://www.bigwhiteguy.com/baskets/hell.php Another good discussion of the topic is found at this site: "The Anthropology of Money in Southern California is an exhibition of the uses of money and money-like objects in the cultural, religious or ritual practices of various communities of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. It was created from original research conducted by the students in an undergraduate class at the University of California at Irvine, on the anthropology of money (Anthropology 125S) in the Fall of 2004." "The use of spirit money (also known as hell money or heaven money) in observing different rituals is deeply rooted in Asian culture. Archaeological evidence of ?fake/spirit money? can be seen as far back as circa 1000 B.C. Imitations of money in the form of stones and bones (along with cowrie shells) were found in tombs. In the Spring and Autumn periods, archaeologists have found evidence of imitation metal money. The imitation metal money was thin and fragile, made of lead and bronze. There were also imitations in clay of gold plaques. Initially, archaeologists believed that imitations were for the poor; however, that belief changed when they discovered imitation money in the tombs of the wealthy." "Spirit money itself has many different uses; however, it is used generally as a symbol of transformation, increase in reproduction, and payment of spiritual debts. The notes used as ?money? are transformed to spirit money when they are used as symbolic offerings to ghosts, gods, and ancestors. The burning of spirit money allows for it to be transferred to ghosts, gods, and ancestors to be used as real currency in the other world." http://www.anthro.uci.edu/html/Programs/Anthro_Money/GhostMoney.htm OHIO FUND INVESTED IN RARE COINS Dick Johnson forwarded this article, published April 6, 2005 in the Toledo Blade: "Columbus-based watchdog group called yesterday for Ohio lawmakers to revamp campaign finance laws following the news that a prominent Toledo Republican got $50 million in state money to invest in rare coins. Catherine Turcer, legislative director for Ohio Citizen Action, said the investment with local coin dealer Tom Noe is another reason why state law should require fund-raisers - not just campaign contributors - to disclose their activities, including who organized the event and who hosted it." "Since 1990, campaign finance records kept by the state show that Mr. Noe has contributed more than $110,000 to candidates for state offices and to various state Republican Party committees." "The bureau said yesterday that in 2003 it received $2.98 million from the Capital Coin deals. The money represents 80 percent of the profit split between the state and the coin dealers, who kept $744,000. All told, the state has received profit of $13.2 million since 1998, while Mr. Noe and his partners have split $3.3 million. The coin funds have generated profits of between 1.4 percent and 11 percent to the state since its inception. Most of the bureau's other investments - mainly in bonds and stock funds - lost money in some years." http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050406/NEWS24/504060400/-1/NEWS BLING FLING: FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN COIN DEALER? [I am not making this up - it's from a recent press release. -Editor] "Young Hollywood, chart-topping music artists and professional athletes, who now show off with expensive cars, lavish homes, and flashy jewelry, might want to take a look into investing into rare coins as their next source of bling." "There really is a 'cool' factor to investing in rare coins," says Ken Smaltz, owner of K. Smaltz, Inc. one of the top coin dealers and first African American-owned dealer in the United States. "Smaltz is hoping celebrity coin collectors like actor James Earl Jones, comedian Bill Cosby, hockey icon Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss and film director Penny Marshall, catch the attention of the bling audience to kick this investment trend into high gear." "Bling doesn't have to mean purchasing massive amounts of liabilities with limited value. Bling can be a new way high earning individuals utilize their capital to purchase assets with appreciating value that can be passed down from generation to generation," says Smaltz." The full press release can be found at: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050405/nyfnsw04.html [We've discussed celebrity coin collectors in previous E-Sylum issues, but this is the first reference I've seen to Bill Cosby as a collector. Has anyone else heard this? What does he collect? And what about the claim of being the "first African American- owned dealer in the United States"? Is this truly a first? Surely there must have been another. Can anyone give us an example? -Editor] FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is that of the Canadian Association of Token Collectors. From the web site: "The Canadian Association of Token Collectors was founded in 1972 by Ken Palmer and 49 other collectors to serve the purposes of all collectors of Canadian tokens. Over 30 years later the original journal, "The Canadian Token" is now known as "Numismatica Canada" but the mandate of serving the collector has not changed. Numismatica Canada is published four times a year." http://www.canadian-token.org/ Wayne Homren Numismatic Bibliomania Society The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. For more information please see our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/. There is a membership application available on the web site at this address: http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_member_app.html To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application. Membership is only $15 to addresses in North America, $20 elsewhere. For those without web access, write to: David M. Sundman, Secretary/Treasurer Numismatic Bibliomania Society, P. O. Box 82 Littleton, NH 03561 For Asylum mailing address changes and other membership questions, contact David at this email address: dsundman@LittletonCoin.com To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, just Reply to this message, or write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum From esylum at binhost.com Thu Apr 14 06:16:00 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Thu Apr 14 06:26:33 2005 Subject: E-Sylum submissions: please resend Message-ID: <425E42E0.7040003@coinlibrary.com> If you sent me a submission for the next E-Sylum issue, please resend it. I've lost all my incoming email messages for Monday and Tuesday, including some I'd read and responded to. So even if you got a reply from me, please resend your message. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you sent me a request to add or delete an address from the mailing list, please remember that we now have an automated system, and all such requests should go through this web page: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum Thank you. Wayne Homren Editor, The E-Sylum Numismatic Bibliomania Society From esylum at binhost.com Sun Apr 17 22:29:06 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Sun Apr 17 22:30:54 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#16, April 17, 2005 Message-ID: <42631B72.6090707@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 16, April 17, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 2005 NBS DUES ARE DUE NBS President Pete Smith writes: "The next issue of The Asylum will include Karl Moulton's survey and tabulation of 19th century auction catalogs. This will be a large issue with 64 pages or more. This is the first issue for the 2005 membership period. It will be sent only to members who have paid their dues for the current year. We intend to send out renewal notices by snail mail and by e-mail to those who are not current. If you want to receive the next issue of the Asylum, please send your payment to David Sundman, NBS Secretary/Treasurer, soon." [Membership is only $15 to addresses in North America, $20 elsewhere. David's contact information appears at the end of each E-Sylum issue, but here it is again: David M. Sundman, Secretary/Treasurer Numismatic Bibliomania Society P. O. Box 82 Littleton, NH 03561 Email: dsundman@LittletonCoin.com We also have a Life Membership category for those who pay 20 years of regular membership dues in full in advance. If you are not already an NBS member, please consider joining. We'd love to have you on board! -Editor] BRYCE BROWN NUMISMATIC LITERATURE LIST Bryce Brown of Avon, CT writes: "I invite your readers to browse through my latest Numismatic Auction Catalog price list. I have just posted a large group of late 19th and early 20th century catalogs, including: - Several scarce Ben Green sales from 1906-1913; - W.H. Strobridge?s 1863 sale of the George Seavey collection; - Nearly 100 Thomas Elder sales from 1906-1939, including a 1916 Miller sale handpriced and inscribed by Elder; - Several early Wayte Raymond items from 1910-1919, plus an Anderson Galleries (1915) and US Coin Company (1912); - Several early Mehl auctions - from 1911, 1915, and the late 1920?s; - Numerous early Stack?s sales starting with 1936; - A nice group of Morgenthau catalogs, including the beautifully plated Great American sale of 1933; - A Special Hardbound Edition of the Federal Brand ?Million Dollar Sale? of 1963; - A nice group of New Netherlands sales including Ryder, Eliasberg, and Naftzger; - Doug Winter?s sale copy of Bowers+Ruddy 1982 Clifford auction, priced and named; ?plus early sales by Harlan Smith, John W. Haseltine, Elliot Woodward, the Chapmans, Edouard Frossard, Ira Reed, J.M. Henderson, Lyman Low, Quality Coin & Stamp Exchange, and Abe Kosoff; ?along with a broad selection of more modern catalogs (including all Eliasberg sales, Garrett, Taylor, Perkins, Norweb, Bass, Benson, and Ford). http://home.att.net/~numismatics/Lit-Sales-display-htm.htm " FANNING BOOKS FIRST ONLINE FIXED PRICE LIST David Fanning has announced that his first electronic fixed price list of numismatic literature is now available. He writes: "Unlike my three previous printed lists, this one is available only as an electronic (PDF) document. To obtain the list, either e-mail me at fanning32@earthlink.net or download it directly from my new Web site at http://www.geocities.com/fanningbooks. The list contains an assortment of old and new publications on numismatics, many at reduced prices." DENMARK ENCASED POSTAGE STAMP BOOK PUBLISHED J?rgen S?mod writes: "The third book in my big project is now in print. The first Vol., which came out in 2003 is Poletter og Pengetegn i Danmark indtil 1900 (Tokens in Denmark including Greenland, Iceland and Danish West Indies until 1900) Letter format, 278 pages more than 1000 illustrations, hardbound. The second Vol. came out in 2004 and is about the Danish tokens 1900-1924 including Iceland, Greenland and Danish West Indies and Southjutland 1874-1920. Letter format, 222 pages more than 1000 illustrations, hardbound. May 24 2005 will be published Frim?rkepenge i Danmark I (Encased postage stamps (stamp money) in Denmark. Letter format 168 pages 650 illustrations, hardbound. The price for all three books is after the dollar value of to day US$ 220,- postpaid to US excl. bank costs. Regretful foreign personal checks can not be accepted." THE CARDINAL SPELLMAN COLLECTION Arthur Shippee writes: "Events like the Conclave pull trivia out of the woodwork, like this about Cardinals and coins. While browsing Donald Hall's "The Oxford Book of American Literary Anecdotes" (OUP, 1981), I came across this note about John O'Hara, recorded by his publisher, Bennett Cerf ("At Random", 1977). Cardinal Spellman had complained to Cerf about O'Hara's language, so Cerf wanted them to meet and get to know each other. O'Hara proved charming, and the meeting was a success. "They took to each other at once. We had a wonderful time .... After lunch, the Cardinal insisted on showing us his coin collection in the Archbishopric." Was Spellman's collection a noted one?" [The Cardinal Spellman collection was cataloged in two parts by Harmer Rooke, but was eventually disposed of by private sale. -Editor] MINNESOTA QUARTERS DEBUT AMID CEREMONY It isn't every day that a new coin debuts, although it may seem that way at times. The state quarters are often rolled out with much ceremony. On April 14th the Sun newspapers of Minnesota published an account of the festivities surrounding that state's new quarter design: "Nic McKenney sat on a soggy hay bale, as Gov. Tim Pawlenty placed a quarter in his hand Tuesday." All of Minnesota ? including a sizeable portion of Eden Prairie ? was represented at Tuesday?s official launching of the Minnesota state quarter at the Capitol in St. Paul. Thousands of people, including at least 5,000 schoolchildren from throughout the state, stood in the rain to watch Pawlenty affix an enlarged image of the Minnesota quarter to a map of the United States. The ceremony concluded with a convoy of armored cars rolling up Cedar Street, so every child in the crowd could receive one of the first Minnesota quarters." "... U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore... praised the coin as ?the state?s newest, and smallest, ambassador,? celebrating Minnesota?s natural beauty. The Minnesota quarter was first struck March 14, and will be minted for only 10 weeks." To read the full story, see: http://www.mnsun.com/story.asp?city=Eden_Prairie&story=155758 STAMPEDE FOR THE NEW BUFFALO NICKELS Also on April 14, the Eugene, Oregon The Register-Guard published a story about the public's reception of the latest nickels: "Some banks were slow to get the new nickel after it was released to the public on Feb. 28. Coin dealers had them soon after they became available and for a slight surcharge, you could get the coins before they hit the banks." "Coin dealers said the popularity of the state quarters program has led to more awareness of all newly minted coins, but the buffalo nickel has drawn more attention than the first two in the series. "I've gotten more inquiries from Joe Public about the nickel than anything else in a while," said Alex Pancheco, owner of Bear Creek Coin in Eugene. "The demand on the East Coast is so high the Federal Reserve has rationed shipments. People have always liked the buffalo nickel." "The new nickel has sparked renewed interest in the older ones. The old buffalo nickels - which had the image of an American Indian on the opposite side - have some value because of their rarity, but no one expects these commemorative nickels to ever be worth much more than, well, a nickel." "Carla Nash, a senior client services specialist at Pacific Continental Bank, said her bank ordered the new nickel as soon as possible. "We have numerous clients who asked for them," she said. "We've had requests for them for months. They are very popular." To read the full article, see: http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/04/14/a1.buffalocoins.0414.html BUFFALO DESIGNER WELCOMED IN WINSTON-SALEM The designer of the nickel's new bison reverse appeared at a coin show this weekend in Winston-Salem, NC, as reported in the Winston-Salem journal: "Jamie Franki, an illustrator by trade, never thought that his art would reach many people. But millions are seeing it now, only this time on a nickel. Franki, who designed a new 5-cent coin, one with an American bison on the reverse side, came to Winston-Salem yesterday to autograph coins during the 36th Annual Coin Show at Miller Park Recreation Center. A throng of people lined up yesterday to see Franki as hundreds milled about looking at various coins. About 400 people attended the show, which continues from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today." "He now teaches illustration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and lives in Concord with his wife, Penny. His brother told him about a new U.S. Mint coin program for artists in December 2003, and Franki said he decided to apply." "Franki said, "I had a gut feeling about the bison. The nickel is a really small thing and you need something powerful, something that can translate visually and conceptually." He said he was drawn to the bison image because he knew from his studies that bison were a powerful symbol among American Indians." To read the full article, see: http://tinyurl.com/77nj8 HELL MONEY CAN BRING BAD LUCK Regarding last week's story about hell Money, Ken Berger writes: "I lived in Taiwan for five years and am quite familiar with Hell Money. Quite often during the burning of the money, pieces would be caught by the wind and carried away. I frequently encountered unburned pieces lying on the street. However, I was told that this money was not meant for me and it was therefore bad luck to pick it up. Living in a country that places a lot of emphasis on dead ancestors and the afterlife, I had no intention of tempting fate; so (even though I could have amassed a nice variety of notes) I never picked one up. However, if anyone is interested in getting some Hell Money, it can be purchased in the U.S. at any major Asian market. The packets of money are quite large (100s of notes) and very reasonable (about $2.00)." 19TH CENTURY NUMISMATISTS AND LATIN AMERICAN NUMISMATICS Al Buonaguro writes: "By way of introduction, my numismatic specialty is Latin American coinage. For over thirty years I have maintained and expanded a reference collection of Latin American silver coins with which I perform selected research projects. I recently corresponded with Dave Bowers about some very interesting information published by his firm in the current Eliasberg sale catalog. Below is what I wrote to him. He advised that I post this query to E-Sylum subscribers. Basically, I am seeking information about nineteenth century numismatists and their activities which relate to Latin America. For example, for the past year I have been identifying participants at the famous Fonrobert sales of Latin American coinage conducted by Adolf Weyl in 1878/1879. The Eliasberg catalog mentions an individual named Harry Williams who seems to have been a pivotal figure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He may also have been an absentee bidder at at least one of the Fonrobert sales. Consequently, I am specifically seeking information about him but would welcome correspondence with any individuals who might have knowledge of personalities and activities relative to Latin American numismatics. My words to Dave Bowers were: I have been reading your superb catalog of the Eliasberg collection. Congratulations ? yet again ? on an important contribution to numismatic research. Since my own collection and related research is almost exclusively focused on silver issues, I am not attending the sale. However, the catalog provides much information about personalities and pedigrees that bear on my own research. One specific project has been to delve into late nineteenth century numismatists involved in Latin American coinage Consequently, I am eager to learn more about Harry Williams beyond the Numismatist articles which I have already read. He seems to have had excellent contacts within South America. He may well be involved with much more than just the extreme gold rarities that eventually went to Newcomer and then Eliasberg. For example, might he have been a bidder at the famous Fonrobert sales of Latin American coinage conducted by Adolf Weyl in 1878/1879? Interestingly, I have a copy of the bid book for the Central American portion of the Fonrobert sale and there is an absentee bidder whose last name seems to begin with ?Wi.? Could it have been Williams? I have found out that Harry Williams was born in 1861 and married Emma Magnus in February 1886 so he would have been 17 or 18 years old and unmarried during the 1878/1879 Fonrobert sales. The ?Wi? bidder was not nearly as well heeled as most of his rival bidders and bought only a few lower cost items after submitting many low bids. Might you know of any source of information that might shed light on Harry Williams very early collecting activities? Just knowing when he began collecting and how soon he gravitated to Latin American coins would be of great interest. Lastly, there is mention in the Eliasberg catalog of a body of correspondence between Williams and Newcomer which was graciously made available to you by its current owner. There is surely a gold mine of information relative to Latin American numismatic personalities and pedigrees in those letters. Might there be any possibility of a serious researcher such as myself gaining access to this material? Obviously, I would acquiesce to any conditions imposed by the owner in order to have the privilege of examining such a wealth of data. Many thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide." [Al adds: "By all means please publish my Email address. I would welcome correspondence from knowledgeable researchers and would be happy to share my findings: abuonag@msn.com -Editor] A PLEA FOR A NEW GOETZ MEDAL CATALOG Dick Johnson writes: "Congrats to Scott Goodman for negotiating and purchasing the rights to Gunter W. Kienast?s two books, the standard works on the German medallic satirist, Karl Goetz. You asked for suggestions; here are mine. 1) A website is fine, but plan to publish a one-volume book as soon as possible. 2) Continue to use Kienast numbering system. But nix the author?s request to call these "Opus numbers." Instead, these have long been called ? and this should be standard throughout the field ? "Kienast numbers" to align with the long-standing tradition to identify numismatic items by the cataloger?s last name. Perhaps this is an unwritten law, but it has become a firm custom in published numismatics. The cataloger?s surname quickly becomes associated with that collecting specialty. "Opus numbers" could be applied to ANY group of numismatic specimens extensively cataloged. 3) When you add new varieties that Gunter had not included, please continue the Kienast numbering system. Add "K" to all numbers. Resist the temptation to call these Kienast-Goodman numbers. (In abbreviations this would be KG numbers -- Karl Goetz initials! This extreme coincidence would cause confusion in citing these number.) 4) Name each medal and put this in bold face in your new catalog. As part of the name include the medallic from. (Goetz created medalets, medals, medallions, plaquettes, charms.) Still in bold face include the date the medal was first issued (made, cast or struck). 5) Write an accurate description for each variety. Unfortunately, author Kienast described the political or economic situation which led to the subject of each medal. This is interesting background data, but collectors require an accurate description of exactly what appears on each medal to correctly identify the variety. 6) Goetz medal designs are steeped in symbols and symbolism. Be sure to identify the symbolism for even the casual observer who may not recognize the significance right away. 7) Be on the lookout for "collector lore" ? what makes a particular variety interesting to collectors. Goetz series is loaded with these. ("Black Shame Watch on the Rhine Medal, 1920" Kienast 262 is an example of this.) Describe these with a sense of good taste even when a penis is depicted. 8) Consider an "American catalog" format. The greatest contribution of Americans to world numismatic literature is creating a format of cataloging numismatic items. This has been copied all over the world. Thank you, Wayte Raymond, who was the first to publish coin catalogs in a tabular format in what has become somewhat standard. In 75 years this format has been honed to its most useful form. This tabular form of data has a line for each variety ending the line with an estimate of value in one or more conditions. 9) Obviously publish two versions of this catalog, one in English, one in German. I have the greatest respect for Karl Goetz medals and for Kienast signal work of this medallic specialty. Kienast is to be honored for this early work and publishing his two volumes but a great deal of work remains. The mantle is now passed to Scott Goodman, who has the responsibility to update Goetz total medallic work. Medal collectors and the entire numismatic fraternity are looking forward to a new catalog of this fascinating series to assist our future collecting. Scott, you must contact William Nawrocki and Rich Hartzog, both Illinois numismatists have considerable unlisted Goetz varieties. I also recall a group of Goetz items sold at fixed prices by Michigan dealer Joseph Lepczyk in Spring 1982 which even contained models, galvanos, dies and hubs. For my medal auctions I accepted a consignment of a quite lengthy run of Goetz medals from a Philadelphia Main Line family whose collection was built in 1924-25 by an agent in Europe; the family kept the collection intact for 65 years! (Collectors? Auctions Ltd 31: 682 to 859). Because of this sale author Kienast consigned a large group of duplicates from his personal collection to a following sale (CAL 32: 1219-1277). Perhaps every dealer in medallic art in the world has handled some Goetz medals. Goetz was a master medallic satirist whose appeal was worldwide despite his strong Germanic themes." [Dick Johnson is one of The E-Sylum's most prolific contributors. The April 18, 2005 issue of COIN WORLD celebrated the newspaper's 45th year of operations. Dick was the first editor of the publication, and is pictured with the first staff on page 76. -Editor] UNREADABLE ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS YIELDING SECRETS Asylum Editor E. Tomlinson Fort forwarded this article about how 9,000 year-old manuscripts are yielding new information. "A vast array of previously unintelligible manuscripts from ancient Greece and Rome are being read for the first time thanks to infra-red light, in a breakthrough hailed as the classical equivalent of finding the holy grail." Oxyrhynchus, situated on a tributary of the Nile 100 miles south of Cairo, was a prosperous regional capital and the third city of Egypt, with 35,000 people. It was populated mainly by Greek immigrants, who left behind tonnes of papyri upon which slaves trained in Greek had documented the community?s arts and goings-on. Oxford?s researchers started salvaging 100,000 fragments of papyri from the town?s rubbish dump in 1897 and shipped some 800 containers back to Britain. About 2,000 pieces of the papyri have been published and mounted in glass, but the rest has remained in boxes. According to the current research team, "the mass of unedited material represents the random waste-paper of seven centuries of Greco-Egyptian life". Some 10 per cent of it is literary, the fragmentary remains of ancient books, with the rest documents of public and private life, such as census returns, tax assessments, court records, wills, horoscopes and private letters." "Material ranges from the 3rd to the 7th centuries BC and includes work by classical writers such as Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod. But many of the manuscripts have decayed and blackened over time. Those uncovered so far include parts of the Epigonoi, (Progeny), a long-lost tragedy by Sophocles, the 5th century BC Greek playwright, and part of a lost novel by Lucian, a 2nd century Greek writer. There is also an epic poem by Archilochos, a 7th century successor of Homer, which describes events leading up to the Trojan war. " To read the full article, see: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=410562005 ANCIENT COINS IN THE CLASSROOM A local teacher has made wonderful strides in using ancient coins in the classroom. The April 16, 2005 Pittsburgh Tribune- Review article describes her work and upcoming "Ancient Coin Museum" event. See the January 4, 2004 E-Sylum (v7n1) for more background. "Zee Ann Poerio has a hobby that makes cents. Poerio, a third-grade teacher at St. Louise de Marillac School in Upper St. Clair, has a collection of a couple hundred coins, including over 100 ancient coins. Her coins span from as early as 400 BC to modern coins. The collection started when she wanted to introduce Latin lessons to her class three years ago. "I just thought it was really interesting," Poerio says. "The reverence kids have for these coins. Something they hold in their hand is 2000 years old." "For her work in the classroom, Poerio has won numerous awards including the 2004 Ancient Coins for Education Harlan J. Berk Teacher Excellence Award. One of her prizes was a Brutus Gold Stater -- a gold coin from 44 BC. It has an engraving of Alexander the Great on the front, and Athena on the reverse side. The coin was issued during the Civil War of Rome between 44 and 42 BC. It is in honor of Marcus Iunius Brutus, a Roman senator who ruled from 85 to 42 BC." Poerio has used her hobby to start what she calls an Ancient Coin Museum. The "museum" runs from April 22-24 at St. Louise de Marillac School, 312 McMurray Road, Upper St. Clair. Ancient Coins for Education helped get coins donated from all over the country. Poerio has even received coins from Canada and overseas. Poerio says she is really interested in connecting "coins with Classics." "Ancient coins have such an influence on coins today," she says. "They teach about history, art, mythology and language." http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/entertainment/s_324823.html LINCOLN CENT GALVANO DIESHELL PHOTOS Dave Lange writes: "Despite a claim to the contrary, photos of the original copper galvanos for the Lincoln Cent do appear on page 2 of my book, The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents. I own very large color photos of each galvano that were furnished to me by the Mint. The publisher opted to reproduce them much smaller than actual size, so it's a bit hard to see Brenner's name in full on the reverse. The new third printing of this book, however, features on its front cover larger, color images of the reverse galvanos of the Wheat and Memorial reverses. In this instance, the name Brenner is quite readable." [I'll look forward to the new edition of Dave's book and the larger photos. -Editor] FISHER MEMORIAL EXHIBIT FUND On March 20th (E-Sylum v8n12), Bill Rosenblum notified us of the passing of Chinese coin expert George Fisher. The following was published in a recent issue of Your Newsletter, and electronic publication for young numismatists editor by Gail Baker, Education Director of the American Numismatic Association: "The ANA has established the George Fisher Memorial Fund which will be used to build a traveling exhibit on Chinese Coinage. Donations can be sent to ANA, 818 North Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903, Attention: Doug Mudd, Money Museum curator. We will all miss George Fisher here at ANA and on the coin collecting circuit." FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN COIN DEALER? Last week I questioned Ken Smaltz' claim of being the "first African American-owned dealer in the United States." Ron Benice writes: "According to FORTUNE, Smaltz, age 42, founded his business in 1997. I believe Tony Hill, who operated Heirloom Coin and Currency in California at least as far back as 1991, was black. Also Curtis Judge was a vest pocket dealer in the 1980s." Larry Dziubek writes: "John Weeks of eastern PA has been a sole proprietor coin/token/medal dealer for well over 20 years. He has the set-up at the PAN shows just outside the meeting room twice per year. He also does shows and flea markets on many weekends in addition to the PAN show." "SAHARA" AND $20 CONFEDERATE GOLD "COINS" Joe Boling writes: "Responding to the query about the numismatic content of the film "Sahara," I was stuck in Kansas City after the ANA convention by the closure of Denver airport. I had never heard of "Sahara" until I noted it on the theater marquee in the Crown Center, and then the next day here comes the question in The E-Sylum. So I went to it while I was cooling my heels in KC. One of the two story threads deals with a treasure hunt for Confederate gold removed from Richmond at the close of the Civil War, aboard the ironclad CSS Texas. The boat ends up underground in a dry riverbed in Mali (of course!). I understand that in the novel, the gold is in bullion form, but in the film it is in coined form. In the one place in the script where the denomination is mentioned, the coins are referred to as dollars. The one close up shows the inscription C.S.A. 20 dollars, and the coins are double eagle size (with reeding coarse enough to use as a comb). There is very little mention of the coins as numismatic items - the emphasis is on their recovery. The second story thread deals with tracing the source of a virulent disease, which also turns out to be in Mali. Actual filming was done in Morocco. " JOE BOLING INTERVIEWED By the way, the News Tribune of Tacoma, WA published a nice article about Joe Boling recently, focusing on his involvement with local theater. The ANA's Chief Judge is a fixture at every convention, as well as an E-Sylum subscriber and frequent contributor. "I?m a collector,? he said. ?In theater, I?m collecting performances. In other areas, I collect tangibles.? Both Boling and his collections exist mainly in the sallowly lit basement-turned-office ? his central command ? of a 1960s home in an Auburn suburb. There he writes reviews of each show, and has posted around 2,000 of them on the Web site of the service organization, Theatre Puget Sound, which provided its blessing for his own TPS business card, marked ?Theater Chronicler.? Nearly every stretch of wall and countertop in his home doubles as a filing cabinet for plaques for his foreign-currency collections, trophies he won in shooting competitions, medals he received on his way to becoming a full colonel (now retired), books on anthropology and military history, laser disks, DVDs ? and then there are the actual filing cabinets, several of which contain the most comprehensive accounting anywhere of Puget Sound performance art since 1998, including dance, opera and some orchestral music." To read the full article, see: http://www.thenewstribune.com/soundlife/story/4763394p-4387265c.html REVIEW: SHOW ME THE MONEY! The E-Sylum had a small role in the creation of Fred Reed's new book, "Show Me The Money! The Standard Catalog of Motion Picture, Television, Stage and Advertising Prop Money." My copy arrived this week and I thought I'd write a recap of events and a short review of the book. Regular readers know we often discuss the numismatic aspects of current events, and the genesis of Reed's book came about innocently enough with a report of an incident on a movie set in the summer of 2001, headlined "Movie Money Falls from the Sky." I'll republish the item here verbatim: (E-Sylum, June 10, 2001, v4n24): From an Associated Press story datelined Los Angeles, June 6: "Bills with phony face values totaling about $1 billion were blown up during recent filming of the action movie "Rush Hour 2'' in Las Vegas. Some of the bills fluttered into the hands of people who later went to businesses and spent them, authorities said. "The product they were producing was just too close to genuine,'' said Assistant Special Agent Chuck Ortman. "Notes were successfully passed.'' The Secret Service ordered Sun Valley-based Independent Studio Services Inc. to stop making the fake money and sent a recall letter to every movie production company that ordered the prop cash." Can any of our readers point us to a web page illustrating movie prop cash (also known as stage money)? Has anyone ever written a reference book? It could make for an interesting study. The following week came this response to my question: (E-Sylum, June 17, 2001 (v4n25): In answer to last week's question on movie prop cash (also known as stage money), Granvyl G. Hulse, Jr., (Librarian Numismatics International) writes: "I am sitting on a bundle of raw data on movie prop money sent to the NI Library. The person who donated it thinks that it might make a good reference and will work with anyone who is interested enough in the subject to want to write something for publication." In related discussions, Alan Luedeking, Tom DeLorey and Michael Schmidt examined prop money used in the films Titanic and Pearl Harbor. The following January, Fred Reed told us about the project he'd begun as a result of the original query: (E-Sylum, January 27, 2002 (v5n4): Fred Reed writes: "Last summer you published a note from Granvyl Hulse, the Numismatics International Librarian, asking if someone was interested in cataloging motion picture prop money and offering assistance. I contacted Granvyl and told him I was interested. He put me in contact with John Pieratt, and I began the project by cataloging John's collection. Six months and about two dozen additional contributors later, our catalog effort is coming along fine. I thought I'd send a progress report since The E-Sylum was the catalyst." At that point, the manuscript totaled 400 pages. Those familiar with Fred's writings won't be surprised with the level of thoroughness with which he attacks his subject. But he didn't set out to write an opus. He writes in the Acknowledgments of his book, "My expectation at the outset was that this project would take about a week and would produce a catalog of about 40 pages, which would eventually find its way into the pages of Paper Money, the bimonthly Society of Paper Money Collectors magazine. Boy was I naive." (p197). The book as published consists of 790 pages. The bibliography lists "Movie Money Falls From the Sky" and other E-Sylum articles. It is very well illustrated in black & white, with nearly every listed note pictured full-size, along with a large number of movie ads, posters and still shots picturing the money. The extensive Memorable Money Shots section is a compilation of the uses of money in film: "Money shots traditionally include scenes such as poker games, bank robberies, payoffs, ransoms and oldtime gangsters lighting up stogies with $100 bills. Today, money shots of drug buys, lap dances, and dollar bills stuffed in G-strings or rolled to snort coke have proliferated." (p10). The ruckus-causing notes from Rush Hour 2 are pictured on p658-661. Congratulations to Fred for producing this landmark work, and many thanks to him and his contributors for all their work in making this book a reality. Ordering information was published in the March 13, 2005 E-Sylum (v8n11), but I'll republish it here: The book is available from the publisher, McFarland Publications, 1-800-253-2187 or Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640 As a special offer to E-Sylum readers, they can order the book straight from its author for $82.50 postpaid at this address: Fred Reed P.O. Box 118162 Carrollton, TX 75011-8162 The book won't be autographed (note: it will be shipped from North Carolina) but E-Sylum orders from the author will receive an autographed, GENUINE prop note from author Reed's personal collection that they can tip into the book or use as a bookmark. COINS STOLEN IN THE U.K. MAILS RECOVERED In yet another April 14th story: "An airport worker who stole three rare gold dollars worth ?32,000 from a DHL package then tried to sell them on eBay was spared jail today. Teddy Ejezie, 37, was working as a cargo loader at East Midlands airport when the package containing three US gold dollars dating back to 1857 came through en route to Switzerland. The coins had been ordered from the States by a Swiss collector who had paid just over ?32,000 for them. But Ejezie stole them from the package in December 2003 and they never reached their destination." "They were US dollar gold coins dating between 1857 and 1882. The coins were shipped from Minneapolis via East Midlands airport and had been due to go on to Brussels then to Switzerland. By the time the package got to Brussels the coins had been removed." "The first coin was brought by an American collector based in Hawaii but when another one was advertised, this time worth ?27,000, he became suspicious. An investigation was launched and the trial led back to Ejezie. A search of his home recovered all three coins. At first he claimed he had brought them in a pub for ?80 but later pleaded guilty to theft, converting criminal property and attempting to convert criminal property." To read the full story, see: http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=YW1411532Q DO LIBRARIES STILL MATTER? Joel Orosz forwarded an article on whether libraries still matter. He writes: "... interesting conclusions from the Carnegie corporation of New York, the foundation that helped to build 2,509 libraries around the world!" "In the era of the Internet, will we still go to libraries to borrow books and do research? The answer seems to be a resounding yes, because libraries are more than just a place to keep volumes on dusty shelves. Libraries are supposed to be quiet, but it?s hard to imagine a place causing more noise than the new central branch of the Seattle Public Library, which sits with its off-kilter geometry and brightly colored interiors at the heart of a city mainly associated with digital technology." "The question now is whether this futuristic structure is outdated already?whether, in fact, it was outdated even while it was on the drawing board." ?Within two decades,? says Michael A. Keller, Stanford University?s head librarian, ?most of the world?s knowledge will be digitized and available, one hopes for free reading on the Internet, just as there is free reading in libraries today.? "Can that really be possible? If so, where exactly does it leave libraries? More important, where does it leave culture? On the one hand, the digital revolution represents the ultimate democratization of knowledge and information, of which Carnegie likely would have approved wholeheartedly. On the other hand, libraries perform an essential function in preserving, organizing and to some extent validating our collective knowledge. They are traditionally seen as a pillar of democracy." Nobody can reliably predict the far-off future, but for libraries, the digital information revolution raises a host of existential questions about the present. In this day of Amazon, the Internet, hundreds of cable channels and ubiquitous computing, what is the role of the institutions Andrew Carnegie thought were so important that he devoted himself and a good bit of his fortune to propagating them?" To read the full article, see: http://www.carnegie.org/reporter/10/books/index.html FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is about U.S. World War II ration tokens. "No longer could we eat, drink and be merry. This new edict immediately transformed us into squirrels who must store up their nuts against a hard winter. And store them we did, grudgingly if not willingly. In order to secure our personal copy of this new ration book, every man, woman and child in the country was required to declare in writing the exact current status of his or her pantry shelves. We had to declare every can of processed food in our possession ? no fair skipping the hoard in the basement or in the refrigerator either. Should we have been thrifty the preceding fall and painstakingly canned hundreds of jars of food from our victory garden, we were penalized, not rewarded, for our efforts as they counted against us, too." http://users.snip.net/~cgf172/DC_Station/chapter5.html Wayne Homren Numismatic Bibliomania Society The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. For more information please see our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/. There is a membership application available on the web site at this address: http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_member_app.html To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application. Membership is only $15 to addresses in North America, $20 elsewhere. For those without web access, write to: David M. Sundman, Secretary/Treasurer Numismatic Bibliomania Society, P. O. Box 82 Littleton, NH 03561 For Asylum mailing address changes and other membership questions, contact David at this email address: dsundman@LittletonCoin.com To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, just Reply to this message, or write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum From esylum at binhost.com Sun Apr 24 21:41:51 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Sun Apr 24 21:44:02 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#17, April 24, 2005 Message-ID: <426C4ADF.4030004@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 17, April 24, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. ANS PHOTOFILES DESTROYED? According to Jim Spilman, founder of The Colonial Newsletter Foundation, who wrote this week in the AMNUMSOC-l Yahoo! mailing list, some photo archives at the American Numismatic Society in New York have recently been destroyed. He writes: "The entire historic set of photofile negatives has been destroyed. Apparently all that remain are a few 35mm color slides made within the past ten years, or so. This loss apparently includes all of the 8"x10" negatives, the 4"x5" negatives including their manila paper envelope sleeves with unique notations on the reverses -- usually in the handwriting of the person who submitted the coins for examination -- plus all of the black and white 35mm strip and roll negatives. The most historically valuable of these negatives and their sleeves were those 4"x5" size made in the 1940 to 1970 era of the major numismatic discoveries of the time. Much of this which was the work of Eric P. Newman and Sidney Noe and Damon G. Douglas are now GONE." [Somebody, say it ain't so! Can any of our readers shed some more light on the status of the photofiles? -Editor] SPINK'S OWNER ACQUIRES ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLER Dick Johnson writes: "Spink, the London dealer in coins, medals and stamps since 1666, has a new owner. There is a book connection to this story as well. The new owner acquired Spink in March 2002, he purchased Quaritch, England?s largest dealer in antiquarian books, in September last year. A story in the London Financial Times, Friday, April 22, 2005, reveals a bit about the new owner. A wealthy Asian, John Koh outbid ten rivals to acquire Spink from Christie?s after forming Abaca Capital and raising the purchase price of five million pounds among family and friends. Koh is popular among London?s many art dealers these days. They are offering their companies for him to purchase as well. Apparently difficult times are effecting the most established British dealers; American art buyers have fallen off as prices are rising and tastes are changing. Koh welcomes these business offers but is no "pushover." He was trained in investment banking at Goldman Sachs (and is a managing director at Goldman Sachs, Singapore). Here?s one paragraph from FT writer Tony Thorncroft?s article: ?Coins, medals and stamps, usually dismissed as "collectables," had been seen as declining passions but Koh believes that a new generation of, admittedly, mature men is keen to re-discover the collecting hobbies of their youth. These enthusiasts even include a showbiz element: Bill Wyman, the former Rolling Stone, has ditched his bass for metal [medal!] collecting and has been seen in the coin department. The fact that "collectables" have proved a good investment in recent years helps.? Koh has increased the staff at Spink from 35 to 48 employees. He has also added a photography department, not necessarily to auction photographs, but to build an over-the-counter market through private trading rooms. "I am interested in anything that is based around paper -- and history," says Koh. He expects Spink to increase sales by 30% this year. From other sources we learn Koh is 50, was born in Malaysia and attended schools in Hong Kong and Singapore, before attending Trinity College Cambridge and Harvard Law School. Prior to joining the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs Koh practiced as a lawyer in Singapore and New York. He likes to read antique travel books on long flights from London back to Singapore. Book shelvers at Quartrich -- please note the boss?s likes for his next trip! Read the entire story: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/570ea2a6-b331-11d9-ad2b-00000e2511c8.html " [So I guess we can now add Bill Wyman to our list of celebrity collectors. Can anyone tell us just what it is he collects? -Editor] MINT OFFICIAL KENNETH M. FAILOR DEAD AT 95 Subscriber Pete Morelewicz of the Squished Penny Museum, in Washington, DC pointed out this April 18th article in the Washington Post: "Kenneth Merle Failor, 95, a man who watched over the nation's nickels and dimes for many years as an official with the U.S. Mint, died March 26 at the Life Care Center in Scottsdale, Ariz." "In fall 1941, shortly before receiving his commission in the Navy, Mr. Failor was dispatched by the Treasury on a confidential mission to Nome, Alaska, to take delivery of gold from the Russians as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's lend-lease arrangement. Earlier, the Russian government had tried to ship the $6 million worth of gold on a British cruiser from Murmansk, but the Nazis sunk the cruiser. The Russians asked for an additional 90 days to get the gold to the United States via Alaska. When the Russian ship docked at Nome, as Lowell Thomas reported in 1945, "not a man on board could speak English. But they had the gold on the ship. It was up in the bow, covered over with a lot of garbage." Mr. Failor took possession of the precious cargo and arranged for three planes to fly it to Washington; only he knew what was in the unmarked boxes. When the planes had trouble taking off because of the gold's great weight, the pilots suggested dumping some of the boxes overboard. Mr. Failor suggested not." "In 1937, Mr. Failor took a job as an auditor with the Mint, where his first assignment was to administer the government's purchase of newly mined domestic silver at premium prices ranging from 64 cents to 77 cents an ounce. Mr. Failor received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University in 1937 and began preparing for medical school, but World War II intervened." Returning to the Mint in 1945, his initial postwar assignment was to head the Treasury's licensing program. The Gold Reserve Act of 1934 had limited the use of gold to industrial, professional and artistic use, so his duties involved oversight of an elaborate system of reporting, as well as investigations to prevent gold hoarding by the general public." "In 1964, it was Mr. Failor's task to work out an equitable system of distributing coins to the Federal Reserve banks and branches .." "After the Coin Shortage Hearings, Mr. Failor was deeply involved in congressional hearings leading to enactment of the Coinage Act of 1965... From 1965 until his retirement in 1968, he was executive director of the Joint Commission on the Coinage." To read the full obituary, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64477-2005Apr18.html [The article also notes a Washington Post article in 1959, where Mr. Failor noted "that New York always had more 50-cent pieces in circulation and Baltimore more nickels. Washingtonians, he said, favored pennies." Failor is known to numismatic bibliophiles for his 1969 work (revised in 1972), "Medals of the United States Mint" -Editor] NEW 24K GOLD BULLION COINS FROM U.S. MINT If Kenneth Failor were working at the Mint today, he'd likely be involved with its upcoming product. CNN published an article about the U.S. Mint's newest bullion coin: "On Tuesday, officials in Washington announced the planned introduction of the first 24-karat gold coin in the nation's history. The piece, set to be rolled out sometime in 2006, will boast a 99.99 percent "fineness" rating. In other words, it's almost perfectly pure gold." "The purpose of rolling them out, the Mint is making clear, is to make money -- perhaps a lot of it. "The United States Mint intends to match and exceed world class business practices with this new 24-karat gold bullion coin," said Henrietta Holsman Fore, director of the U.S. Mint, in a statement. "There is a demand, both here and abroad, for 24-karat gold coins," she said. "We want to meet this demand by providing the highest quality and most beautiful coins in the world." "Until now, the highest grade U.S. coins have been the 22-karat American Eagle series, first introduced in the 1980s after Congress banned the sale of South African Krugerrands to protest apartheid." "The program will have two phases," the Mint's statement noted, "starting with an investor-grade uncirculated 24-karat gold bullion coin, followed by a 24-karat numismatic collector proof coin." No specific designs or denominations for the new coin have been announced." To read the full article, see: http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/19/pf/gold_coin/ To read the full text of the Mint's press release, see: http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=press_release&id=581 ELIASBERG CATALOG KUDOS Dave Bowers writes: "Upon returning home from the Eliasberg Collection of Gold Coins of the World sale in New York City I read my e-mail. I appreciate the congratulations on the catalogue so kindly posted in your last issue by a fine gentleman, but the most I personally can do is accept these nice words on behalf of the American Numismatic Rarities staff. While I wrote certain introductory material and added a few things here and there, the cataloging and research was mainly through the talents of, alphabetically, John Kraljevich, John Pack, and Frank Van Valen of the ANR staff, plus consultants (credited in the catalogue). Photography was by Douglas Plasencia. Everyone at ANR played one part or another, a grand event for all of us. The sale drew participants from 37 different countries! The room was non-stop action for all four sessions, with the final realization far exceeding pre-sale estimates, and crossing the $10,000,000 mark. I haven?t checked with Dr. Richard Bagg (our staff guru on calculating things about the market), but, certainly, this has to rank very high among the most valuable offerings of world coins ever held within the boundaries of the United States of America." On April 20th, Newsday published an article about the sale. "Rare gold coins that had sat undisturbed for nearly a half- century in a Baltimore bank vault fetched more than $10 million in an international auction." "The highest price paid for a single coin was $379,500, for a five-ounce gold coin made in Venice around 1770 showing Jesus and St. Mark. The amount was a record for a non- ancient Italian coin, the auctioneers said. The earliest known round coin from Colombia, pressed in 1755 and depicting King Ferdinand VI of Spain, sold for $103,500. The oldest coin in the collection, a gold piece hammered by hand in Sicily in 413 B.C., sold for $5,060." To read the full story, see: http://tinyurl.com/8pch2 FIRST, FUMIGATE YOUR BANKNOTE Australian scientists have invented a new technique for finding fingerprints on banknotes: "Forensic scientists are hoping to finger criminals who leave their prints on plastic banknotes using a novel imaging technique and superglue. Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Australian Federal Police have joined forces to develop the technique, which combines chemical imaging under infrared light and fuming superglue, or ethyl cyanoacrylate." "The new method allows forensic scientists to detect chemicals on the surface of a banknote that would not usually be visible to the human eye. All fingerprint detection relies on the contrast between a finger's ridge marks and the background surface. But the coloured or patterned surface of some items, like polymer banknotes, reduces contrast and makes fingerprints difficult to detect." "The first stage of the technique involves placing a banknote in a tank filled with heated superglue fumes. "The superglue sticks to the ridges in the fingerprint but not the gaps in-between... The note is then put under an infrared microscope and chemical imaging detector and scanned at the mid-infrared range of the spectrum to highlight the superglue. This allows the print's outline to be seen on a computer screen. "Once we get an image on a computer screen we can print it and compare it with other prints." To read the full story, see: http://abc.net.au/science/news/tech/InnovationRepublish_1348613.htm A related story on police use of fingerprints on paper money to track drug users: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s890031.htm CATALOG NUMBERING SCHEMES Ron Abler writes: "Dick Johnson made some excellent points in his plea for a Goetz medal catalog. It reminded me how helpful your E-sylum readers can be. I am writing a book on the Centennial Medals of 1876. I could definitely use some advice on a rational and flexible numbering system for the medals. There have been two primary works on the subject of which I am aware: Holland's articles in 1875-1876 and the anonymous articles published in the Coin Collector's Journal in 1876. I respect the work of these authors, but each source used Roman numerals for each design in what appears to be random as-discovered order with no distinction (in the numbering) made for the multiple alloys in which many of the medals were issued. I would like to develop a new numbering system that offers some logic (perhaps by medal category -- mint-issued, Philadelphia expo, etc.). I would also like to be able to insert the inevitable medals brought to my attention after publishing without upsetting the numbering logic. I am also considering a unique number for each design or mule pair with a subscript or superscript designating the alloy. The end result might be a letter prefix for the category, a sequential number within the category for each medal design/mule pair, and a subscript or superscript for the alloy. Adding a newly discovered alloy would be simple, and it would not upset the numbering scheme. Discovery of a previously unlisted design or mule pair would require adding it as the next sequential number in its category, not perfect but better than having to put it all the way at the end of an uncategorized list. As you can plainly see, I need help, and I would sincerely appreciate ideas, suggestions, and advice which your readers might have. Thank you very much." [The problem of numbering schemes is a common one, but we have several authors among our readership, and perhaps one or more can offer their insights. Also, can anyone identify the author of the 1876 Coin Collector's Journal article? Since it is unattributed, can we assume the author is that year's editor, Ed Frossard? -Editor] CONSTANTE ROSSI MEDAL Roger deWardt Lane writes: "Last week, at one of our local club meetings, the Ft Lauderdale Coin Club, a friend dealer was selling a few odd and ends from recent collections he had purchased. The better items he sells on e-Bay and puts the less popular items in the club auction. In the back at a table he sometimes has bullion grade foreign silver and today he had a box of odd medals. I picked out 8. I like to spend hours researching the medals and if the American Numismatic Society collection does not have the item and they would like it, I donate them. The first one I looked at was a Medallic Art Co - Happy Birthday U.S.A. July 4, 1976. the ANS database quickly identified the medal which they have in their collection. The next one they do not have from my checking with their database. But sometimes I am wrong and they still locate the item in their vast collection. The search I did was based on the engraver - Constante Rossi. Interesting enough the only medal that came up was one I gave them a couple of years ago from Argentina designed by Rossi. Next I did a Google search on Constante Rossi and found a most interesting non-commercial site on European and South American Medals - http://www.finemedals.com/ I see no name of the author, but who ever it is, the site is worth visiting. Anyone who would like to see the items I have donated to the ANS, just go to: http://tinyurl.com/b63sg " HERMAN SILVER: FRONTIER RABBI, MINT OFFICIAL Today's Los Angeles Times has an article about an archivist's search which led her to the U.S Mint in Denver - she learned that her quarry became an official of the Denver Mint in 1874; "For a time, he was also managing editor of the Denver Tribune and a lay rabbi." "Behind Hynda Rudd's desk in her Glendale home hangs a picture of a frontier rabbi she calls her "patron saint." Although he died more than two decades before she was born, this man's passion for politics and religion not only piqued her interest but also led her on a treasure hunt for documents to learn more about him. His paper trail led her from Salt Lake City, where she was born and raised, to Los Angeles and propelled her into a career as the first official custodian of Los Angeles' historical records. Rudd, 69, retired nearly four years ago as the city's first archivist and records management officer after more than 20 years on the job. The city has always been populated by fascinating characters, as she learned, but she never stopped researching the man who captured her scholar's interest: Herman Silver, for whom the Silver Lake community and reservoir are named. "Educated men turn me on," Rudd said. "But Silver was more than educated: He was handsome, charismatic ? a man for all seasons." "He was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1831, one of six children. A sickly boy, he often had to miss school, so he passed the time reading books from the family library and becoming proficient in Hebrew. In 1844, on the advice of the family doctor, Silver was sent alone to the United States. He was just 13 but, at 6 feet tall, he stood out among the passengers. He caught the eye of a Spanish-born Catholic priest, Father Gerard, from Montreal, Canada. Silver taught the priest Hebrew and the priest taught him English. When the ship docked, Silver accompanied Gerard to Canada and studied under him for several years. They became lifelong friends. In the 1850s, after working and traveling throughout the East Coast, Silver settled in Ottawa, Ill., where he met his future wife, Eliza Post, when he retrieved a letter that had blown out of her gloved hand. Silver joined John C. Fremont's grass-roots party, the Free Soilers, whose slogan called for "free soil, free speech, free labor and free men." The party was absorbed into the newly formed Republican Party around 1854. Silver campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and won appointment as a government land assessor during the Civil War. He also recruited volunteer regiments for the Union, receiving a commendation for valor and services "off the field." After the war, he studied law and opened a law practice in Illinois. Rudd lost Silver's trail in the early 1870s but picked it up again in 1874, when he was appointed director of the U.S. Mint in Denver. For a time, he was also managing editor of the Denver Tribune and a lay rabbi." "Silver had moved to Los Angeles in the 1880s, both for his health and for a job with the Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, he and a partner had built a double-track railway from downtown to Boyle Heights." "Before Silver died in 1913, at 82, he watched his namesake community become a movie center and birthplace of the Keystone Kops. Producer William Selig opened a studio at the eastern side of the lake in 1910. Half a dozen or so other studios, including those of Mack Sennett, D.W. Griffith and Tom Mix, also clustered around the reservoir." To read the full article, see: http://tinyurl.com/d6ahz [A web search found that the journal Western States Jewish History published an article on Silver in their volume 20: "Herman Silver of Silver Lake, Civic Leader and Lay Rabbi, Parts 1&2" by William M. Kramer. The L.A. Times article calls Silver the "director of the U.S. Mint in Denver." The facility opened in 1863 as an Assay office, and I don't believe it was yet an official mint in 1874. Silver's title as head of the Assay office would have been "Superintendent," correct? My Coin World Almanac is the 1990 edition, and it does not list Denver officials from that period. I'd not encountered Silver's name until now. Can anyone verify the dates of Silver's time at the Denver facility? Great name for a mint official, of course - was there ever a Mr. Gold as well? -Editor] FIP: HALF A BIT Len Augsberger writes: "The Maryland Historical Magazine, Winter 2004, has a short discussion of newspaper prices c. 1830-1850. Papers were priced at one "fip" (6 1/4 cents, half a Spanish bit) at the beginning of the period, some offering subscriptions at two fips/week. No doubt many other commodities of the same era were similarly priced in Spanish bits. The "penny press" was introduced later, with advances in printing technology reducing the cost of daily papers to as little as one cent." STAUFFER-FIELDING WORK ON ENGRAVERS Larry Mitchell writes: "I've had a number of inquiries lately regarding sources of biographical information for engravers, diesinkers, etc., for early American coinage, medals, etc. The standard reference for this sort of info has long been Stauffer, Fielding & Gage's "American Engravers Upon Copper & Steel". Accordingly, it might be worthwhile to add the bibliographic info for this title to our NBS Bibliography, Section 1, _General Information for Bibliophiles_ (the same folks also having done the illustrations for a wide range of early numismatic books and magazines): Stauffer, David McNeely, Mantle Fielding and Thomas Hovey Gage. AMERICAN ENGRAVERS UPON COPPER AND STEEL. (Four volumes in three.) New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1994. Quoting from the publisher's description of the above consolidated reprint: "In 1907 David McNeely Stauffer's two-volume set of AMERICAN ENGRAVERS UPON COPPER AND STEEL was published in a limited edition of 350 copies. This pioneer work provided biographical sketches and a checklist of the works of over seven hundred American engravers. Little had previously been written about this subject, as the great majority of early American engravers were relatively obscure men and often the only record of their existence as engravers was the few impressions of a plate accidentally preserved. Stauffer's work was based on the prints themselves - their signatures, dates and publishers - and he realized there were omissions. In 1917 Mantle Fielding, who had corresponded with Stauffer and seen many of his notes, published a supplement in a numbered, limited edition of 220 copies. Stauffer's and Fielding's works on American Engravers are well indexed for engravers and partly indexed for subjects. However, engravers are for the most part only copyists; they reproduce on copper, steel or stone the work of another. Much valuable information as to the identity of the painters of early portraits can be obtained from examining engraved copies. Thus in 1920 Thomas Hovey Gage added an Artist Index to these important volumes. This reprint is the first time these four scarce volumes have appeared together as a set...." [We've updated the NBS web site bibliography to include the Stauffer-Fielding work. Dick Johnson's work will become the new standard once published, but in the meantime the Stauffer-Fielding work is probably the best single source for this information. A more compact work is the 1983 book by Francis Pessolano-Filos, "The Venus Numismatics Dictionary of Designers, Artists, Modellers, Engravers, and Die Sinkers whose works were commissioned by or struck by the United States Mint 1792-1977." -Editor] TWO MINTS REOPENED FOR TOURS "The United States Mint has resumed tours at its Philadelphia and Denver facilities. The same-day tours were suspended following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, although tours scheduled in advance through Congressional representatives had been available on a limited basis. The tours, offered first come, first served, resumed April 6 in Philadelphia and April 7 in Denver." "Both tours are free; the Philadelphia tour is self-guided. For details, go to www.usmint.gov and click on "Tours." To read the full article, see: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2005-04-21-mint-tours_x.htm VOCABULARY WORD: FESTSCHRIFT One of the more interesting (and long-running) mailing lists on the Internet is A Word A Day, edited by Anu Garg. To subscribe, go to: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html This week the focus was words about books; I've excerpted a couple that may be of interest to numismatic bibliophiles. (From A.Word.A.Day for Monday, April 18, 2005) "festschrift (FEST-shrift) noun, plural festschriften or festschrifts A volume of writing by many authors as a tribute to a scholar, for example, on the occasion of retirement of a colleague. [From German Festschrift, from Fest (celebration) + Schrift (writing). Ultimately from Indo-European root skribh (to cut, separate, or sift) that has resulted in other terms, such as manuscript, subscribe, scripture, scribble, and describe.]" http://wordsmith.org/words/festschrift.html [In numismatics, festschrifts are seen largely in the field of ancient coinage, but there are others. -Editor] VOCABULARY WORD: VARIORIUM (From A.Word.A.Day for Thursday, April 21, 2005) variorum (var-ee-OR-um) adjective 1. Containing various versions (from manuscripts, earlier editions, etc.) of a text. 2. Containing notes and commentaries by various editors and commentators. noun Such a book. [From Latin editio cum notis variorum (edition with notes of various).] "A variorum edition would also show us how these elegiac poems, purportedly written on the anniversaries of the birthday of [Ted] Hughes's first wife, Sylvia Plath, were constructed." John Kinsella; Beguiled by the Wild; The Observer (London, UK); Nov 2, 2003. [The recent Orosz-Herkowitz article on the origins of the 1792 half dismes includes a virtual variorium of a numismatic document; a set of an author's draft manuscripts would also constitute a variorium, but these seem to be rare in numismatic literature. -Editor] VOCABULARY WORD: MERK This last one's not from A Word A Day, nor is it about books, but it's one I learned this evening playing a word game with my family. My mother-in-law played "Merk" and I didn't think it was a word. She wasn't exactly sure either, but when we looked it up in the dictionary, it turned out to be a word for a Scottish coin. Some numismatist I am! Here's a web page depicting a Scottish Merk of 1677: http://www.pierre-marteau.com/currency/dict/e074.html CLIVE CUSSLER AND NUMISMATICS Carl Honore writes: "I liked the Clive Cussler Sahara reference. This book is not Mr. Cussler's first foray into numismatics. In his book "Night Probe!" Dirk Pitt ventures into a deserted tunnel with an old Iron Horse locomotive and a "box with gold pieces called St. Gaudens". These of course could only be the double eagles. In his book "Treasure," Lily Sharp, the female archaeologist finds a Roman or Byzantine gold coin in Greenland during a dig. Nothing to whet the appetite for adventure like some kind of lost treasure... " ANOTHER NUMISMATIC FILM CONNECTION: MILLIONS Another recently-released film has a numismatic connection: "Millions". Apart from the piles and piles of stage money shown on film (time for an update to Fred Reed's new book already!), the film's plot turns on a rare numismatic event - an official currency changeover: "Ensconced in his cardboard shed by the railway tracks, 7-year-old Damian (Alex Etel) is mulling over the changes in his life... His contemplations are disrupted when an enormous bag of cash crashes through the roof of his retreat. As you might expect, this monetary miracle sets in motion the delightful British parable Millions, as the two brothers tackle their newfound fortune." "Upon study, the bag contains nearly a quarter of a million pounds -- too much, really, for the lads to understand exactly how much that is. Basically, they know it?s a lot because, unpacked and stacked, the cash towers above them. It would take a lifetime for two boys to spend it on their desires -- a double-scoop of ice cream here, a video game there. The rub is that it?s only a few days to E-Day, when Britain changes over to the Euro. The booty has to be spent or converted pronto, or it?s valueless." To read the full review, see: http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/film/story.cfm?type=Film%20Reviews#4100 HOW OLD AGAIN? About last week's item regarding "9,000 year-old manuscripts", chief nit-picker Tom DeLorey asks, "Sorry to nit pick again, but shouldn't this be 3,000 years?" [Well, that line was taken from the headline of the referenced article in The Scotsman. Where they got it from, who knows. It's not in the body of the article, which says the manuscripts were believed to be "from the 3rd to the 7th centuries BC." That's more like 3,000 years by my count as well. Sorry for the slip-up. I wish I could say it was a typo, but it's more like a brain-o on the part of the headline writers and myself for letting it slip through. -Editor] NUMISMATICS IN PLANET COLLECTOR I've received a couple sample issues of Planet Collector magazine, a glossy publication showcasing many different collectible fields. The Spring 2005 issue (Vol 2, No. 1) has two nice articles on numismatics. David T. Alexander of Stack's has an article titled "Panama-Pacific Exposition: After-Glow of the Gilded Age," featuring illustrations of two complete original sets of Pan-Pac commemorative coins. Stephen L. Goldsmith of R.M. Smythe has one titled "Collecting America's 'Obsolete' Paper Money," also nicely illustrated. For more information, see http://www.planetcollector.com POETS AND PRESSES ON BANKNOTES Mike Marotta writes: "Pawing through the bargain bins on the Michigan State Numismatic Society show bourse floor this past weekend, I found a Central Bank of China 20 cents from 1931 printed by the Chung Hwa Book Company. According to the "Standard Catalog of World Paper Money," several notes were printed by this firm. I thought that this might be the "Soong Dynasty" Bible publishers, but apparently it is not. However, it still makes an interesting addition to my "authors" collection. Among the many authors, poets and other literati who have been featured on paper money are Petofi Sandor (Alexander Petofi) on the Hungary 1969 10 forint and Robert Burns on the the Clydesdale Bank 1981 1 pound. Benjamin Franklin would be the keystone to my collection of authors, but he is only a visitor here. I am really not a poetry kind of guy. I write non-fiction. I got through literature in school on Classics Illustrated comics. However, I actually earned my C+ in printing shop, so, my favorites are: Iceland 1961 50 kronur two printers on back; Bulgaria 1992 50 leva Hristo G. Danov (face) printing press (back). My deficiencies in fiction aside, I do claim to read real books, so I like: Iceland 1961 10 kronur Household scene of reading; Greece 1995 200 Drachmes "To krypso scholeio" (Secret School). "Virtually all Icelanders are literate; they read more books per capita than any other people in the world." (http://www.answers.com/topic/iceland) Also according to Answers.Com, literacy in Estonia is 99.8%. Therefore, it is appropriate that that nation honored writers on several issues since 1990. While commemorative paper money is known, transient honors appear more often on coins, though less frequently on coins than on postage stamps. Therefore, banknotes are serious semata." THE PALUS JEFFERSON INDIAN PEACE MEDAL While looking up other things I came across an interesting article from the Journal of Northwest Anthropology about an Indian Peace Medal discovered in 1964. Found at the Palus Burial site in eastern Washington State, the medal is known as the Palus medal. "There is written evidence of a medal being observed in this location in 1854. Approximately 50 years after it was given out by Lewis and Clark, a Jefferson Peace Medal was described by George Gibbs while he was visiting Palus Village. Stevens (1855:432) quoted Gibbs thus: At the crossing of the Snake river, at the mouth of the Peluse, the several parties of exploration met with an interesting relic. The chief of that band, Wattai-wattai-how-lis, [in coming to visit Captain McClellan,] exhibited, with great pride, the medal presented to his father, Ke-powh-kan, by Captains Lewis and Clark. It is of silver, double, and hollow, having on the obverse a medallion bust, with the legend, ?Thomas Jefferson, President U. S. A., 1801;? and on the reverse the clasped hands, pipe, and battle-axe, crossed, with the legend, ?Peace and Friendship.? There can be little doubt that this is the same medal found in Burial 21 and was one of those carried by Lewis and Clark." The page links to several tables and figures, including a sketch showing the medal's unusual method of construction (see http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/temp/LewisAndClark/Fig6.jpg ) "It is obvious that the Jefferson Peace medals, including those carried by Lewis and Clark, were unique among peace medals in their construction. The tradition is that the United States Mint at the time they were manufactured did not have presses large enough to stamp such large medals (Prucha 1962:281), or alternatively it would have taken too much time to run them repeatedly, so rather they stamped two thin shells in silver. These were placed back to back with a German silver band or collar around the circumference thus holding together both halves (Fig. 6). This is the first publication of this figure and the information it provides of the method of construction and attachment of the pillar and ring. All medals since then have been made of solid metal. " The Palus medal was transferred to the Nez Perce Tribe in 1971 and is housed at the Nez Perce National Historical Park Research Center. To read the full article, see: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/temp/buriedpromise.htm#thepalusmedal FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site "was created in 1999 by J?r?me Mairat and St?phan Sombart with the idea of sharing ?through Internet, numerous old numismatic books free of copyrights and most of the time which can?t be found these days. In 2004, many books like the famous Cohen or Hoffmann as well as unpublished articles or studies about for example the tokens and medals of the coronation, are now available on line." The site includes works by John Yonge Akerman, Ernest Babelon, Henri Cohen, Roger Vallentin and others from 1627 to 1913. Michael Marotta mentioned the site in his "Internet Connections" article in the April 2005 issue of Numismatist. http://www.inumis.com/books/index.html Wayne Homren Numismatic Bibliomania Society The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. For more information please see our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/. There is a membership application available on the web site at this address: http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_member_app.html To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application. Membership is only $15 to addresses in North America, $20 elsewhere. For those without web access, write to: David M. Sundman, Secretary/Treasurer Numismatic Bibliomania Society, P. O. Box 82 Littleton, NH 03561 For Asylum mailing address changes and other membership questions, contact David at this email address: dsundman@LittletonCoin.com To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, just Reply to this message, or write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum