From esylum at binhost.com Sun May 1 22:32:21 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Sun May 1 22:36:09 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#18, May 1, 2005 Message-ID: <42759135.6050903@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 18, May 1, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATE Among our recent subscribers are Howard Spindel and Serge Pelletier. Welcome aboard! We now have 747 subscribers. Our publicity is mostly word-of-mouth. Can you help us get to the 1,000 subscriber level? If you know someone who'd be interested in receiving The E-Sylum, encourage them to sign up on our subscription web page: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum ANS PHOTOFILES SAFE AND SOUND Last week I questioned a report that a substantial portion of the American Numismatic Society's photo archives had been destroyed. I am pleased to report that, no, it ain't so. Joe Ciccone, ANS Archivist writes: ?The E-Sylum recently published an unconfirmed and erroneous rumor in which it was alleged that the ANS had destroyed much of its photographic archives. The truth is quite the contrary: these archives are alive and well. In fact, we recently began a digitization effort to ensure the preservation of these images while also enhancing their accessibility. Anyone who wants to know the true state of the Society?s institutional archives can visit our website at: http://www.amnumsoc.org/archives. The staff and management of the ANS deeply cherish the Society?s history ? one of the reasons they hired an institutional archivist ? and certainly would not permit the destruction of a substantial portion of the Society?s historical records. Admittedly, in the spring of 2004 an inspection by the New York Fire Department revealed that certain negatives from the 1940s had deteriorated to the point where they were unstable and therefore and not legal to house on the ANS premises. As a result, the New York City fire department removed them for reasons of health and safety. These negatives contained images of only the collections of the Hispanic Society. Photographic prints of the negatives were made, which both societies own. Thus no information was lost, and these negatives represented only a small fraction of the Society?s photographic holdings, which actually date to the 19th century, not the 1940s as was erroneously reported. Much of the unnecessary concern and confusion which resulted from the rumor?s publication could have been avoided had the ANS simply been contacted. Please come and visit the ANS collections." CHARLES DAVIS LITERATURE SALE CLOSES MAY 7 Charles Davis reminds readers that his mail bid sale featuring Surplus Works from the Library of the American Numismatic Society closes Saturday May 7. The catalogue may be viewed at the Maine Antiques Digest site: http://www.maineantiquesdigest.com/adimg/davis.htm UPCOMING KOLBE SALES 95 & 96 George Kolbe forwarded the press release for his upcoming sales: "The second part of the John J. Ford, Jr. American Numismatic Library will be sold at public and mail bid auction on June 4 & 6, 2005. At the same time, the outstanding Craig and Ruanne Smith Library will be sold. Two hundred lots from the Smith Library and four hundred lots from the Ford Library will be sold publicly at the Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Expo on Saturday, June 4th, starting at 2:00 PM. The remaining lots from both libraries will be sold via mail bid auction on June 6th. The Ford sale is being held in association with the New York coin firm Stack?s. Illustrated copies of both catalogues may be ordered by sending $35.00 to George Frederick Kolbe, Fine Numismatic Books, P. O. Drawer 3100, Crestline, CA 92325. The catalogue is also accessible at the firm?s web site: www.numislit.com. The estimates of the 1,150 lots in the two sales total nearly one half million dollars. Many rare works on American, ancient, and foreign numismatic topics are featured, among them: a superb leather bound set of The Numismatist, 1888-1952, including the first six original volumes from the library of the first A. N. A. president; a remarkable American Bank Note Vignette Book featuring 76 superbly engraved plates, many comprising vignettes utilized on South American bank notes; the first illustrated numismatic book, Fulvio?s 1517 Illustrium Imagines; a complete, handsomely bound set of the American Journal of Numismatics; a complete, most attractive leather bound set of American Numismatic Society Numismatic Notes and Monographs; a handsome leather bound set of Ars Classica auction sale catalogues of ancient coins; two American Bond Detectors, one being the rare leather bound edition; a number of Chapman Brothers auction catalogues with original photographic plates, along with a number of the firm?s unique Bid Books; rare early works on counterfeit bank notes; a number of classic works on Latin American coins and medals written by Jos? Medina; Colonel Green?s deluxe full morocco edition of Browning?s classic 1925 work on quarter dollars; several hardbound sets of classic 19th and 20th century American auction sale catalogues originally in the George Fuld Library, including the W. Elliot Woodward series; several rare Thomas Elder auction catalogues with original photographic plates; fascinating and historically important early correspondence written by Walter Breen, John J. Ford, Jr., and other important American numismatists; original photographic illustrations for New Netherlands Coin Company auction sales; important Americana, including an extensive selection of nineteenth century American Directories; eight remarkably fine original copies of Crosby?s 1875 Early Coins of America, including John Robinson?s superb Subscription Copy; a fine hardbound set of B. Max Mehl auction sale catalogues and a set of Mehl?s Numismatic Monthly; Edgar Adams? plated Woodside and other classic United States pattern coin sales; Ormsby?s 1852 Description of the Present System of Bank Note Engraving; an original copy of Attinelli?s 1876 Numisgraphics; rare works on printing medals; a very rare 1840 Brasseaux work on Napoleonic medals; classic works on large cents and American colonial coins; an 1850 Eckfeldt and Du Bois work featuring actual samples of California ?49er gold; Harry Bass?s annotated set of Walter Breen monographs on United States gold coins; superb leather bound works on various numismatic topics; ; important British sale catalogues featuring content on American medals and coins; and much more. Those interested in learning more about these two sales or in accessing the catalogues online may do so by visiting: www.numislit.com" NEW CANADIAN MUNICIPAL TRADE TOKEN VOLUMES The Standard Catalogue of Canadian Municipal Trade Tokens, Volume 4 ? Ontario, 2d ed., by Serge Pelletier has been published. The following is from the press release: "The Standard Catalogue of Canadian Municipal Trade Tokens, Volume 4 ? Ontario is one of the six volumes which will constitute the complete work. The 139-page, 8 ? x 11? spiral bound book has a foreword, an introduction, the main listing and a reference list of catalogue numbers. It lists all the known municipal trade tokens of Ontario, more than 380 pieces, presented alphabetically by municipality. The following information is given for each token: municipality, background information on the municipality and on the specific issue, actual size photo, catalogue number (SP#), denomination, year, brief description of obverse, brief description of reverse, any additional information, metal, quantity minted and value. In addition to the 600 plus actual size photos it has 49 enlarged photos to help in the identification of varieties. Two versions of this book are available: the book only (ISBN 0-9697074-9-5) and the book and CD (ISBN 0-9737777-2-9) which contains an electronic copy of the book (locked pdf) with some of the photos in colour. They are available from Bonavita (address below) respectively for $24.95 and $34.95. S&H and taxes are extra. In addition, a companion work by Serge Pelletier has also been published: "A Compendium of Canadian Municipal Trade Tokens", 2nd ed. From the press release: "The Compendium (ISBN 0-9697074-8-7) is designed to be a succinct reference and a companion to the Standard Catalogue. The 5 ? x 8 ?? spiral bound booklet has a foreword, an introduction, the main listing and a detailed index for a total of 125 pages. It lists all the known municipal trade tokens in Canada, more than 4,300 pieces, presented alphabetically by province and by municipality within each province. The following information is given for each token: municipality, catalogue number (SP#), denomination, year, brief description of obverse, brief description of reverse, any additional information, metal, quantity minted and value. It has a transparent plastic cover making it a most valuable tool, anywhere you go. It is available from Bonavita (address below) for $12.95. S&H and taxes are extra. Bonavita can be reached as follow: Box 11447, Station H, Nepean, ON K2H 7V1, tel: (613) 823-3844, fax: (613) 825-3092, e-mail: bonavita@eligi.ca. Postage and handling is as follows (Canada and U.S.): $2.50 for orders under $15.00, $4.25 for orders between $15.00 and $49.99, $5.25 for order between $50.00 and $80.00, $7.00 for orders between $80.01 and $125.00 and free for orders above $125.00. Canadian residents must add the appropriate taxes." DEXTER 1804 DOLLAR NOTEBOOK SOUGHT Brent Pogue writes: "I'm writing to you on Dave Bowers' suggestion. Five or six years ago my father purchased the Dexter 1804 Silver Dollar. When it sold in the Bareford sale in 1981, a notebook of original correspondence was passed along to the successful bidder. The catalogue mentions these documents, but they were separated from the coin at some point, and I would like to reunite them. Can your readers assist me? I believe they belong with the coin and should pass on to the next custodian when that time comes." [Dave Bowers' 1999 book, "The Rare Silver Dollars Dated 1804 and the Exciting Adventures of Edmund Roberts" listed the post-Bareford pedigree of the coin as follows: "1981-1985: Rarcoa (Ed Milas), Chicago, Illinois 1985-1989: Leon Hendrickson and George Weingart 1989: Racroa Auction '89, Lot 247 1990-? American Rare Coin Fund, L.P., Hugh Sconyers, financial manager, Kevin Lipton, numismatic manager 1990s, early: Northern California collector 1993, July: Superior Galleries sale. Reserve not met; returned to consignor. 1994: May 30-32: Superior Galleries sale. 1994: Harlan White, proprietor of the Old Coin Shop, San Diego, California. Private Southeastern collection." Any leads on the notebook's whereabouts will be appreciated. -Editor] SOME MORE EMAIL TROUBLE Please resend any submissions that didn't make it into this issue. I know at least one was lost, and I apologize. -Editor A GHASTLY AND WORTHLESS SOUVENIR The Kashar News of Kabul, Afghanistan reported on scavengers at the site of a recent airplane crash. One man thought he hit pay dirt with a banknote: "Hayatullah, 32, proudly displays his foreign banknote, convinced he is a rich man because it carries so many zeros. He has no idea that the two million Turkish lira bill is worth less than two US dollars. The banknote is part of the booty he collected on a day-long hike to the wreckage of Kam Air Boeing 737, which crashed during a blizzard in February, killing all 104 people on board. ?I got there, and saw pieces of the plane, torn boxes, and bits of flesh. I was so upset that I could not eat at all that day,? he said. But Hayatullah managed to compose himself long enough to come away with the Turkish lira note, 1,000 Pakistani rupees and a pair of children?s shoes his son now wears to school. " PAPER MONEY TALE A THEFT COVERUP? Too good to be true? An April 26th story by TV station NBC4 reported that "Two Massachusetts men digging around a tree have uncovered buried treasure. They found the loot in a wooden box. It contained $100, $1 , $2 and $20 bills, all dating as far back as 1899. The cash, along with gold and silver certificates and a few bank notes, was inside rusty tin cans placed inside the box." "All of sudden, I find this rotten crate with all these tin cans of money," said Tim Crebase. "Bills after bills after bills after bills. It was unreal." To read the story and see a slide show, go to: http://www.nbc4.tv/irresistible/4418366/detail.html The Associated Press had a more detailed story April 27: "Simple luck helped Tim Crebase and two friends find a stash of cash buried in his yard." "It was a rainy day that prevented Crebase and friends Barry Billcliff and Matt Ingham go to their roofing job, so they began digging around his Methuen yard to dig up a shrub whose roots were creeping into a nearby set of stairs. About a foot down, Crebase said, he hit some soft wood. More digging cracked open a can and he saw the cash. After grabbing it, Crebase said he ran screaming to show Billcliff and Ingham, and they helped him uncover about eight remaining cans. The total stash was about 1,800 bills dating between 1899 and 1929 and piles of gold and silver certificates. Exactly who buried it at the home in Methuen, about 30 miles north of Boston - and why - is unknown." To read the full story, see: http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=80515 Another reader saw the story, too, noting: "This buried treasure story ran in newspapers all over the world." When I read one account stating the money was found under a tree and another account saying a bush, I shrugged it off as inaccurate journalism. I've been quoted in print many times as part of my work, and I know reporters don't always get the story straight. But local police smelled something fishy when the men's stories kept changing and just didn't add up. And then an anonymous tip came saying that the money had been taken from a barn the men recently worked on as roofers. An April 30th article in the Boston Globe was one of the follow-up pieces on the story: "The more they told their fantastic tale of unearthing buried treasure in a Methuen backyard, posing with wads of cash and bathing in the lights of prime-time fame, the more their story began to fray. Barry Billcliff, 26, of Manchester, N.H., and Timothy Crebase, 24, of Methuen, described again and again their amazing luck three weeks ago when, they said, they dug up antique money worth more than $100,000 at a house Crebase was renting. Thursday night, their whirlwind media tour was preempted by an inconvenient legal development: their arrest. The good-luck tale that bounced from Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Grand Forks, N.D., imploded yesterday as police yesterday charged the men with receiving stolen property, conspiracy, and being accessories after the fact. Police say Crebase, a roofer, found the money more than a month ago while repairing a barn in Newbury. The men pleaded not guilty yesterday to the charges in Lawrence District Court. A third man, Kevin Kozak, 27, of Methuen, who owns the house where the other two said they found the money, turned himself in last night at 8:45, according to Methuen police." "Police said yesterday that the money -- about 1,800 bills dating from 1899 to 1929 -- was stashed in metal cans in the rafters of the barn, which sits on a 200-acre farm belonging to Sylvia Littlefield. Dan Iwanowicz, who works on the farm where beef cattle, goats, and chickens are raised, said the owners did not know the money was in the building, which he described as a tractor and tool shed." "No one has disputed that the bills are authentic. Yesterday, Solomon said Secret Service agents were excited about the discovery because many of the bills are so rare they do not think they appear in their archives. Essex Assistant District Attorney Gabrielle Foote Clark said the men had been offered $125,000 by a collector. Most of the cash has been recovered, Solomon said, and police expect to reclaim the little they believe has been sold. Solomon said he believed the men concocted their story about stumbling upon the money so they could sell it without arousing suspicion." To read the full story, see: http://tinyurl.com/clud4 KITTANNING MEDAL AND THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR An article in the April 29, 2005 edition of the Leader Times of Armstrong County, PA, describes a new exhibit at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, featuring a rare Kittanning medal. "All historically-minded eyes will be focused on Pittsburgh when what is proclaimed to be the "Largest French and Indian War Exhibition in the World" opens for public viewing Sunday." "People ask why this war is of any interest to us, here," history center president and CEO Andy Masich said. "Truly, the French and Indian War was the first world war. It was a time when the whole world was ablaze and it started here in western Pennsylvania." In Europe it is known as the Seven Years War. "It was a struggle between three empires," he explained, "the British, the French and American Indian people -- the Iroquois Nation." One of the many highlights of the exhibit is significant to Armstrong County -- the Kittanning Medal, the first documented military medal awarded in colonial America. The medal was engraved by Edward Duffield, a Philadelphia watchmaker and engraver, and cast January 5, 1757, by noted Philadelphian silversmith Joseph Richardson in honor of Lt. Col. John Armstrong's victory in the battle at Kittanning. The original medal also was cast in pewter, copper and bronze. The sliver medal is the most rare, less than six are known to still exist. Reproductions were cast following the end of the American Revolutionary War, and in the early 1800s." [The article does not say any more about the silver Kittanning medal being displayed, so I'm not sure who owns it. Has anyone compiled a list of the current whereabouts of the six known specimens? -Editor] To read the full article, see: http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/newssummary/s_329238.html G.A.R. RELIC BOOK PUBLISHED Author Dennis M. Gregg forwarded a press release for his new book: " 'An Identification and Price Guide for Grand Army of the Republic Memorabilia', is the first and only book of its kind. It was written by a collector and dealer for collectors and dealers and is a very handy ID and price guide for the thousands of G.A.R. relics, artifacts and souvenirs left behind by Civil War veterans. This book covers virtually every aspect of collecting G.A.R. Cover to cover, it is loaded with photographs and illustrations of the many types of memorabilia that one can collect, and is divided into easy-to-find main subjects including Canteens, Fabric, Paper & Ephemera, Pins, Badges and Ribbons, and Miscellaneous items. It includes extra chapters on Corps Symbols, Non/Pre-G.A.R. organizations, The History of the Grand Army Badge and more. It also has up-to-date real market values for each item shown." [The numismatic aspects of G.A.R. collectibles are the many different badges and medals. The book retails for $24.95 postpaid. Dealer discounts are available. To order, see this web page: http://members.myactv.net/~d.gregg/Book/GARBook.htm -Editor ] STAUFFER NOT THE BEST WORK ON ENGRAVERS. Dick Johnson writes: "In response to Larry Mitchell?s item in last week?s E-Sylum, our opinions differ on the utility of his recommended reference work on engravers. Stauffer, Fielding & Gage's "American Engravers Upon Copper & Steel" just does not cover the field adequately. Stauffer concentrated on engravers of prints and engraved plates. Thus he lists "flat engravers" and the only coin and medal engravers (that is, diesinkers) were those who did both forms of engraving. (I have faced this problem throughout my research in this field.) Fielding is excellent and went trough three editions before it was added to Stauffer and Gage for the three-volume 1994 edition Larry recommends. Fielding?s best edition was published in 1965 by James F. Carr for the additions and corrections from the catalog card notations in the New York Public Library. Fielding was also used as a basis for the Opitz directory published in 1984. All of these however ? Stauffer, Fielding, Gage and Opitz ? have all been supplanted by the monumental work of Falk (see below). Among 806 books listed in the bibliography for my upcoming coin and medal artists directory I list 33 directories of artists, and 19 directories of engravers. (Most of these have fewer than 100 coin and medal artists cited.) Here are some statistics on the number of citations to artists of selected published works of these 49 directories in my databank compared to my total number: Johnson 3,356 Falk 1,035 Fielding 367 Groce & Wallace 306 Pessolano-Filos 262 Kenney 144 Stauffer 19. Stauffer is among the lowest of the group. (Although I must admit he includes all the early paper money engravers which I do not cover and not included in this count.) In contrast, my directory so far lists 3,356 artists of American diesinkers, engravers, medalists and sculptors of coins and medals. Falk is highly recommended. His directory, "Who Was Who in American Art" contains 65,000 American artists in three volumes. Among those are the 1,035 coin and medal artists. It is fairly recent, published 1999, but is rather expensive, $300. Without question it is worth it for the extensive coverage and determined scholarship with facts you will not easily find elsewhere. (I have an extra set, mint in unopened box, if anyone is interested.) Falk?s new publishing firm will publish my directory. Fielding was comprehensive and fairly accurate. Once it was out of copyright it was merged and updated in the three works listed above. Groce & Wallace cuts off at the Civil War, it lists only American artists prior to 1864 with 306 coin and medal artists listed. Pessolano-Filos concentrates on U.S. Mint engravers and coin designers. All 262 are cited, but the compiler was a little loose with his facts. (Wayne Homren has copies for sale.) Kenney?s work was published in Coin Collector?s Journal and reprinted as a separate pamphlet. He listed 105 coin engravers. Thanks to the ANS I had access to Kenney?s manuscript card file for an additional 39 more artists. Larry?s recommendation of Stauffer, Fielding & Gage sells for about $125. My directory will have ten times as many artists listed ? with brief biography, full list of their work, extensive citations to auction sales, numismatic and art references, plus a bibliography of each artist ? at a fraction of that cost. In the meantime buy a Falk if you can afford it, a Fielding if you must, and one or two of the others, but just forget Stauffer. I will repeat the offer I have made earlier in E-Sylum. Until my directory gets published, I will offer to supply a printout of the artist entry in my databank on any one artist, particularly for someone who is researching an American coin and medal artist. My rules are as follows: if less than six lines I will send this by email; over six lines I will print out and mail. (Send your address.) If over five pages (2 ounces) I charge for postage. Some artists are embargoed because of file size (example: Victor D. Brenner is 40 pages long). The information is for your personal use. You cannot photocopy or give the information to another person. Contact me at: dick.johnson@snet.net " THE KRUGERRAND BAN Myron Xenos writes: "Mint Director Henrietta Fore's quote last week on banning the sale of Krugerrands in the U.S. doesn't sound right. I thought only Krugerrands dated after 1985 or 1986 were verboten. I got the impression long ago that South Africa just kept putting the old dates on them. Irrespective of that, it would be a shame if she spread that news around incorrectly." SPY DOLLAR AT THE CIA MUSEUM Roger deWardt Lane of Hollywood, Florida was web surfing recently, and came across an interesting numismatic item at, of all places, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's museum. "This hollow container, fashioned to look like an Eisenhower silver dollar, is still used today to hide and send messages or film without being detected. Because it resembles ordinary pocket change, it is virtually undetectable as a concealment device." [... except for the fact that nobody, but nobody, carries around Eisenhower dollars for change, that is. If you were to pull a few out of your pocket at an airport checkpoint today, they would probably raise some eyebrows. -Editor] To see the image: http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/artifacts/dollar.htm To visit the CIA Museum, see: http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/artifacts/ KNOXVILLE, KY MINT INFORMATION SOUGHT Len Augsberger writes: "I have a question for E-Sylum readers. In a recent conversation with a member of the Hanover, PA numismatic society, it was mentioned that the Gobrecht medals issued by that club were minted in Knoxville, Kentucky, c. 1970. Can anyone identify the name of the private mint operating in Kentucky at that time?" DENVER ASSAY OFFICE & CLARK, GRUBER & CO. Regarding last week's question about Herman Silver and his time as "director of the U.S. Mint in Denver" beginning in 1874, Tom DeLorey writes: "As the U.S. Assay Office in Denver was located in the former Clark, Gruber & Co. mint, it is quite possible that contemporary newspaper accounts referred to it as the Denver Mint, or the U.S. Mint in Denver." [I've found no reference to Herman Silver in Mumey's "A Pioneer Mint in Denver," Kagin's "Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States," or Taxay's "The U.S. Mint and Coinage." Is anyone else aware of a reference that would confirm his employment in 1874? -Editor] THE E-GOBRECHT The May 2005 issue of The E-Gobrecht (Volume 1, Issue 3) has been published by the Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC). To be added or removed from the E-Gobrecht mailing list, send an email message with the words "Subscribe/ Unsubscribe" in the subject line of the message to editor Bill Bugert at wb8cpy@arrl.net. The issue includes these items: ==> Len Augsburger writes about the PHS Christian Gobrecht files. ==> Too much silver in circulation by David Ginsburg. ==> Biography of Daniel Webster Valentine by Stephen Crain. ==> Gobrecht Journal Article Index for 2004. ==> New feature: Recent Finds. ==> New feature: Advertisements for the sale of Liberty Seated Coinage. Below are some short excerpts that may be of interest: THE GOBRECHT PAPERS "LSCC members Len Augsburger and Bill Bugert made a trip to the Pennsylvania Historical Society (PHS) on March 9, 2005 to view the Christian Gobrecht papers in the Society?s collection. The Pennsylvania Historical Society had been the site of numismatic pay dirt at least once before - during the 2000 ANA in Philadelphia, Joel Orosz uncovered a long lost diary of the 19th century Philadelphia collector Joseph Mickley. The 1852 Mickley diary described the story of a mint insider whose special connections greatly benefited his cabinet. Orosz in the American Journal of Numismatics, volume 13 (2001), gave this story of this find. The Gobrecht papers at the Society are divided into a number of files... Overall, this is a rich archive, which deserves further study. In particular, the Gobrecht catalog prepared in 1902 may reveal work by Christian Gobrecht, which is currently unattributed. This material is available to the public and may be viewed during open hours at the Society. There is a six dollar charge for admission." TOO MUCH SILVER COINAGE "Club member David Ginsburg submitted this interesting article about too much silver coinage in circulation (don?t we wish!): "Recently, while reading the reminiscences of a 19th-century riverboat gambler, [Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi by George Devol (Cincinnati: Devol & Haines, 1887) reprinted by Applewood Books, Bedford, MA], I came across these sentences: ?At one time, before the war, silver was such a drug in New Orleans that you could get $105 in silver for $100 in State bank notes; but the commission men [factors who acted as business agents and informal bankers for planters] would pay it out to the hucksters dollar for dollar.? Later in the book, Devol writes: ?There was a man in New Orleans before the war that supplied the steamboat men with silver to pay their deckhands. He could buy it at a discount, as it was a drug on the money market at that time. I have often seen him, with his two heavy leather bags, on his way from the bank to the boats.? VALENTINE BIOGRAPHY "Dr. Daniel Webster Valentine March 7, 1863 ? January 24, 1932" "Most collectors of the Liberty Seated design are familiar with The United States Half Dimes by Daniel W. Valentine. Valentine assembled several notable collections, including a comprehensive collection of United States fractional currency, for which he published "Fractional Currency of the United States" in 1924. This publication was issued in a cloth bound edition of 225 copies at $5.00 each, and in a limited, leather bound edition of twenty-five numbered copies at $15.00 each. He also assembled a collection of United States one dollar gold coins, complete by mintmark. Dr. Valentine is perhaps best remembered for his extensive collection of United States half dimes, which he exhibited at the American Numismatic Society in 1914. He published his monograph United States Half Dimes in 1931, with the American Numismatic Society, as #48 in their series Numismatic Notes and Monographs." CATALOG NUMBERING SCHEMES Duane H. Feisel writes: "Having written a number of catalogs for token collectors (several of which have won awards) and extensively used most other token catalog, my advice to any would-be token (or medal) catalogers to definitely have a numbering system, but keep it simple. While a complex numbering system may appeal to the very dedicated collector, it usually will be a turn-off to the less dedicated collectors representing a larger market for the catalog. Keep the numbering simple and provide details in the listing itself. Complex numbering also does not provide understandable flexibility." Scott Semans writes: "While I haven't authored any substantial catalog myself, I deal in numismatic books in the ever expanding numislit field of Asian numismatics, and I catalog numismatic items in a wide range of fields. I have developed some definite opinions on numbering systems! I think what Ron is considering for his Goetz medal catalog is what I call a "suitcase" numbering system - one in which the numbers themselves carry information about the piece cataloged. This type of system is almost universal among token cataloguers, and often used elsewhere. An extreme example comes from Ray Bows' "Vietnam Military Lore 1959-1973, Another Way to Remember" with TV954A-5 representing Vung Tau (TV) Airfield, an Army (A) base, a 5 Cent (5) token. Suitcase systems are useful in two ways: the specialist can quickly tell something about the piece just from a catalog number, and can communicate or make decisions about the piece without even opening the book. More importantly, if a 25 Cent token is discovered later, it can be added in sequence without disturbing the existing numbers (although there is no remedy for a new type between 954 and 955). I believe the disadvantages to such a system generally outweigh the advantages. Numismatic authors tend to think their books are bought and used mainly by specialists in the field of their topic, while as a book seller I would guess that only about 10-20% of the sales are to hard-core collectors, researchers, or those interested in non-catalog features of a work. Probably a majority of the buyers end up using it casually, to look up a piece now and then, and if the arrangement or layout of the catalog is unintuitive or complex, or the numbering system requires a "how to use this book" section, the book will get diminished use from the majority of its buyers. Dealers and auctioneers, to whom look-up time is money lost, not relaxation gained, will favor alternative works, and be less likely to stock the book itself, and this will strongly influence what references collectors buy. This will not bode well for sales of the second edition in which the author includes all of the information and newly discovered pieces brought to light by the first edition. This is why I favor, in all fields, a "standard" (1,2,3) numbering system with as few decimals and alphabetical prefixes and suffixes as possible. Such numbers are shorter, easier to remember, and will sort properly by computer. Since it is logical to designate varieties and subvarieties as subsets of the main number, the third subvariety of the second variety of type 12 should be 12b.3. Alternative 12.2c is a close runner-up, but sortability will be lost after 10 varieties (12.11 sorts before 12.2) rather than after 26 (12y sorts before 12z) and generally there are more varieties than subvarieties. Alternative 12.2.3 is disfavored for the same reason, plus it is a digit longer. I feel that letter prefixes should be reserved for intervening types discovered later (12, A13, B13,13) not to designate broad divisions of the catalog such as ruler or mint. Prefixed numbers do not sort, and conflict with the common practice of using the author's initial to designate his numbers. Roman numerals are long, unintuitive, do not sort by computer and in my opinion utterly useless in cataloging. Suitcase systems are helpful during the working phase of a catalog, to remind the author of what piece the number represents, but only cause grief if used as a final numbering. The problem of how to insert later discoveries can be handled by leaving intelligently chosen gaps in the number sequence, with letter prefixes and a renumbered second edition as second choices but still, in my opinion, preferable to a complex numbering system which may confuse casual users. Although collectors complain bitterly when a published numbering system is replaced in a later edition rather than patched up to incorporate extensive discoveries, I would urge authors to pluck up their courage and do just that. It will result in higher book sales, a cleaner more intuitive numbering system, and less temptation for later authors to use clunky numbering schemes." LIBRARIANS WORRY OVER LOSS OF WEB PUBLICATIONS The Chicago Tribune published an article on April 29, 2005, discussing the pitfalls of online publishing, which should be no surprise to most bibliophiles. Their prime example is the U.S. Government Printing Office: "At its peak in the 1980s, before the days of Web sites and e-documents, the office printed more than 35 million documents a year, sending copies to libraries across the country, some of which kept everything the GPO produced and made it available to anyone who asked. But now to cut costs, government agencies are increasingly putting documents online rather than printing them and do not always provide an electronic copy to the GPO." "Scholars and activists say that important government information is being lost when an agency takes them offline. For instance, librarian Constance Lundberg of Brigham Young University's law library, said documents pertaining to operation criteria for dams along the Colorado River and environmental assessment reports, have gone missing after being removed from government Web pages." "And the printing office recently issued a report estimating that half of all government documents bypass it and go directly online, conceding, "therein lies the biggest challenge for the Government Printing Office." The report proposed that the GPO reinvent itself, creating one huge online archive that would be available in late 2007 and would capture all federal digital documents. Critics say this proposal would lead to the consolidation of public information on government servers, where it is more susceptible to deletion or alteration. They also warn of a diminished role for GPO's partner libraries in preserving the public record, and they are concerned the public won't have broad access to free government information." "We believe the GPO's proposed model will do more to endanger long-term access to government information than ensure it," three librarians at the University of California, San Diego, wrote in an article in the latest issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship." "The biggest question facing GPO may be the one of posterity. Eternally preserving electronic data presents a huge intellectual and technical challenge for the agency, as computers and software evolve every few years and the agency's budget hasn't grown to keep pace." To read the full article, see: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0504290183apr29,1,409271.story KENYA CURRENCY DESTRUCTION On April 26, 2005, The East African Standard published a nice article about the creation of a new series of Kenyan banknotes and the destruction of the old notes. "Deep inside the vaults of the Central Bank of Kenya building off Haille Selassie Avenue, three men are struggling to feed dirty cash into the Note Disintegration and Briquetting machines." "As Kenyans wait for the introduction of new generation bank notes ? which will be equivalent in size to the US dollar notes and only featuring the portrait of the founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta ? this machine is going to be very busy over the next five years. Around 2.1 billion pieces of bank notes will be introduced into the economy during that period and the old notes will be destroyed and replaced with new ones." "Previously, a contingent of heavily armed paramilitary troops used to guard a small note destruction exercise deep into the heart of Karura Forest. But these days, as Mariwa says, "soiled currency is destroyed online without the intervention of human operators here in Nairobi and at the branches in Mombasa and Eldoret as well." http://www.eastandard.net/mags/fs/news.php?articleid=18925 COAL SCRIP ARTICLE PUBLISHED The Charleston Gazette (of West Virginia) published a nice article about coal scrip on April 29, 2005: "It went by nicknames like clackers, flickers, chinky-tin and dugaloos. It looked like money and spent like money ? though usually faster, since prices were often artificially marked up for those who relied on it to purchase the staples of life. Not long after the last stores that traded in coal and lumber company scrip faded into oblivion in the 1960s, the distinctive brass, copper and aluminum coins redeemable only at company stores took on a new life as collectors? items. ?Coal mine scrip has something of a tragically romantic image, inspired in part by the Tennessee Ernie Ford song ?16 Tons,? and in part by the reality of the sad and dangerous lives most miner families lived,? said Kevin Traube, a Beckley scrip collector and dealer. ?There are so many heart-tugging stories behind these coins.? "Scrip coins were issued in denominations of 1, 5, 25 and 50 cents, with 1-dollar coins often serving as the largest unit in a coal or lumber company?s in-house trading system. ?Some companies issued 5-dollar, 10-dollar and even 20-dollar coins, but they were rare,? said Singleton. Along Hughes Creek, which flows through the hollow below Singleton?s hillside home, there were once seven stores that traded in scrip issued by either coal or lumber companies. A former Valley Camp Coal Co. store ? one of the state?s last company stores to close ? remains standing a few hundred yards down U.S. 60." ?Some people collect scrip from their hometowns or their home counties,? he said. ?The book ?Rocket Boys? made Coalwood a popular place to collect scrip from." The bible of coal company scrip collecting is the Edkins Catalogue, which comes in two volumes ? one for West Virginia and one for the rest of the country. The West Virginia book is larger." "The Edkins guides list numerous scrip tokens that were known to have been produced but have so far failed to turn up in any collectors? portfolios. But small caches of the coins keep turning up. ?Collectors are finding pieces we didn?t even know were out there,? said Singleton. ?Some pieces are quite rare and are becoming very valuable.? To read the full article, see: http://wvgazette.com/section/Today/2005042821 [We love words here at The E-Sylum, and "clackers, flickers, chinky-tin and dugaloos" are real keepers. I couldn't have made those up in a million years. -Editor] COMMEMORATIVE CENTS OF 2009 CERTAIN. Dick Johnson writes: "We will have four different reverses on the cent in the anniversary year 2009. That coming year will be the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln?s birth and the centennial of the Lincoln Cent. Honoring our 16th president with four commemorative reverses on the cent was an idea proposed by the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, an organization created by Congress in 2000 to plan the celebration. Congress has now passed the legislation to put the Commission?s plan into action. The House passed it?s version this Wednesday, April 27, 2005 with a 422-6 majority. The Senate had passed their version last summer. The final legislation will undoubtedly be signed by the president. The 2009 cent will retain Victor David Brenner?s obverse portrait. Four new reverses will bear designs commemorating events in Lincoln?s life, each in a different state (and supported by Congressional persons in those states). Kentucky: Lincoln?s birth and early childhood. Indiana: Lincoln?s formative years. Illinois: Lincoln?s professional life. Washington DC: Lincoln as president. This has been discussed in The E-Sylum before -- June 28, 2004 (v7 no 26) and July 11, 2004 (v7 no 28) where E-Sylum readers had suggested the U.S. Mint strike regular cents from Victor Brenner?s original models with his full signature on the original wheat ear reverse. Such a mintage would not require new legislation and could be accomplished in addition to the commemorative reverses. U.S. Newswire article: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=46542 Here?s the Associated Press article prior to law passing the House: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0426dollar-coin26-ON.html The Gannett News Service had a similar version: http://www.usatoday.com/money/2005-04-26-dollar-usat_x.htm " CONGRESS WANTS PRESIDENTS ON DOLLAR COINS Dick Johnson writes: "Coming off the success of the statehood quarter program, a new law has passed the House of Representatives this week -- the same one authorizing the 2009 Cent commemorations ? also authorizes putting the U.S. presidents on the dollar coin. It is driven by the $5 billion generated by the sales of statehood quarters. It also made 140 million people aware of coin collecting. The dollar coin was chosen because of the failure of the Sacagawea dollar. The U.S. Mint had spent $67 million in promoting it. But the public didn?t accept it. "That coin needs some sort of boost to do better," said Michael Castle (R-Delaware), who sponsored both the state quarter and the presidential dollar legislation. "The question is, will there be enough demand (for the presidential series) for a young person to walk into McDonalds and tell the cashier, 'I want a $1 coin in change' "? Representative Castle is head of the Congressional committee with the greatest influence on changing coin designs. The plan is to issue four new presidential dollars a year, starting with Washington. Even past presidents who hadn?t been dead for 25 years would be placed on the coins at the end of the series, in contravention to the Treasury Department?s own rule." COMMEMORATIVE DESIGNS FOR ALL DENOMINATIONS Dick Johnson writes: "Let?s see. We have statehood quarters. Rep Michael Castle?s new legislation passed the House this week, it puts U.S. presidents on dollar coins. What?s next? I know -- Signers of the Declaration of Independence on half dollars! All 56 signers. Isn?t this deja vu all over again? Yes, this does sound familiar. These are the same ideas 40 years ago for a series of medals by a group of Ohio numismatists. Do you remember Presidential Art Medals? They issued several highly successful medal series, one of presidents, a series of statehoods, a series of signers. All three of these series were the inspired creations of one sculptor-medalist, Ralph J. Menconi. What other series did they issue? Apollo flights. World War II events. Medical celebrities. Put the Space flights on cents. World War II events on nickels. Medical heroes on dimes. The U.S. Mint would have to hire a dozen more engravers, add a night shift in the press room and mint sets would cost over $300 for all the year?s coins! Harried cashiers would inadvertently accept more foreign coins in U.S. retail businesses. You would have to closely examine every coin at every transaction. There are some things best commemorated on medals. Presidential Art Medal Series are listed on the website of the Medal Collectors of America: http://www.medalcollectors.org/Guides/index.html " MAY 2005 MONNAIE MAGAZINE Serge Pelletier forwarded the following summary of Monnaie Magazine #67 (May 2005). He writes: "Monnaie Magazine is France?s premier numismatic magazine which is 106 pages in full colour. This month?s articles are: ? Saint Eloi, patron des monnayeurs (St. Eligius, patron of minters) ? La saga du franc (The saga of the franc) ? Actualit?s de l?euro (Euro news) ? D?o? vient la Semeuse? (Where does the Semeuse come from?) ? Jean-Paul II : sa vie, ses monnaies (John-Paul II : his life, his coins) ? 8 mai 1945 : l?Europe mon?taire en crise (May 8th, 1945 : Monetary Europe in crisis) ? 10 nouveaux pays : l?Euro avance (10 new countries : the Euro grows) ? R?f?rendum du 29 mai : incidences mon?taires (Referendum of May 29th : monetary impact) ? Le Reichsmark : une monnaie pour dominer l?Europe (The Reichsmark : a currency to dominate Europe) ? L?Atelier mon?taire du Kazakhstan (The Kazak Mint) ? 1975-2005 : 30 ans de serpent mon?taire europ?en (1975-2005 : 30 years of european monetary snake) ? Guide pratique des m?taux et alliages utilis?s en numismatique (Guide to the metal and alloys used in numismatics) ? Aux sources de la Ville : Rome, la monnaie et l?eau (Rome, coins and water) For more information on subscribing please contact : relationspresse@monnaiemagazine.com " GEEKS GAGA OVER $10,000 MAGAZINE Numismatic bibliophiles know it's not uncommon for rare periodicals to sell for princely sums, but the computer community was made aware of the rarity of one of its own ephemeral publications recently when Intel Corporation issued a princely reward for "a 1965 copy of Electronics Magazine that featured Intel co-founder Gordon Moore's thoughts on how silicon technology would evolve" "David Clark, an engineer in Surrey, England, had a copy of the coveted issue and has sold it to Intel, reaping the chip giant's $10,000 bounty. Intel posted a notice about its reward offer on eBay on April 11, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Moore's Law." "I honestly didn't think we'd get a quick response (after posting the reward notice). We had looked for a copy before and couldn't find one," said Manny Vera, an Intel spokesman. "It was one of those publications that most people wouldn't keep around after reading it. It was a trade publication." But then there's Clark, who apparently is a pack rat. He had stored old copies of the magazine underneath the floorboards of his home for decades. "His wife gave him a hard time over the years for hoarding the magazines, but he kept telling her one day they'd be worth a lot of money," Vera said. And, apparently, one was." "Perhaps the sale will put an end to any raiding of library shelves for the magazine. Shortly after Intel announced its reward, one library's copy went went missing, and other librarians said they were irritated about the reward. The chipmaker had said that it would buy library copies only if they were being offered by the libraries themselves, but that warning apparently didn't stop some thieves." http://tinyurl.com/c5boc [I made a point to tell my wife about the $10,000 magazine, but I still suspect that my basement stash will be out of here before my corpse is cold. -Editor] BILL WYMAN: COINS BETTER THAN STONES Jeff Starck writes: "On Bill Wyman, here's a story from Feb. 3 about his metal detecting. I saw it then, but didn't think to share it with E-Sylum readers." "Wyman, 65, who for 40 years was part of one of the world?s biggest musical phenomena, is the co-author of a new book that expresses his love of digging up the past. Wyman explained: "Metal detecting is more interesting than a new Stones record." He co-wrote the book, a gazetteer of treasure troves found in the British Isles, with his friend Richard Havers, of Duns, Berwickshire. They have previously collaborated on music books. Their latest work, Bill Wyman?s Treasure Island, is published next month and is the culmination of an ambition dating back a decade. Wyman realises his hobby is sometimes perceived as "nerdy" but his contribution could add considerable street cred to the pursuit. He said: "I love it. It revitalised my childhood interest in history and I find great stuff. "I?ve found 200 old coins, Roman brooches and an axe from 1700BC. I?ve discovered Roman sites, all manner of 15th- century artefacts, all of which are verified by the British Museum." "Havers, 53, added: "Bill?s passion, apart from the Rolling Stones, is metal detecting. He always said we should write a book and so we did. We weren?t aiming to produce a scholarly work but it can be a source of reference." "He added: "Bill?s passion may raise a few eyebrows. It isn?t really throwing televisions out of hotel windows, is it?" http://news.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=127692005 FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is "A Pike's Peak Medal Collection" by Matt Carpenter. http://www.skyrunner.com/story/pp_medals.htm 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 May 8 22:19:21 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Sun May 8 22:21:28 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#19, May 8, 2005 Message-ID: <427EC8A9.6080701@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 19, May 8, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATE Among our recent subscribers are Katie Jaeger of Shamokin, PA, John Nebel of Boulder, CO and Dennis M. Gregg. Welcome aboard! We now have 749 subscribers. Happy Mother's Day, Moms! LAKE 79TH SALE CLOSING MAY 10 Fred Lake reminds everyone that the 79th mail-bid sale of numismatic literature by Lake Books will close on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 at 5:00 PM (EDT). Bids may be sent via email, FAX, or telephone until the closing time. You may reach Fred at 727-343-8055 or by FAX at 727-345-3750. His email address is fredlake@tampabay.rr.com . The sale may be viewed at: http://www.lakebooks.com/current.html SAN FRANCISCO COINER A MYSTERY NO LONGER Nancy Oliver & Rich Kelly write: "We just wanted to let you know that our new book is now available. The book is a biography, written in first person, on the life and times of Joseph Breck Harmstead. The title is "Sentiments & Aspirations of a 19th Century Tradesman." As you are probably quite aware, Mr. Harmstead has often been referred to as the "Mysterious Coiner of the 2nd San Francisco Mint"; however, we can honestly say that is no longer the case. The book is an in-depth look at his life as a boy in New England, his experiences while working at five Federal Mints, how Yellow Fever ravaged his family and friends, the risks he faced during his many travels both overseas and by land, and much more. The retail price is $29.95 for this full-sized, 316 page soft bound book. The ordering information for E-Sylum subscribers is $25, which includes postage, with check or money order made out to O.K. Associates. The address is 26746 Contessa St., Hayward, CA 94545-3150. If anyone has any questions, our email address is noliver146@sbcglobal.net." EARLY PUERTO RICO NUMISMATICS BOOK PUBLISHED The following is from a recent press release: "The Puerto Rico Numismatic Society just published a 150 page book titled "Fortalezas y Situados" (in spanish). It is the first in-depth study of the early period between 1582-1809 in which the island depended upon currency remittances from New Spain (Mexico) called the "situado". The book is full of tables, graphs and lots of color photos of pieces of eight, cob coins, and early paper money from Puerto Rico. All proceeds will be for the PRNS as a non-profit entity. If interested please contact us. Jorge Crespo (author) Secretary PRNS [For ordering information, contact Jorge at ac_jcrespo@mail.SUAGM.EDU -Editor] IRAQI DINAR COINS NOT CIRCULATING A Kurdish Media report from Baghdad May 7 noted that "Millions of Iraqi dinar coins have been minted by the Central Bank of Iraq, yet few of them are ever seen. The bank minted coins worth more than 281,000 US dollars after the fall of Saddam Hussein. But the two coins, worth 25 and 100 dinars, are rarely used in everyday transactions, and the smallest denomination in common use is the 50-dinar banknote. There are rumours the coins have been melted down for the metal or spirited away by smugglers, but a central bank official says the explanation is a lot simpler. Talib al-Tamimi, manager of the treasury and monetary emission at the bank, said the coins are available, but people do not use them as they are still unfamiliar with them. ?They are uncertain about them after 13 years in which there have been no denominations of this kind - that?s why they seem strange to people,? said Tamimi. ?But there are huge amounts of [coins] at the banks, which can provide them to anyone who wants them.? "According to economist Salam Sumaysim, ?The circulation of small denominations may reflect the needs of the economy, but inflation rates are so high that these coins are useless.? Even the 50-dinar bill, issued before the coins were minted, is not popular. Notes to a value of more than 8.6 million dollars were printed, but because demand for them was low, only about 6.6 million dollars? worth have been released into circulation. Muhammed Abdul-Qadir, a merchant at Baghdad?s al-Shorja market, says he doesn?t want to have to carry huge bags of coins around ?like in medieval times?. http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=6818 CLASH OF EMPIRES: KITTANNING AND OTHER EARLY MEDALS The catalog for the Clash of Empires exhibit at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center has just been released as a double issue of the Western Pennsylvania History Magazine and all members will be receiving it very shortly. My copy should arrive soon. I mentioned this exhibit last week because it features a rare original silver Kittanning medal. I had the pleasure of viewing this exhibit last Monday, and I was pleased to see that it contains quite a number of medals relating the the British, French & Indian War of 1754-1763. The following is from the exhibit press release: "Among the many rare period objects in the exhibit are the Treaty of Fort Necessity, the original surrender document signed by 22-year-old British officer George Washington of the Virginia Regiment in 1754 after a resounding defeat by French and American Indian forces, along with the fork and knife from his mess kit; the burned remains of the wagons Benjamin Franklin secured for use on the Braddock expedition; one of two remaining Celeron plates that French forces buried in the ground to claim the territory as their own; ornate British and French swords, guns and cannons; and American Indian tomahawks, knives and war clubs. Visitors also will see a variety of intricately carved powder horns; beautifully detailed Native American leggings, bags and moccasins; General Braddock'?s plan for the attack of Fort Duquesne, found on the battlefield by French soldiers after they defeated the British; and British and French medals and other commemorative pieces." The Kittanning medal is from the city of Fredericksburg, VA collection. I was unable to record information on any of the medals because pens and pencils were banned from the exhibit area. The exhibit catalog may not give the full details on the medals, so I've contacted the society and requested an inventory of the medals in the exhibit. The exhibit will be on display here in Pittsburgh through April 15, 2006, then travels to the Canadian War Museum in Ottowa, Canada for display May 18, 2006 - November 12, 2006. Finally, the exhibit is set to open at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. during the Winter 2007 season. For more information, see http://www.pghhistory.org/historycenter/hc_exhibits/clash-of-empires.html PNNA NOR'WESTER PUBLISHED Eric Holcomb writes: "The Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association again published a special convention edition of its quarterly newsletter, The Nor?wester, in 16-page magazine format for its annual convention held last weekend, April 29-30 and May 1. Included are articles about Constantine The Great (by Joseph Kleinman) and ?Our Little Monitor? Civil War Tokens (by PNNA president Larry Gaye). There are plenty of copies still available; $1.00 should cover the cost of mailing and gas to drive to the post office if anyone is interested. Contact: Eric Holcomb, PMB 342, 12932 SE Kent-Kangley Rd, Kent, WA 98030. (No need to provide a return envelope, just a legible address.)" THE $1,000 NUMISMATIC LIBRARY Roger Burdette writes: "E-Sylum subscribers are known for their understanding of, and appreciation for numismatic literature. Thus, they may be the best source of opinions on the following: A local high school has been given $1,000 to spend only on numismatic books. What do your subscribers suggest as the best books to purchase? Suggestion can be sent directly to me, if readers wish. accurateye@aol.com " ANS LIBRARY FUNDRAISING AUCTION On January 12, 2006, the ANS will hold its annual Dinner Gala at the Sky Club, 210 Park Avenue (a beautiful venue, with panoramic views of the city). In conjunction with the dinner & dancing, a charity auction of numismatic books, manuscripts, and ephemera will be held to benefit the ANS Frank Campbell Librarian Chair. The auction will be along the lines of the one held during the ANA convention in Pittsburgh last August, with about 50 lots and a special catalogue prepared by George Kolbe. Herb Kriendler will call the sale. In order to accommodate bibliophiles who don't want to attend the dinner and dancing ($250 per seat), the auction will be held beforehand from 5-7, in a separate room, with its own bar. There will be no charge to attend the auction, and the lots will be available for viewing and pick up. Consignments for the auction are now being solicited. We are looking for material with a retail value of $400 or more. If you have something you are willing to donate (or to sign up for the dinner, which we expect to sell out) please contact Rick Witschonke, Event Chair, at Witschonke@Numismatics.org. THE VATICAN COLLECTION OF CHINESE COINS Howard A. Daniel III writes that this is the title of a book written in Latin with Chinese characters. And the title continues with WITH OTHER EAST ASIAN COINS AND AMULETS in the title. It shows the rubbings of thousands of pieces that are now inside the Vatican, and it also includes Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean pieces in it! Back in the early 1970s, R. B. White wrote to Howard and asked if he wanted a photocopy of the book. The original was in VERY fragile condition and he was going to make hardbound copies of it only for those people ordering it. In 1976, when he finished making the copies into three volumes, the original fell apart into pieces, so the book was saved at the last possible moment. Howard has copy 5 of 11 copies. Yes, only 11 copies of this book exists! Does anyone else own a copy of this reference? When Professor Li of the China Numismatic Society was recently staying at Howard's home, Howard showed him this reference and he was quite surprised with its contents. Howard's copy may be loaned to the society for them to copy it in many copies for collectors and researchers in China. And Professor Li will be contacting the Vatican to see if someone can see the collection for more intense research of the collection. Professor Li would also like to know more about Mr. R. B. White. Howard searched his files and cannot find anything about him. Is there anyone out there who knows anything at all about Mr. White so a biography can be written about him and placed in the China Numismatic Society files by Professor Li? If so, please contact Howard at Howard@SEAsianTreasury.com JOHN H. CLAPP INFORMATION SOUGHT Greg Reynolds writes: "Does anyone have information regarding John H. Clapp in addition to the pedigree information in the Eliasberg catalogues and the biographical data in QDB's writings? In particular, did Clapp personally attend auctions between 1890 and his death in 1906?" FRENCH LEGION OF HONOR AWARDED The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story on May 5, 2005 about a local man who received the Legion of Honor medal from France, in gratitude for his heroics in WWII: "As a boy in France, Philippe Schaison heard his parents and grandparents say that if it weren't for the American soldiers who liberated their country from the Nazis in World War II, they might not have been alive. Schaison, now 43 and living in Princeton, recently received a chance to express his family's gratitude to one former G.I. who served in France: 96-year-old former Army sergeant William Mohr of Hatboro. The Frenchman, who had gotten to know Mohr as the father of a business colleague, sent an e-mail to the French consulate in New York recommending Mohr for the French Legion of Honor (L?gion d'Honneur) - the highest award that France can confer on a civilian. To Schaison's surprise - and Mohr's - the French government awarded Mohr the medal. A consular officer went to Mohr's house and, in the presence of Mohr's wife and children, pinned the five-pointed gold cross with a red ribbon on his breast." "Any American who participated in the liberation of France is eligible to apply for the Legion of Honor medal, which was inaugurated by the Emperor Napol?on in 1802. Yet, the award is rare. Last year, only 125 medals were given to U.S. veterans of World War II - and 100 of them were given in one shot on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy last June." To read the full story at the Philadelphia Inquirer (registration required): http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/11565544.htm MORE ON BOOKS ON ENGRAVERS Larry Mitchell writes: "Thanks to Dick Johnson for his update on the extensive coverage to be afforded by his forthcoming publication about American diesinkers and engravers. It will indeed set a new standard of coverage for this very specific topic. As I pointed out in my original comment, though [E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 17, April 24, 2005], Stauffer, Fielding & Gage (FSG) cover not only diesinkers, but also illustrators "for a wide range of early numismatic books and magazines." And, as Dick himself admits, "Fielding is excellent" and Stauffer covers "all the early paper money engravers which I do not cover." FSG will set you back $78.75 if you are a Barnes & Noble customer (plus tax & shipping). The best price I have seen on Falk is $350. Accordingly, for the reasons adduced in the above paragraph, I still think FSG offers an excellent price/benefit ratio for researchers whose needs cover MULTIPLE areas. [Falk is available at most major libraries if FSG does not meet your needs.] In the meantime, I look forward with great anticipation to Dick's magnum opus." INDIAN POET'S STOLEN NOBEL MEDALS REPLACED On May 7th, Reuters reported that "A Nobel Prize medal belonging to India's only award winner for literature was replaced on Saturday, more than a year after the original was stolen from a university in eastern India. Thieves stole the Nobel, won in 1913 by the revered poet Rabindranath Tagore, from a museum in a university he founded in 1921 in Shantiniketan, some 150 km (93 miles) north of Calcutta, capital of the West Bengal state. Inga Eriksson Fogh, Sweden's ambassador to India, handed over a set of gold and bronze medallions set in a box to the university authorities in the presence of India's foreign and defence ministers." To read the full story, see http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/breakingnews/view.asp?msgID=8892 MUSCALUS BOOKLET LISTING Benny Bolin writes: "Continued nice job with The E-Sylum! I have a question: Do you happen to have or know where I could access a complete listing of the Muscalus books? I recently bought a large numismatic library and it has 50+ in it and I would like to know how close to complete it is." [Dr. John A Muscalus was a prolific author of mostly small pamphlets on various obsolete U.S. currency topics, from the mid 1930s through the 1970s. Here's where our print journal, The Asylum comes in. "The Works of John Muscalus" by R.L. Bisordi was published in the Winter, 1989 issue. Numismatic booksellers Frank and Laurese Katen published a "Bibliography of Dr. John A. Muscalus Books on Paper Money and Scrip" in March 1991. Eighty items were listed, and the Katens assigned them numbers from K-1 through K-80. The subjects of Muscalus' works were varied and often obscure, but always interesting. K-28 is "The Dismal Swamp Canal and Lake Drummond Hotel on Paper Money 1838-1865," for example. -Editor] ANS ACQUISITION: EARLY LEAD BALE SEALS The following item was published in the May 2005 issue of the American Numismatic Society's E-News: "Local historian William Asadorian recently donated to the cabinet an unusual collection of Early American lead bale seals recovered from excavation sites during large-scale late 20th- century construction projects. Almost all the seals are from sites in New York City. These interesting token-like pieces, which were once affixed to bales of fabric or containers of other commodities, represent the burgeoning trade of the Colonial and Early Federal eras. The find-spots of most of the pieces are known, and the collection includes many examples of Dutch, English, French, Portuguese and even Russian origin." [I located a web page with a little more information on bale seals: "Lead seals such as cloth seals and bale seals were widely used in Europe between the 13th and 19th centuries as a means of identification and as a component of regulation and quality control." Bale seals such were single disc seals, rather than two disc seals, and were also used to identify textiles, as well as parcels and bales of trade goods. The obverse would typically display a city's arms, and the reverse would record data such as the length or width of fabric or the weight of a parcel." http://www.colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk/baleseals.htm Sort of like collecting bar-code labels, only much more interesting. Here are some pages illustrating some seals: http://www.marylandarcheology.org/Arch_Month/Lead_Seals.htm http://metaldetectingworld.com/photogalary/other_finds/pages/01-Bale%20Seals.htm -Editor] ANS LIBRARY NEEDS GLENDINING SALES Also published in the May 2005 issue of the ANS E-News is this wanted item for the society Library: "Glendining & Company - Any sales for the period 1995 - and after." Please contact Librarian Frank Campbell if you can help supply this item. His email address is campbell@numismatics.org. SMALL WORLD: PIKE'S PEAK RUNNERS Susie Nulty writes: "I always enjoy The E-Sylum. It is amazing how much interesting material you include each week. And it is definitely a small world. Your Featured Web Site listing Matt Carpenter's medals was a nice surprise. After 10 years working on the Triple Crown of Running Race Committee, I have had the pleasure of speaking with and watching this astonishing fellow run and win many races. The Pikes Peak Ascent (I did it once) and Marathon are his specialties - he has run these races 16 times and holds the records - http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/records.htm. The Ascent is 13.32 miles with a 7,815 foot elevation gain to the 14,110' summit of Pikes Peak. Last year there was 6-8" of new snow on the Peak race morning and temperatures can vary 50 degrees along the route. The Marathon is the same trail up and then one runs back down to a finish totaling 26.21 miles. The 50th Anniversary of these races will be August 20 (Ascent) and 21 (Marathon). Some enter as "doublers" - they run *both* races. Carpenter has run as a doubler 3 times and in 2001 won both races on the same weekend - the only runner to ever accomplish such a feat. As I understand it, this race started with a bet among smokers." MORE ON HERMAN SILVER Nancy Oliver & Rich Kelly writes: "Concerning the recent question concerning the status of Herman Silver at the Denver Mint, we came up with the following information. In 1877, Herman Silver was the United States Registar at the United States Land Office in Denver, Colorado and Jacob F. L. Schirmer is listed as Mint Superintendent. At the end of 1877, he was appointed Assayer of what was loosely called the "Denver Mint". They made no coinage there at that time, just did assaying of precious metals, so the Assayer was basically the man in charge. Herman was sometimes referred to as Director, Superintendent, Chief Assayer, etc. of the Denver Mint during his tenure. In the 1880 U.S. census for Denver, Colorado, he is listed as "Director U.S. Mint". However, in the 1878-1881 Colorado Weekly Gazetter newspaper he is listed as "Assayer, Colorado Mint". In the 1880 Denver City Directory, Herman is listed as "Assayer in Charge, United States Mint". We hope this helps." [This has been an interesting topic. Some "facts" are very hard to pin down when there was never a consistent definition in the first place. But the accounts we've read are starting to make some sense now. Thanks! -Editor] WHO DIDN'T POSE FOR FRASER'S INDIAN? Roger deWardt Lane writes: "Steve Schor and Roger deWardt Lane, aka Mutt and Jeff in Florida, generally spend Thursday mornings visiting the largest flea market in South Florida ? Sunrise Swap Shop ? 88 acres of new and used merchandise, looking for numismatic items. Most of the time it?s exercise, sunshine and good conversation. Today Steve purchased a deal of circulation silver. Some young person had purchased Whitman blue folders in mid 60?s at thirty-two cents each (the price tag was still on some of them) and started putting aside silver they found in change. Only two buffalo nickels had dates. But of special interest was a newspaper clipping dated 1967 pasted in the nickel folder. I quote: Below two pictures - a profile head of Chief John Big Tree and a picture of the ?Indian Nickel?, today known as the classic buffalo nickel. The news clipping continues ? Nickel Model Dies Upstate Syracuse, N.Y. (AP) ? Chief John Big Tree, whose stern, sharp profile was the model for the now rare Indian head nickels, died yesterday at his home on the Onondaga Indian Reservation. Big Tree was an Iroquois and claimed to be 102 years old. Records kept by the Onondaga County Historical Assn., show him to be 92. He posed for the nickel etching in 1912. That particular nickel no longer is minted. Big Tree, whose Christian name was Isaac Johnny John, also played more than 100 minor parts in old-time cowboy and Indian movies. He often described himself as the ?best bareback rider in Hollywood? Rogers adds, ?I guess you should not completely believe everything you read in an old newspaper.? A little Internet search quotes the ANA - ?American sculptor James Earle Fraser began designing the Indian Buffalo nickel in 1911. Fraser said the portrait on the "head's" side was a composite of three American Indians - Iron Tail, Big Tree and Two Moons. He had the opportunity to study and photograph them when they stopped in New York on their way to Washington to visit President Theodore Roosevelt. By borrowing features from each individual, Fraser was able to sketch the "ideal" portrait for the nickel.? [Coincidently, on Friday evening I read the Taylor Morrison book "The Buffalo Nickel" to my sons Christopher and Tyler at bedtime. They listened attentively. Although it's a children's book, the history and numismatics is far from watered-down. In fact, it is a great capsule history of the life of James Earle Fraser, and I learned a few things myself from the book. Copies are available on the web for $10 or less, and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Fraser or his famous nickel. It's not inappropriate for a high school library despite being aimed at a younger audience, so I would nominate it for Roger's $1,000 library. Here's a web page with more information about the book: http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/4044/morrison.html -Editor] MORE ON THE KRUGERRAND BAN Regarding Myron Xenos' note on Krugerrands, Tom DeLorey writes: "Beginning in 1985 it became illegal to import Krugerrands of any date, though any coin already in the United States remained completely unrestricted. You could buy them, sell them or ship them out of the country. You simply could not import them. I have never heard that the South African government struck any back-dated Krugerrands. The Krugerrand had been created in 1967 as a vehicle to promote the sale of gold to individuals. By making them exactly one troy ounce net weight, they became much more popular than the odd weight Mexican 50 Pesos (1.2057 tr. oz.) restrikes and the Austrian/Hungarian 100 Corona/Korona (0.9802 tr. oz.) restrikes that had dominated for decades. Simply put, they eliminated the need to do math. Take 7 or 13 each of the three coins mentioned, and how much gold do you have? With Krugerrands, you knew. By 1985 gold investing by private individuals was well established. Rather than fight the U.S., South Africa simply sold its production in bar form to Australia, which sold it along with its own production in coin form as Nuggets, Kangaroos and Chinese Lunar coins. I would not be surprised it a lot of it also ended up in the Austrian Philharmonics, the Isle of Man Cats, the Gibraltar Dogs and Angels, etc., etc. I have seen it said that since the South Africans were now spared the heavy promotion costs it had put into selling the Krugerrands as a way of promoting its mining industry, the net loss to the S.A. government was less than US$1 per ounce. Gold is gold. They can sell it anywhere." THE OBVIOUS DOLLAR COIN PROBLEM Last week, Dick Johnson discussed the failure of the Sacagawea to circulate. Granvyl Hulse, Numismatics International Librarian writes: "I think that it is time someone pointed out the obvious. As long as the Federal government continues to print paper one dollar bills any dollar coin will not be used. The U.S.Mint spending $67 million to promote something that would have immediately gone into circulation when no paper dollars were available sounds like a pork barrel project combined with stupidity. Maybe it is time we hire some Canadian mint officials, and put our own out to grass." HALF DOLLAR AUCTION INFORMATION SOUGHT Bryce Brown writes: "I have a few questions for the E-Sylum readers: 1) I am trying to confirm an auction catalog listing: the Kagin's 9/11/1972 auction sale apparently contained a 1805/4 "wide date" half dollar (the variety would likely have been described as B-2C, O-8, or O-103a). What is the lot number and description of this coin? Price realized? 2) I'm trying to identify an Aubrey Bebee price list: one of his price lists of 1965 apparently contained a significant early half dollar collection. Can someone identify the date and title of this publication? Does this price list contain a 1805/4 "wide date" half dollar (H3, B-2C)? 3) The Bowers & Merena auction of the Walter Childs collection (August 30, 1999) included a 1805/4 O.103 half dollar, lot #337. Unfortunately, this coin was not plated in the standard catalog. Does a deluxe edition of the catalog exist with additional plates that show this coin? Is anyone aware if a photographic record of this coin exists elsewhere? Thanks! My email address is numismatics@att.net " W. ELLIOT WOODWARD PHOTO SOUGHT Fred Reed writes: "Woodward is a darling among numismatic bibliophiles, and a great deal of information is already in print about him and his numerous and splendid auction sales and catalogs. His life has been voluptuously treated by several writers. Woodward was a collector first and foremost, who became a premier numismatic auctioneer of the 19th Century, and yet -- so far as I know -- no genuine, verifiable image of him exists. (Now, I hope I am wrong on that and an E-Sylum reader will set me straight and come up with one.) If I'm way off base and Woodward pictures abound, mea culpa, but please throw me a lifeline here. I'm sinking for the third time, and I'd like to include such an illustration in my ongoing Bank Note Reporter series on Confederate currency collecting before I drown and too pass into oblivion. You can contact me at freed3@airmail.net. Thanks." [Does a photo of Woodward exist? I checked with two experts, and here's what they had to say. -Editor] NBS Historian Joel Orosz writes: "To the best of my knowledge, Fred is unfortunately correct. When John Adams wrote U.S. Numismatic Literature, Vol. 1 in 1982, he illustrated the chapters with line drawings of the numismatists he discussed--for everyone except Woodward. I have searched for a verifiable image of Woodward for years, but haven't found one. Heck, I haven't even found a spurious image of him. This is not to say that such an image doesn't exist. I remember that a dozen or so years ago, a genuine image of Dr. Edward Maris was unearthed for the first time (at least in numismatic circles). However, it is to say that as far as I know, no one has discovered such an image of Woodward yet." Charlie Davis writes: "When I was doing Woodward research a decade ago, I never found a photograph. I located his great granddaughter and she did not have one My hope was always that as WEW was on the Boston City Council for several years, they might have lined them all up on the State House steps and taken a group picture. But no go. He had either a lazy eye or a bad eye, and might not have wanted to stare down the blast of flash powder that would have exploded in his face during a portrait. So it is possible he never had one done." [Well, there's the challenge. Can any of the genealogical and numismatic sleuths among our readership track down a photo of W. Elliot Woodward? -Editor] EARLY LIBRARY HAZARD: WAX DRIPPINGS Dick Johnson writes: "Connecticut had a public library as early as 1771. It was formed by Richard Smith, owner of a local blast furnace, who used community contributions to buy 200 books in London. The library was "open" only one day a month, the third Monday. Fees were collected if the book was damaged. The most frequent damage was wax dripping on the pages from the candles by which the books were read. Surviving records called this "greasing." 1838 OVER 1859 DOLLAR DOCUMENTED Saul Teichman writes: "This piece might interest the eSylumites." The following text is taken from the web page: "The illustrated piece is the example of J84/P93 which is mentioned in Breen's Encyclopedia #5418 as being struck over an 1859 dollar. It was struck in die alignment III. It is described, by Breen, as being ex Louis Werner, circa 1958, A.M. Kagin and was just sent to Heritage under consignment." "It is one of several overstrikes produced circa 1859-60 which an example of an J67/P70 overstruck over an 1859 gold dollar and the famous 1851 restrike dollar overstruck on what is believed to be an 1859-O dollar to name just a few." http://uspatterns.com/uspatterns/18strucov18d.html BMC GREEK PHRYGIA PLATES ADDED TO WEB Fifty three plates from volume 25 of the British Museum Catalog of Greek Coins (Phrygia, by B. V. Head, 1906) have been posted on Ed Snible's web site: http://www.snible.org/coins/bmc/#phrygia PETROLEUM-RELATED NUMISMATICA Roger deWardt Lane, Hollywood, Florida writes: "I like to find unidentified medals, tokens, etc. and using the Internet spend hours identifying them. Sometimes the results are discussed at our local coin meetings, others are put up as pages on my web site. Well, today I found a small bag of miscellaneous medals and token one of our members had given to me recently to research. Most of them were just plain junk, but I picked out a couple to look up. One of them was a Commemorative Dollar from Halifax Nova Scotia. So far I have not found this item, but I put "Joseph Howe Festival" into the Google search engine and it took me to a different web page on petroleum-related medals, tokens, coins and banknotes. I found this specialty collection very interesting." http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/staff/scholle/petromedals.html TRACKING PRIVATE MINTS A CHORE Dick Johnson writes: "To answer Len Augsberger's inquiry about a mint in Kentucky may have been the Van Brook Mint, which wasn't a mint at all but a sales agent. They advertised in Coin World and perhaps other publications, but I believe their products were struck elsewhere. I faced a similar problem in my local coin club. A recent medal was made in a nearby town according to the club president who ordered the medal from them. I called them and began chatting with the lady in the sales department of this advertising specialty firm. "Oh, we made them," she insisted. "Great." I said, "what tonnage press did you use to strike these?" She finally admitted they had subcontracted the actual striking to Robbins Company. In the last 30 years most advertising specialty firms have offered medals and "coins" among their line of specialty items but have them made by only a handful of plants in the country with the equipment to do this special work. Unfortunately they list themselves in business directories as "Medals--Manufacturers." Also there is no law that says you cannot use "Mint" in your name -- and not be an actual manufacturer. Pete Smith, our NBS president, is compiling a list of mints which actually have striking facilities. Culling out these sales agents is a major problem he is working on." Pete Smith adds: "I have compiled a list of more than 600 private mints in North America dating from the colonial era up to the present. I show only two in Kentucky. The McHenry Miller Company was a nineteenth century mint at Louisville. Holland House is a twenty-first century mint at Bowling Green. I do not have any information on a mint at Knoxville circa 1970. This does not answer Len Augsberger's question. I can't prove there was no mint in Knoxville. I can only say that I have no listing for it." LATIN TRANSLATION WANTED Dick Hanscom of Fairbanks, Alaska writes: "Can anyone help? I would like a translation from English to Latin for the phrase "Age of Global Warming." This is for use on a proposed medallic project. Thanks. My email address is akcoins@mosquitonet.com " CONDOM TOKEN ISSUED A bashful reader writes: "The Associated Press released a story Thursday, May 5, 2005, that condoms are being distributed in areas of high HIV occurrence, notably New York City, in exchange for one cent or one token. The story did not say where they hand out the tokens but 100,000 Lifestyle brand condoms are being exchanged for the cent or token in Manhattan bars and restaurants. Ansell Healthcare Products donated the products for this campaign, called "I Know." The condoms have stickers on the wrappers which show the location of a nearby free HIV testing center. The release states: ?The condoms can be bought with a penny or with a special copper coin [read: condom token] circulated during the past few weeks by volunteers with the "I Know" campaign.? To read the full story, see: http://www3.advocate.com/news_detail.asp?id=16433 " [We have a Conder Token collecting club. Is a Condom Token club on the way? The campaign includes a web site promoting the token. See http://www.iknow.tv/ The token's primary design element is what numismatists would recognize as very similar to the "All Seeing Eye" within a triangle, much like the Great Seal of the United States seen on the back of the U.S. $1 bill. Apart from the triangle, the eye motif is also recognizable as a key design element in the Nova Constellatio colonial series. The token's obverse legend is "This coin is the key." OK, so does anyone have an example of this token yet? -Editor] FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is recommended by NBS Secretary-Treasurer David Sundman. It is part of the U.S. Treasury web site, and features the nation's branch mint buildings. http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/management/curator/exhibitions/mintbldgs/ 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 Mon May 16 00:15:06 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Mon May 16 00:16:31 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#20, May 15, 2005 Message-ID: <42881E4A.1050703@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 20, May 15, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATE Among our recent subscribers are Werner Freyst?tter, Andrew McIntyre, Woody Harter, Marc Breitsprecher and Timothy Cook. Welcome aboard! We now have 755 subscribers. SUBSCRIBER PROFILE: WERNER FREYST?TTER Our first new subscriber writes: "My name is Werner Freyst?tter and I live in Helsinki, Finland. My interests are: A) German paper money & literature, Finnish and Russian numismatic literature. B) Any literature on Notgeld - i.e. emergency paper money, scrips etc. - (in the languages of English, French and German) - Yet I make exceptions for outstanding works in any other languages as long as they come with a decent set of illustrations. I can help other collectors to source German and Finnish literature. Please note that I am a private collector and not a dealer." [Werner's subscription brought our subscriber count to 750! We've come a long way since the initial list of 49 current and former NBS members we started with on September 4, 1998. Although the majority of our subscribers are from the U.S., we've had an international distribution from the beginning, with early subscribers coming from Italy, Poland, and the Russian Federation. I enjoy receiving your submissions and piecing together each week's issue. Keep those emails coming! -Editor] NBS EVENTS AT THE UPCOMING ANA CONVENTION Numismatic Bibliomania Society President Pete Smith writes: Tentative plans have been made for NBS events at the American Numismatic Association convention in San Francisco. Our numismatic literature symposium will be at 1:00 PM on Thursday, July 28. Scheduled speakers are Rich Kelly and Nancy Oliver who wrote "A Mighty Fortress" about the San Francisco Mint and a more recent book about coiner Joseph Harmstead. Our NBS membership meeting will be Friday, July 29, at 11:30 AM. We expect to have reports from officers and a benefit auction of donated literature. ANA Librarian Nancy Green will also speak about recent developments at the ANA library." LAKE BOOKS SALE #79 PRICES REALIZED AVAILABLE Fred Lake writes: "The prices realized list for our sale #79 which closed on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 is now available for viewing on our web site at: http://www.lakebooks.com/archive.html Please scroll down to sale #79 (or use the "2005" button) and you will see the two choices for viewing the list. We are a bit later than usual in posting the results due to a very heavy deluge of last-minute bidders. Our next sale will be held in early July and will be posted to our web site in early June." MINT DIRECTOR MOVING ON? The White House issued the following announcement on May 10th: " The President intends to nominate Henrietta Holsman Fore, of Nevada, to be Under Secretary of State for Management. She currently serves as the 37th Director of the United States Mint. Director Fore previously served as Chairman and President of Stockton Products. Earlier in her career, she worked at the United States Agency for International Development as Assistant Administrator for Asia and as Assistant Administrator for Private Enterprise. Director Fore earned her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College and her master's degree from the University of Northern Colorado." To read the full press release, see: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/05/20050510-3.html [So... who will be the NEXT Mint Director? -Editor] PLANET COLLECTOR PUBLISHER IN LEGAL BATTLES In our April 24, 2005 issue (v8n17) I mentioned receiving copies of a magazine called Planet Collector, a glossy publication showcasing many different collectible fields. The latest issue of the Maine Antique Digest has an article about lawsuits the publisher is involved in. "Last December, Sotheby?s filed a lawsuit against Jordan Wright, publisher of Planet Collector, a collecting magazine started in June 2004, over a confidential list of 21,000 clients that Sotheby?s claims Wright sold to Heritage Galleries and Auctioneers, the Dallas coin and collectibles auction house." "In a counterclaim filed May 10, Wright offered an explanation for how he came by the list and countersued Sotheby?s for making false and defamatory statements about Wright and his magazine. Wright claims his possession of the list is a result of the consignment to Sotheby?s of a $200,000 Batman collection." To read the full story, see: http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/articles/jun05/planet0605.htm A web search turned up another reference to the lawsuits in The New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/42832.htm [The first article states that Heritage has subsequently purged the disputed mailing list. The whole affair sounds pretty batty, but does begin to explain how the magazine began showing up unsolicited in collector mailboxes, although I don't think I'm on any Sotheby's list. Perhaps other lists were used as well. It might be a fun exercise to use different names and initials for every publication and membership in order to be able to track subsequent uses of a mailing address, but I've never been so curious as to bother. Have any of our readers tried that? Have any of you gotten an unsolicited Planet Collector mailing? -Editor] EURO COIN REDESIGN On May 13, 2005, The Associated Press published a story about plans to redesign the Euro coinage. "The European Union will redesign the euro coins to reflect the bloc's massive eastward expansion last year when it absorbed 10 nations that are not depicted on the map of Europe shown on the current coins. Euro notes show a map of the 25-nation EU, but coins only the 15 nations that formed the bloc up to May 1, 2004, when Cyprus, Malta and eight East European nations joined. The EU finance ministers agreed future coins should either show a larger Europe or another common symbol reflecting a bigger EU." "Officials gave no date for the introduction of the new-look euro coins." To read the full story, see: http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2005/05/13/ap2027062.html KITTANNING MEDAL OBSERVATIONS Regarding my discussion of the Kittanning medal displayed at a new exhibit at the Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, John Kraljevich writes: "The Kittanning Medal at the new museum was Hugh Mercer's specimen and is apparently owned by the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia. I think this is the first time anyone has really taken numismatic note of it. There was one in the LaRiviere collection that is now at Colonial Williamsburg. The two from Garrett are now in the Ford collection and a private New England collection. I'm not sure where the others are, but I could probably hazard a few guesses. The Kittanning medal is very important as an American-made military honor and the first medal struck in America (first medal dies made in America too, for that matter). The article calls them cast, though they are actually struck, and the originals were all silver, though white metal and copper restrikes exist. The Mercer medal is the only awarded one I know of, as the two Garrett pieces and the LaRiviere piece don't look like they were ever worn. I'm looking forward to seeing the write-up on the one Ford has -- or maybe he has more than just the Garrett specimen? Anyone know?" MEDALS IN THE CLASH OF EMPIRES EXHIBIT In response to my query, David F. Halaas, Ph.D, Director of Library & Archives/Publications at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center writes: "There are 18 medals in Clash of Empires: Peace Medal, early 18th century, Ft. Ticonderoga ?Reign of Louis XV,? Library and Archives, Canada Unidentified Friendly Association Peace Medal, 1757, Historical Society of PA Kittanning Medal, 1757, City of Fredericksburg Medal by David Fueter, 1761, Library and Archives, Canada ?British Commanders, 1759, private Belle Isle Taken, 1761, private Quebec Taken, 1759, McCord Museum Halfpenny with trophy of arms & thistle, private Victories of the Year, 1759, private Victories of the Year, 1758, private Louisbourg Taken, 1758, private ? ? , 1758, private Peace Medal, 1764, Library and Archives, Canada Order of Saint Louis 1775, McCord Museum Cumberland Society, 1746, private Loyal and Friendly Society of the Blew and Orange, 1727-60, private " FRASER'S AMERICAN INDIAN MODELS Roger Burdette writes: "Regarding comments about the models for the native American on the Buffalo nickel, Fraser's list of models varied somewhat over the years, as did his recollection of many events. The earliest directly nickel-related sculpting was in 1910 when Fraser produced a portrait bust that closely resembles several versions of the nickel portrait. Nearly all of Fraser's design work on the nickel was completed in September 1911. Minor refinements led to what was supposed to be the final models in August 1912. Had it not been for Clarence Hobbs and associates, the new nickel might have been dated 1912. (However, then we would have no 1913 Liberty nickels to obsess about!) As with any coinage portrait, Fraser's native American is a composite of several individuals plus the artist's idealizations. Readers may also be interested to know that Bela Pratt's native American on the $5 gold coin of 1908 was done from a photograph, not a living model, and was significantly modified by mint Engraver Charles Barber with approval from Mint Director Leach." [Hobbs Manufacturing, a producer of slot machines, protested the proposed nickel's high relief, delaying the introduction of the coin. -Editor] BUFFALO NICKEL BOOK A SURPRISING TREASURE Dick Johnson writes: "I would like to echo editor Wayne Homren?s glowing praise of Taylor Morrison?s book, "The Buffalo Nickel." Even if you do not have young children to give or read this book to, get it for yourself. The author is an extremely gifted painter AND author. What?s better, he is a diligent researcher. He had contacted me early in his project and we met in New York City early in his research activities. I had directed him to the National Sculpture Society (for data on Fraser) and the American Numismatic Society (for data on the nickel). Later he went to Washington, DC, for further digging at the Smithsonian and the U.S. Mint. He is that thorough! He gets his facts straight and his resulting text and illustrations ? which he paints himself ? are meticulously accurate based on all his research! He boils down the story -- which he writes himself -- and chooses illustrations that are dramatic snapshots of the events that best reveal the story. This book has only 32 pages, but has 48 illustrations and more facts on how the nickel was created than any numismatic book. And believe me, his facts are accurate. It is not based on the tales you hear at the local coin club or coin show. If you are thinking "I wouldn?t put a juvenile book in my library!" don?t shortchange yourself. This book is worth ten times its retail price. In fact, I donated a double signed copy -- with the author?s pen & ink drawing of a buffalo above his autograph -- for Kolbe?s auction benefiting the ANS and some lucky buyer paid $86 for that lot. Here?s what I penned on the same page above my signature: "It was a delight working with Taylor Morrison on this book project. He is a talented author / artist! Best of all, he got the technology correct for James Earle Fraser?s modeling, the die making, and the striking of the Buffalo Nickel." The painting of the U.S. Mint building in Philadelphia (the one at 16th & Spring Garden Street), page 24, was based on a drawing I furnished Taylor. In return he sent me an enlarged painting of that same drawing. That?s a keeper and adorns my library wall. Booklovers may also find Taylor Morrison?s previous book ? "Civil War Artist" -- of interest. It dramatically illustrates how printers? plates were made of wood before photoengraving and metal plates were used. Get both books. Enjoy!" [I had already searched for other titles by Taylor Morrison, and they are already on my want list for my kids. I would also like to thank the American Numismatic Association, for stocking the book in their shop. I discovered it on my visit to ANA headquarters last year, and might not have been aware of its existence otherwise. -Editor] WOODWARD PHOTO STILL UNFOUND David F. Fanning, Editor-in-Chief of our print journal, The Asylum, writes: "Regarding the existence of a photo of W.E. Woodward, unfortunately all I can do is add that I have also been unable to find one. I was in touch with WEW's great-great-grandson, Steve Levine, who has published an online biography of Woodward at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/2594/woodward/wewoodwardbiography.html, and he has never seen one in his family's possession. Charlie Davis may well be correct about the reason behind this, since it is odd that so prominent a citizen didn't have a portrait done." PETROLEUM AS A COLLECTING TOPIC Dick Johnson writes: "Roger de Wardt Lane?s item in last week?s E-Sylum on petroleum brought memories flooding my mind. He is to be thanked for bringing that fantastic petroleum topic website to notice. When I first started collecting numismatic books, I visited a lot of used bookstores in my native Kansas City. I noted every one of them had a shelf or so reserved for "cattle" or similar topic. "They appeal to big ticket buyers," said one of the booksellers when questioned. Of course! Kansas City was a hub of the beef industry. A lot of locals became wealthy in the cattle industry. And what do they collect? They collect what they know. Ergo. A thousand dollar pamphlet published in 1880s on cattle raising! I never forgot that observation. Later, when I became a medal dealer, I couldn?t find much on cattle raising, but my second thought was oil. There are a lot of wealthy oil men. Perhaps I could find a market for petroleum medals and tokens. So I began setting aside any such petroleum item that came through our medal dealing. Perhaps Harry Bass came to my mind first as a prospect. He had been a house guest for three days once when he wanted to examine my numismatic library. Later my partner, Chris Jensen, and I assembled a complete set of medals issued by the American Numismatic Society. Harry had recently been named president of ANS. We dragged that collection to a Houston ANA convention one year with the intent to show it to Harry. My best sales pitch "As President of ANS you should have a complete collection of every medal they made." Harry looked at perhaps two medals. "Ship it to my office with an invoice." Two sentences for a gigantic sale. Contrast that with a half hour discussion with a hesitant collector for a $10 purchase. Harry was accustomed to buying early U.S. gold. I did not see him buying a Sunoco token. However a well-built, ready-made collection of medals and other numismatic items of petroleum topic might have appealed to him. Or, if not him, perhaps someone else in the oil business. My hoarded collection of petroleum items never grew large. So we never placed it on the market. (It resides, probably, in a never-opened wooden box of unsold items from my medal dealing days. If I don?t get around to selling these in the next couple of decades, watch for my estate sale.) Anyway, thanks Roger. You brought back a lot of fond memories. And that?s a great website!" AMERICAN STATE PAPERS ONLINE Paul Hybert writes: "The Library of Congress has placed images of all pages of the "American State Papers" volumes at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsplink.html Although the text is not searchable, the pages can be read or saved locally. They also have a searchable index for each of the volumes. [This should be a handy resource for researchers interested in early U.S. and colonial coinage. -Editor] MORE ON MUSCALUS PUBLICATIONS David Gladfelter writes: "Dr. Muscalus (as the "Historical Paper Money Research Institute") issued a list of his own publications in print, also with 80 titles although numbered differently from the Katen list and without the last 4 works cited by Katen. On this list a number of the early works are omitted, probably indicating that they were then out of print. Four of these omitted works must not be on the Katen list. Muscalus wrote 10 articles published in periodicals that are listed in Clain-Stefanelli but not in Katen. They are C-S # 13547, 13591-97, 13356, 13377 & 13378. " In the late 1960s-early 1970s Dr. Muscalus had a used book store in Trenton called "Acres of Books" on either Lafayette Street or the next street up from Lafayette before you get to State Street. Later it moved up to State Street in the downtown mall area. Dr. Muscalus hung out in the store and would know where to find any book you might ask for. He never seemed to have much on New Jersey history. If memory serves he was then on the faculty of Mercer County Community College. I'm sure he stocked his own publications but I didn't ask him for any. " Fred Lake writes: "I have copies of the listing of Dr. Muscalus's works done by Frank Katen. I will be happy to mail a copy to anyone who will send me a SASE. The "K" numbers are quite useful. My address follows. Fred Lake Lake Books 6822 22nd Ave N St. Petersburg, FL 33710" [Thanks, Fred! -Editor] SAY IT ISN?T TRUE! A LIBRARY WITHOUT BOOKS! Dick Johnson writes: "The New York Times ran an article Saturday, May 14, 2005, that a University of Texas library is dispersing all its books to be replaced by computer modules. Will the digital age replace more libraries? Only dictionaries and certain reference books remain as books. Otherwise its "software suites" on four floors of this undergraduate university library. Students are going to learn Google and not the pleasure of opening a sheaf of bound pages and feel the heft of the author?s words between cloth-bound covers. The smell of paper. The images of sharp type on printed pages and illustrations in original printing. Pixels instead of pictures. Read this article by Ralph Blumenthal only if you have a strong constitution." [Joel Orosz also forwarded the article, noting, "For now, the books are being moved, but since out of sight is out of mind, it is only a matter of time before they will begin to discard them. This is chilling." Some excerpts follow -Editor] "Students attending the University of Texas at Austin will find something missing from the undergraduate library this fall. Books. By mid-July, the university says, almost all of the library's 90,000 volumes will be dispersed to other university collections to clear space for a 24-hour electronic information commons, a fast-spreading phenomenon that is transforming research and study on campuses around the country." "Such digital learning laboratories, staffed with Internet-expert librarians, teachers and technicians, have been advancing on traditional college libraries since appearing at the University of Southern California in 1994. As more texts become accessible online, libraries have been moving lesser-used materials to storage. But experts said it was symbolic for a top educational institution like Texas to empty a library of books." "Significantly, librarians are big supporters of the trend. "There's a real transition going on," said Sarah Thomas, past president of the Association of Research Libraries and the librarian at the Cornell University Library in Ithaca, N.Y. "This is not to say you don't have paper or books. Of course, they're sacred. But more and more we're delivering material to the user as opposed to the user coming into the library to get it." To read the full article, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/education/14library.html BILKED BANKER TWISTS THUMBS The following story from the Daily Herald of central Utah has only a tenuous numismatic connection, E-Sylum readers love history and a good tale of treachery, so here are a few excerpts: "On the morning of April 21, 1891, Nephi banker Charles C. Whitmore put up $6,000 as security for a share in a Mexican gold mine. He also promised to sell two gold ingots produced by that mine to the U.S. Mint. Whitmore received a severe shock later that day. He learned the ingots were really copper, and the people who had taken his money had left town. People from all over the territory wondered how the flimflammers had duped the wealthy banker. They reached a consensus of opinion -- sometime before the jeweler tested the metal, the swindler switched, by slight of hand, the packet carrying the copper filings with one containing gold. Hell hath no fury to match that of a bilked banker. With frenetic fortitude, Whitmore pursued the men who had bamboozled him. He promised Provo lawmen a liberal reward if they captured the mysterious Mexican and his two cronies." "Early on the morning of April 22 while the exciting news of the gold brick scam was still spreading through Utah, Rio Grande Western Agent D.S. Taggart saw the same red-nosed gambler who had come into town the previous day. The man appeared to come to the train from a saloon on the south side of the tracks, and he boarded the late night train bound for Salt Lake City from the south side. Most passengers boarded from the north." "Whitmore claimed he recognized the Mexican and notified the train's conductor that the man they wanted was on board. Then he pointed the man out to Hill and ordered the officer to make the arrest." "Provo's Enquirer wrote that the jailer put the suspect in a cell "at an hour when graveyards are said to yawn," and admitted Hill and Whitmore before going about his early morning business. The Salt Lake Tribune printed a sensational article describing its version of what happened after the jailer left. The newspaper claimed Whitmore was worked up to a frenzy by "alcoholic liquifacations" and was determined to wring a confession out of the suspect whose real name was found to be William Leonard. According to an inmate in a nearby cell, Whitmore swore at the man he interrogated and repeatedly yelled, "You have got to confess!" When this method brought no admission of guilt, Whitmore resorted to the "Siberian torture." He pulled out a rawhide thong and a metal bolt. The banker turned master of the Spanish Inquisition wrapped the thong around Leonard's thumbs and used the bolt to twist the rawhide tighter and tighter until the prisoner screamed and yelled, "Stop it! Stop it!" The Tribune claimed the jailbird didn't sing "until the blood bursted from under the nails." Leonard confessed to the crime, but he refused to say what he had done with his share of the money until Whitmore produced the leather thong and bolt once more. Just seeing the instruments of torture induced Leonard to reveal that he had sewn the money in the lining of his coat. Whereupon Whitmore ripped loose the lining and removed seven $100 bills. The jailer, who had heard yelling and screaming, returned at that point and compelled Whitmore to leave the cell. " To read the full story, see: http://tinyurl.com/b3b2d ANOTHER ROMAN COIN HOARD FOUND Forwarding an article discussed in The Explorator newsletter, Arthur Shipee writes: "Another Roman coin hoard has been found by some UK metal detectorists: "For nearly 2,000 years a treasure trove of Roman coins lay hidden just below the surface of an Ipswich field. But today around 1,000 coins are being examined at the British Museum after being unearthed by two metal detecting enthusiasts. After Suffolk had thundered to the sound of the Roman legions, the coins lay undisturbed through two world wars, invasions of the Saxons and Vikings and the reigns of numerous kings and queens. And all it took to unearth them was two men from Chantry with a metal detector. Rick Talman and Chris Roper could not believe their eyes when they uncovered more than one thousand of the bronze and silver coins in a field just outside the town." To read the full story, see: http://tinyurl.com/btkok NEW HAMPSHIRE LOSING TURNPIKE TOKENS Dick Johnson writes: "New Englanders will want to get a souvenir token from the New Hampshire Turnpike soon. They will shortly eliminate tokens and replace collection booths with EZ-Pass lanes. And what happens to all those old tokens? Rich Hartzog buys ?em up. Here?s the story (but not part about Rich Hartzog -- I added that):" [Here's an excerpt from the article: "Executive Councilor Ruth Griffin of Portsmouth is pretty sure she?ll vote to get rid of tokens on the turnpike system next week, in exchange for a 30 percent discount to drivers using the proposed E-ZPass system. She predicted the Senate would soon copy the House and abolish tokens, along with the 50 percent discount for drivers using them." -Editor] To read the full article, see: http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/05112005/news/41671.htm " DOLLAR COIN PROBLEM: CONGRESS Regarding the problem with dollar coins not circulating in the U.S., David Gladfelter writes: ""It's the Congress, stupid." Don't blame the Mint for failure of the "Cagi" to circulate. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, directed in the legislation authorizing the Sacagawea dollar that "[n]othing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to evidence any intention to eliminate or to limit the printing or circulation of United States currency in the $1 denomination." Public Law 105-124, ? 5. (A victory for the B. E. P. lobby?) The Mint's Office of Public Affairs undertook a fairly extensive publicity campaign for this new coin. See U. S. Mint, Dollar Coin Program Information Kit. Repeal ? 5 of the United States Dollar Coin Act of 1997 and we will have circulating dollar coins in out country." I hadn't heard the term "Cagi" before. David writes: "It's just a name that is short for Sacagawea. I always carry at least one "Cagi" and, like Johnny Appleseed of old, look for opportunities to put it into circulation." MORE ON THIBODEAU'S NONEY MONEY On May 9th the Providence Journal published a lengthy article about "noney," a currency created by Rhode Island artist Alec Thibodeau. We first discussed this in The E-Sylum for April 10, 2005 (v8n15). here are some excerpts: "The 32-year-old Providence man is standing on the other side of the counter at CVS. He has just put down a twin-pack of indelible markers ($2.19), then handed the cashier a cheerful yellow-and-violet piece of paper. It appears to be the currency of some obscure country, depicting a happy young man named Ryan, a penguin and a cucumber. Call it funny money. But Thibodeau's not laughing. So for a few suspenseful seconds, the cashier searches his face for telltale signs of joking. "It's a kind of art currency," he says. He explains. He's an artist. This is his art. Would she trade a couple markers for it? "I can't take that," she says. The deal dies. Thibodeau leaves. He's pleased, though. He wasn't that interested in buying indelible ink anyway. He has other markers. Thibodeau's more interested in engaging unsuspecting people in thoughts of art, specifically placing value on it. "Some people get it right away," Thibodeau says. "Some people react hostilely. But they are reacting. That's what art is supposed to be about." "On Noney.com, you can read stories of where Thibodeau's art currency has surfaced around the world, and what people have traded for it." "The concept's not new. "Jackson Pollock paid bar tabs with paintings," Thibodeau says. "Picasso would write checks and then draw on them, knowing the drawing would prevent people from cashing the check. The doodle would be worth hundreds of dollars, and no money was ever withdrawn from his checking account." "Thibodeau copes. However, he'd rather not have to. The tradition of posthumously priceless art isn't popular with artists. "Art is one of those professions where you're economically better off dead," he says. "I'd like to get more immediate value from my art." http://www.projo.com/art/content/projo_20050509_noney9.20afa88.html KEN SMALTZ FEATURED IN NEWSDAY In The E-Sylum: April 10, 2005 (v8n15) we discussed some publicity for Ken Smaltz, owner of K. Smaltz, Inc. which he claimed to be the first African American-owned coin dealership in the United States. On May 13, 2005, Newsday featured an article on Smaltz. "New customers often do double takes when they meet Kenneth Smaltz Jr., a rare-coin dealer in Garden City. That's because Smaltz himself is a rarity in the industry: He's an African-American who owns a rare-coin business. "It's always in the back of your mind that when you meet someone of another ethnicity, that they might have second thoughts about me being African-American," said Smaltz, who owns the 8-year-old K. Smaltz Inc." "What the Jamaica, Queens, native does is buy and sell rare coins in a $3-billion to $5-billion industry, whose players run the gamut from individual dealers to long-established businesses such as Stack's, a Manhattan company that is the country's oldest rare-coin dealer. The businesses are overwhelmingly white, as are the majority of the customers, who include captains of industry and celebrities. Although the rare-coin industry has many black salesmen, encountering a black business owner is uncommon, experts said. At national shows, which dealers rely on significantly for buying and selling, you don't see many African- Americans or many women, except for spouses, said Beth Deisher, editor of CoinWorld, a weekly trade newspaper in Sidney, Ohio. But, she added, "That is changing." To read the full story, see: http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzrare134256652may13,0,6909879.story CURRENCY CONVERTER John and Nancy Wilson of Ocala, FL write: "We find this one of the best universal currency converters on the Internet. It is free to everyone. Please pass this great site onto the readers of the E-sylum: http://www.xe.com/ucc/ [I've used this myself in the past, and it comes in handy when buying or bidding on numismatic items in other countries. Another one is http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic -Editor] FROM THE MAILBAG In no particular order, here are some items of possible interest to bibliophiles and researchers gleaned from other recent publications. BANK BAGS OFFERED: In the past we've discussed various types of numismatic-related ephemera, and one was the collecting of canvas coin bags imprinted by banks and mints. (See The E-Sylum June 29 & July 6, 2003, v6n26 & v6n27). The upcoming May 21, 2005 sale by Craig A. Whitford Numismatic Auctions includes 10 lots containing a total of over 175 individual bags. INTERNATIONAL ENGRAVER'S LINE The May/June 2005 issue of Paper Money, the official journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors has an article (p228) about Gene Hessler's upcoming new book, The International Engraver's Line. The book will be a "392-page compilation of the lives and work of world security engravers from the 1700s to the issuance of the Euro." Most of the 700 illustrations will be in color. The book will be produced in a limited edition of 500 copies. In addition, "there will be a premium edition of 100 copies that is accompanied by eleven engraved works, ten of them signed by individual engravers.... Prices have not been announced. For further information contact the author at engraversline@aol.com." CANADIAN CARD MONEY RESEARCH COMPENDIUM In the April 10, 2005 issue of The E-Sylum (v8n15) our Featured Web Site was the Canadian Association of Token Collectors, publishers of Numismatica Canada. The March 2005 issue of the journal has a lengthy article by Wayne L. Jacobs titled "The Saga of the Playing Card Money of New France." The article is a one-stop compendium of the most important published information on the topic, compiled from multiple sources. 1856 SAN FRANCISCO MINT ARTICLE The Spring 2005 issue of the Brasher Bulletin, newsletter of the Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatists (v17n1) includes a reprint of an illustrated article titled "Coining Money at the San Francicso Branch Mint," reprinted from Hutchings' California Magazine, Vol 1, No. IV, October 1856. Here's a short excerpt: "On the pavement in front stands a number of odd looking square boxes containing bottles with glass necks rising above the top and in which are the various kinds of acid used in the manufacture of gold and silver coin within. In the street can be seen drays and wagons with men unloading supplies of various kinds for the Mint; express wagons with packages of the precious metal from all parts of the mines; men going up with carpet sacks hanging heavily on their hand all desirous of having their gold dust converted into coin." JOHN J. FORD REFERENCE LIBRARY, PART II George Kolbe's catalogue of the second part of the Ford library has some wonderful introductory essays by Jon Hanson and Q. David Bowers. Interesting reading! RIDDELL SCRIP IN MAY 26 FORD SALE We've discussed research relating for John Leonard Riddell, head of the New Orleans Mint and recipient of one of the four original Confederate Half Dollars. The upcoming Stack's auction, part X of the John J. Ford Jr., collection, includes a selection of "Historic and Unusual Cardboard 'Chits' from the New Orleans Post Office, issued and signed by Riddell when he held the position of New Orleans Postmaster from 1859 through the Confederate occupation of the city (see lots 4227-4235). COINAGE ARTICLE ON ALEXANDRE VATTEMARE I've noted in the past that numismatists are missing something if they overlook COINage magazine. The June 2005 issue is proof of that, in the form of David T. Alexander's article, "Alexandre Vattemare: Numismatic Magician and Bibliophile." It's a fascinating article based on recently discovered materials about this "former soldier and ventriloquist who went on to become an acclaimed bibliophile, numismatist and international cultural ambassador of the 19th century." In 1861 Vattemare authored "Collection des Monnaies et des Medailles de l'Amerique du Nord 1652-1858, Offerte a la Biblioteque Imperiale" (My loose translation: "Collection of the Monies of North America 1652-1858 of the Biblioteque Nationale") COMMEMORATIVE COUNTY COINS COMING! David Fanning noted the following story at The Onion, the satirical Internet newspaper: "Following the success of its 50 State Quarters program? deemed one of the most popular commemorative-coin programs in American history?the U.S. Mint announced its next ambitious project: releasing a unique penny for every county in the nation. "Located in the first state in the union, Delaware's Kent County will be the first county honored in this grand celebration of America," U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore said Monday. "But over the coming years, citizens all across the nation will see the best aspects of their own counties celebrated on the obverse side of a penny. Collecting all 3,143 county pennies will be a fun activity your family will enjoy for generations." Starting in 2006, the U.S. Mint will release five new pennies per year for the next 629 years. While the process will be a long one, residents of the nation's 3,143 counties and county equivalents have already begun debating how their regions should be depicted." "The U.S. Mint has designed a folder for collecting and displaying the county pennies. The cardboard murals, measuring 8 feet by 35 feet, will be available at most Walgreens stores, or directly from the Mint by mail for $4.95 plus $179 for postage and handling." To read the full story, see: http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4118&n=3 FEATURED WEB PAGE This week's featured web page is a 17-page article about Alexandre Vattemare by Suzanne Nash of Princeton University "The extraordinary life of Nicolas-Marie-Alexandre Vattemare (1796-1864), known today by a handful of bibliographers as the founder of the American Collection at the Biblioth?que Administrative de la Ville de Paris and for his role in the creation of the Boston Public Library, deserves to be told, not only as a revealing page in the history of Franco-American relations, but as a window onto the rapidly changing cultural history of nineteenth-century France." "The tragi-comic events of his peripatetic life are the material for a Bildungsroman worthy of Stendhal, Dickens, and, ultimately of Flaubert, reflecting in their protagonist?s achievements and failures the powerful social, economic and political changes that underlay opportunities for individual advancement after the French Revolution. Actor, publicist, entrepreneur, collector, philanthropist, and writer, Vattemare was, in many respects, a distorting mirror of the Enlightenment idealism which a progressivist middle class, bent on self- advancement, liked to see in itself. Its reflection in Vattemare was ultimately too much of a caricature, too ambitious, in short, too quixotic to be acceptable by the official representatives of the social order." http://www.sdn.ac.uk/dixneuf/september04/nash/vattemare.pdf The Boston Public Library web site has a photo of Vattamere here: http://www.bpl.org/guides/founders.htm 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 May 22 20:42:29 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Sun May 22 20:44:02 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#21, May 22, 2005 Message-ID: <429126F5.8080009@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 21, May 22, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. AMERICAN STATE PAPERS "OVERWHELMING" Last week I noted that the Library of Congress has placed images of all pages of the "American State Papers" volumes at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsplink.html In the Colonial Numismatics mailing list, Phil Mossman noted that the "item appeared in this week's E-Sylum and is of great importance to researchers. When I wrote my book, I had access to the actual books which I pawed through cover to cover. Now it is on line." Roger Moore replied: "I went to the site and was overwhelmed. I will need to digest this for weeks. I like the search engine feature "coinage", "counterfeit", etc. give a lot of interesting references." [Mossman wrote "Money of the American Colonies and Confederation: A Numismatic. Economic & Historical Correlation" in 1993. -Editor] BINION SILVER DOLLAR CASE CONTINUES The saga of the Binion hoard of silver dollars continues (see the October 3, 2004 E-Sylum, v7n40), as shown by this May 16th Court TV article from Las Vegas: "On Sunday, this city celebrated its hundred-year anniversary, and it might see another centennial before there is an end to the legal wrangling in the cases of Sandra Murphy and Rick Tabish. Six months after the pair was acquitted of murdering casino mogul Ted Binion, but convicted of theft, his estate has entered the fray in an attempt to reclaim the thousands of dollars of antique silver coins used as evidence in the trials. In a twist so unusual it could only happen in "Binion," as the case is known here, Dennis Rehbein, the man to whom Rick Tabish gave the coins as collateral for a $25,000 loan, wants the silver back. Binion's estate won a minor victory Monday morning when Judge Joseph Bonaventure allowed the more than 100 pounds of antique silver coins and Horseshoe Casino gaming pieces to be released from an evidence vault in the Clark County Courthouse, where it has gathered dust for about five years. The collection will be handed over to the estate so its value can be assessed." To read the full story, see http://courttv.com/trials/binion/051605_ctv.html The coins in question are not part of the hoard which had been sold previously: http://www.binioncollection.com/BinionCoins.htm ANA BADGE, MEDAL INFORMATION SOUGHT Richard Crosby writes: "I collect American Numismatic Association medals and am seeking additional information on the Convention badges & medals and the 2 or 3 piece medal sets issued in the last 25 years. I'm interested in obtaining the mintage records, maker, designer, etc. I'm also seeking information on ANA Ladies' Convention badges issued from 1970 thru 1982. Please correspond by email to rjcrosby@zbzoom.net Thanks." [Former ANA Historian N. Neil Harris published a catalog of ANA convention badges and medals in The Numismatist from January 1970 through December 1973. In the December 1979 issue he published a supplement updating the catalog through 1979 and again in December 1989. Numismatist Editor Barbara Gregory wrote the last update in the December 1999 issue. ANA Historian David Sklow has done extensive research on the medals and badges and has published information on them in his regular "Historian's Diary" column in the same publication. Contemporary issues of the Numismatist are of course, good starting points for research, since medal and badge order forms are published in advance of each convention, along with information on the designer." David adds: "The Ladies' badges were issued from 1969 to 1982, the large table medals (57mm & 63mm) were first issued in 1979." -Editor] INTERNATIONAL MONETARY PATTERN INFO SOUGHT David Cassel writes: "Please ask if Jan Moens of Belgium would respond to us concerning his comments in E-Sylum v4#07, February 11, 2001 in response to Andy Lustig's question concerning patterns made as a result of the International Monetary Conference of 1867: What source(s) support his statements, as follows: "1) As far as I know, the only countries that have made patterns are France, Great Britain, and the US...." 2) The French patterns of 25 Francs = 10 Florins and 25 Francs = 5 Dollars were originally struck on the initiative of M. de Parieu, president of the conference of 1867 (and also of the Conference of the Latin Monetary Union of 1865). He first had 15 pieces struck of the 10 Florins pattern, of which six were given to the French imperial family. Then he had 15 pieces struck of the five dollars pattern of which some (6?) were also given to the French imperial family. In the years 1870-1872, another 20 pieces (probably 10 pieces of each type) were restruck by the Paris Mint with the approval of the Minister of Finance, in order to satisfy the wishes of several collectors...." Also, does Jan Moens or anyone else have mintage information of the French pattern One Franc = Ten Pence pattern coin VG 3704 (VG = "Monnaies Francaises * Colonies 1670 -1942 * M?tropole 1774 - 1942" Published Versailles, 1942 by Victor Guilloteau.) Please also cite any recent sales if known. Thank you." J.T. STANTON SOUGHT Carl Honore writes: "I would like to get in touch with J.T. Stanton regarding a numismatic publishing project we worked on before he exited the publishing business. I can be reached at this address: chonor_57@msn.com Thank you." KITTANNING ARTICLE AND NUMISMATIC SCRAPBOOK Dave Ginsburg writes: "I'm pleased to be able to say that a week ago I arrived at a small local coin show early enough to relieve a fellow (but older) numismatist of a box of 115 issues of The Numismatic Scrapbook for a fairly nominal sum. There are a few copies from the '40s, but most of them are from the late-50s, mid-60s and mid-70s. I've only started to go through them, but one relevant item came to my attention: a three-page article in the July 25, 1966 issue by R.J. Hudson, MD on the Kittanning Medal. He describes the battle in some detail and then describes and comments on the medal. He states that the original medal is known in silver, pewter and copper; that the United States Mint Kittanning Medal is known in bronze; that there are some counterfeits known in lead and that there were a few medals in copper struck after the dies cracked that show the impression of the broken die "beautifully." He says that according to the Pennsylvania Historical Society, the silver medals were presented to Lt. Col Armstrong and his commissioned officers, while Dr. Hudson believes that the copper and pewter medals were awarded to the non-commissioned officers and enlisted men. This is my first experience with The Numismatic Scrapbook and I'm both surprised and pleased at the breadth of scholarship in its pages. I'm really looking forward to reading my copies! (On a side note, in a recent conversation, bookseller John Burns assured me that he has "tons" of copies of the Scrapbook for sale, should I wish to fill in any holes in my new holdings!)" ["Doc" Hudson was a member of my local club, the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society, although I never had the chance to meet him. Exonumia trivia: Hudson had a personal token made (in the 1960s or early 70s, I believe) which exists in two varieties - on the first his nickname was misspelled "Dock" -Editor] MORE PRESS ON OHIO COIN FUND The Toledo Blade continued its coverage of the State of Ohio's rare coin investments with an article published May 20, 2005: "A Colorado coin dealer used insider information to skim profits from Tom Noe?s $50 million state-funded coin venture, recently released records from the Ohio Bureau of Workers? Compensation show. An October, 2004, memo states that early last year Mr. Noe ?became aware of possible fraudulent activities? by Michael Storeim, the former manager of Numismatic Professionals, the Colorado-based subsidiary set up by Mr. Noe to buy and sell rare coins for the state. James McLean, the bureau?s chief investment officer, wrote in the memo that Mr. Storeim bought state-owned coins and sold them at a profit for himself. State records show that bureau officials failed to heed warnings from their own auditor almost five years ago about the potential for insider trading within the Noe rare-coin funds." "The Ohio inspector general and several other state agencies are investigating the bureau?s rare-coin investments and Mr. Noe?s campaign contributions to top state Republican officeholders. And the FBI is investigating the local coin dealer for possible violations of federal campaign contribution laws concerning contributions to President Bush?s 2004 re-election" ?Mr. Storeim was sending coins to grading, and checking the grading reports online prior to the coins actually arriving back from grading,? Mr. McLean wrote in the memo. ?If the value went up, he was purchasing the coins himself or through a third party at the original grade, thus saving significant amount of money on coins which had been upgraded.? "The October, 2004, memo references a transaction in which Mr. Storeim purchased a coin from Numismatic Professionals for $75,000, consigned the coin back to the firm at $140,000, and then the company sold the coin for $150,000 to a third party." To read the full article, see: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050520/NEWS24/50520001 The Denver Post published a related article on May 21: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_2748344 GRESHAM'S LAW DEFINED Another numismatic term appeared on the "A Word A Day" Internet mailing list this week: "Gresham's law (GRESH-ums law) noun The theory that bad money drives good money out of circulation. [Coined by economist Henry Dunning Macleod in 1858 after Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), financier and founder of the Royal Exchange in London. Gresham, a financial adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, wrote to her "good and bad coin cannot circulate together."] Gresham's law says that when both are required to be accepted as legal tender, inferior money remains in circulation while the good money tends to be hoarded or exported. Examples of bad money could be counterfeit notes, coins that have their edges scraped off to siphon precious metal, or two legal tenders where one is intrinsically superior (e.g. a gold coin vs. a paper note of the same face value)." http://wordsmith.org/words/greshams_law.html COLLECTOR HAS 1.3 TONS OF COINS A Vietnamese collector has 1.3 tons of coins. according to a news story published May 17th: "Starting his collection ten years ago by accidentally purchasing a big box of ancient coins, Lam Zu Xenh, a physician in Chau O town, Binh Son district of central Quang Ngai province, now possesses over 1.3 tonnes of coins. His collection includes more than 200 types of bronze coins and 50 types of zinc coins. Most of these coins belong to feudal dynasties in Viet Nam, China, Korea, Japan and France." http://tinyurl.com/ac9pg [Just how does one accidentally buy a big box of ancient coins? And how does one store 1.3 tons of them? I asked our Vietnamese coinage expert, Howard A. Daniel III, who writes: "With the many large and small construction projects going on in Viet Nam, large hoards of cash coins are being uncovered that are in the tons. The coins are often so common, they cannot be sold to collectors beyond a few kilo, so they are sold to metal processing firms that melt them and make them into useful products. It is a shame, but they are just so many of them being found, the numismatic marketplace cannot take them all in, and even the museums in Viet Nam are turning them down." -Editor] AUGUST KELLY INFORMATION SOUGHT Dave Ginsburg writes: "Is anyone familiar with 'August M. Kelly, Publishers'? They seem to have been active in the late-1960s and early 1970s, reprinting banking, financial history and economics books of the 19th and early 20th centuries, including "Fractional Money" by Carothers, "Financial History of the United States" by Bolles, "Gold, Prices and Wages under the Greenback Standard" by Mitchell and many others. I'd be interested to know who they were, why they reprinted these books and how long the company was active." THE ORIGIN OF GOLD? Dick Johnson writes: "Want to see what your gold coins looked like 4.5 billion years ago? Gold was created, apparently, when our solar system was formed. An astronomy website illustrates the instant gold was formed. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050515.html " FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is recommended by Roger deWardt Lane: "With a view to preserve, protect and project Indian Art and Numismatic Treasure in a proper perspective, Thakkar Numismatic and Art Foundation has been established by Mr. Praful K. Thakkar. Here, Thakkar Foundation has made a humble attempt by way of this website to share and spread the knowledge of Indian Coins, Medals, Tokens and all metallic objects of numismatic interest. Valued assistance from collectors and scholars to enrich the site will be highly appreciated." "The founder, Praful K. Thakkar, an Indian Administrative Service Officer, was with the Government of Gujarat, India for more than thirty years. He has worked in various capacities as Collector, Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Gujarat in various departments. He voluntarily retired in 1995 at the age of 55 years." "He has been an ardent numismatic collector for more than 40 years and has collected Indian coins, medals, tokens and other collectibles like weights and match labels. He has also tried to enhance his ancestral collection of medals of Indian Princely States-British India-Republic India and tokens of Indian banks, treasuries, personalities, religions and advertisements. He has a collection of Passes of Indian Railways, Ports, Princely Palaces and Viceroy Residencies along with badge plates and membership badges." http://www.thakkarfoundation.org/index.php [The site's scope is very broad, encompassing badges, cash coupons, coins, medals, monograms, passes, seals & dies, tokens and weights. Each category has many subcategories. Most are not yet populated, but the ones which are have nice images and fairly comprehensive cataloging information, such as size, weight, metal and inscription This seems like a site worth revisiting in the future as more meat is added to a fine skeleton. -Editor] 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 May 29 22:12:54 2005 From: esylum at binhost.com (esylum@binhost.com) Date: Sun May 29 22:14:29 2005 Subject: The E-Sylum v8#22, May 29, 2005 Message-ID: <429A76A6.1090509@coinlibrary.com> Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 22, May 29, 2005: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATE Among our recent subscribers are Gregg Moore, president of the Conder Token Collector's Club, and Kerry Rodgers of New Zealand. Welcome aboard! We now have 755 subscribers. KOLBE NUMISMATIC BOOKSELLER NO. 47 "George Frederick Kolbe has just issued No. 47 of THE NUMISMATIC BOOKSELLER. "250 Key Works on Numismatics & Related Topics" are offered for sale at fixed topics. Featured are important selections from the numismatic library formed by longtime Curators of Numismatics at the Smithsonian Institution, Vladimir and Elvira Clain-Stefanelli. Works offered cover a wide range of numismatic topics and include: antiquarian numismatic titles including a rare 1592 first Italian edition of Antonio Agostini's celebrated study of ancient coins; the Clain-Stefanellis' set of Babelon's "Trait? des Monnaies Grecques et Romaines"; their set of Eckhel's "Doctrina Numorum Veterum"; a very fine set of Habich & Bernhart's "Archiv f?r Medaillen- und Plaketten-Kunde"; a lovely example of Hirsch's landmark 1760 numismatic bibliography; a complete twenty volume set of the Tr?sor de Numismatique; a fine set of the French edition of van Loon's classic work on Dutch and European medals; the original edition of Neumann's classic work on copper coins of the world, from the library of J. W. Scott; a complete set in vellum of K?hler's "Munz-Belustigung from the Clain-Stefanelli library; their near new, original set of Corpus Nummorum Italicorum"; and many other rare and seldom-offered works. An order from the price list will entitle purchasers to receive 25% off for a limited time on various George Frederick Kolbe publications, including the Dekesel bibliographies, works by Babelon and Bassoli, et al. Copies of the price list are available to E-Sylum readers on request while supplies last." [This is a second chance for readers to order a copy of the 25th Anniversary issue of The Asylum. At over 200 pages, it's still a bargain at $35 postpaid, and is eligible for the 25% discount with a purchase from the list. George's email address and web site are GFK@numislit.com and http://www.numislit.com. -Editor] COLONIAL COLLECTORS VISIT ANS In the May 26, 2005 Colonial Numismatics email list, Ray Williams reported on a day trip to the American Numismatic Society with a group of fellow colonial coinage enthusiasts. He writes: "For much less than the parking fee in NY (about $20), I took a train from Trenton to Newark, then took the PATH train to the World Trade Center station. When you exit the station, the ANS is only a four block walk down Fulton Street, and as a bonus, there's a Dunkin Donuts in between!!! It was so easy to get to! Roger Moore took the train ride with me. Once there, we met with Dave Wnuck and Neil Rothschild. Roger Siboni was a few minutes behind us. After coffee and some good conversation with Don Partrick, Robert Hoge and Ute Wartenberg Kagan, we were brought to the collections room, where we were introduced to Lauren Jacobi, who is on an intern program and assisted us with viewing trays of colonials. I only made it half way through the first NJ Copper tray! I also saw a tray of contemporary counterfeit coppers and some CT Coppers. The counterfeits were very impressive, but I think that I liked this Geo III Irish halfpenny that was struck over a double-struck British halfpenny which had it's second strike 50% off center. Did I say that all correctly? I almost (not quite) didn't want to break for lunch. While moving from room to room, we would see Juliette running here and there. I don't know exactly what her job title is, but it looks to me that she (and many of the staff) does a little of everything. After lunch, we took a trip to the storage area where we saw the file cabinets full of photographic images - the same ones that were mistakenly reported as having been thrown out a few weeks ago... There were many cool pictures in there and they are not all strictly numismatic. Then we took the elevator to the library floor where we took time to view some of the colonial literature. I was reading Hall's Manuscript on CT Coppers and then just looked through the titles on the shelves. What a collection! Then we were taken by Frank Campbell (Librarian) to the Rare Book Room, where we saw many manuscripts, old catalogs seldom seen books. I look forward to the day when I can retire and spend more time here. It was a tiring day seeing so much material - information overload I guess! I always knew that the ANS people were helpful and friendly, but I never knew how easy it was to get there by mass transit (cheap too). As accessible as the ANS is, I'll be there much more often and hopefully write a few more articles. Thanks to Roger and all the ANS people for the tour today. I had a blast! I highly recommend a visit to the ANS. You can check their web site at http://www.amnumsoc.org/" In a followup note for The E-Sylum, Ray writes: "We did have a good time at ANS. I saw notebooks from Norweb, Garrett and others that I would never dream I'd be able to see. Everyone knows about Dickeson's classic work on American Coinage, but sitting right next to it on a shelf was a hand written work by Dickeson! For being a doctor, his handwriting was remarkably legible!!! I'm sure there are documents there that researchers are unaware of and must look through the indexes and shelves to find these treasures. I was like a little child in a candy shop! The files of photographic negatives are huge! There are thousands and thousands of them! All of us opened drawers and removed the envelopes and looked at the negatives, holding them up to the light. There were negatives (and some prints too) of coins, medals, pictures of Indians and other people. I am absolutely convinced that nothing happened to these negatives. If any are missing, it would be due to criminal theft over the past century, not to any mishandling or reckless disposal." KELLEY ERROR CORRECTED Regarding his request for information on a book publisher last week, Dave Ginsburg writes: "Thanks for publishing my submission. I have to apologize for an error, though: the correct name of the publisher I inquired about is "Augustus M. Kelley" not August M. Kelly, as I wrote." E-SYLUM SCORES HASELTINE PHOTO Bill Malkmus writes: "A while ago I got an email from a researcher trying to locate a photo of Haseltine. (He found me through a Google search, which picked up a previous relevant inquiry of mine in the E-Sylum.) I suggested he send a request to you, which appeared April 17. On seeing nothing on the pages of the E-Sylum for several weeks, I emailed him (hoping I hadn't oversold the E-Sylum), and asked if he'd heard anything off-line. He wrote back immediately, saying that he'd gotten just what he wanted, courtesy of David Fanning and Jane Colvard (ANA Library)! Chalk up another win!" NEW HAMPSHIRE PAPER RESEARCHERS INTERVIEWED David Bowers and David Sundman, who are researching for a new book on New Hampshire obsolete currency, were interviewed in an article in the Concord Monitor May 22: "... the hype that comes with every currency change these days (colored twenties!) would be laughable to our New Hampshire ancestors. During colonial times they were accustomed to new, locally- produced paper currency every few years - and knew the notes were practically worthless outside New Hampshire's borders. Then, through most of the 19th century they had their pick of dozens of different New Hampshire bank notes, with different bank logos (and different values) from places like the Amonoosuc Bank of Bath or the Pemigewasset Bank of Plymouth. A pair of New Hampshire coin collectors are working on a book about New Hampshire currency, stretching from the state's first paper bank note in 1709 until the federal government finally standardized U.S. dollars in 1935, wiping the signature of local banks like the Mechanicks National Bank of Concord from the bills. They say interest in collecting paper money is a relatively recent phenomenon too - collectors, like early currency users, have not always known what to make of it." "... private banks issued their own paper money, complete with their own logos and insignia. A $50 bill from the Somersworth Bank, for example, features an industrial scene. "It was branding, too, a little bit," Bowers said. "They tried to make the currency attractive, an artistic note was nice to have. As engraving became more perfected, notes became more beautiful. They had goddesses on them and sea serpents and chariots." The value of the notes, however, varied widely. And although New Hampshire was fairly scandal-free, there was not much to ensure that private banks actually had the money they said t hey did (Michigan's private banking system, for one, was a scandal-ridden mess). And the notes were still pretty worthless if you wanted to travel far out of town. "You had this wild collage of notes circulating, thousands of different notes," Sundman said. "It was a wild and woolly time." To read the full article, see: http://tinyurl.com/7b4ao VATTAMARE APPRECIATION Robert J. Galiette of Essex, Connecticut writes: "I regularly appreciate your weekly efforts to alert us to new publications and articles, and Fred Lake's advice to me a number of years ago to get on the mailing list for the E-Sylum. For example, without your helpful alert in the 5/15/05 E-Sylum about the article in the June 2005 issue of Coinage magazine, I'm certain that I'd have missed the informative article about Alexandre Vattemare. Without Vattemare's specimen documents from the 1840's, the cataloging and research that Gene Hessler did over twenty years ago for the original Robson Lowe /Christie's auction of them and his subsequent publication of An Illustrated History of U.S. Loans, and the examples of early U.S. bonds and notes that traced their origins to the Vattemare collection when Stack's auctioned Part VI of John J. Ford, Jr.'s collection last October, there'd be no illustrations or information concerning important early decades related to the financing of U.S. debt. Even the Federal Government has no examples from the post-Jacksonian period of the 1840's of a number of the early U.S. bonds that represent the roots of today's National Debt. Many of Vattemare's specimens are unique survivors. Documents from the original Vattemare collection were sold by Robson Lowe / Christie's on April 1, 1982 (Part I) and on September 17, 1982 (Part II) as smaller segments to the firm's stamp auctions on these dates. Both sales therefore were outside the mainstream of numismatic and currency auctions, and this literature accordingly is difficult to locate. Even the ANA Library recently reported having only one of these two catalogs. Does anyone know of a source for them? I'd appreciate any related advice." MARINE CORPS SILVER DOLLAR STRUCK On May 26, 2005, the American Forces Press Service reported: "The U.S. Mint at Philadelphia celebrated National Military Appreciation Month May 25 with the ceremonial strike of a new commemorative coin, the 2005 Marine Corps 230th Anniversary Silver Dollar. Current and former Marines cheered as Director Henrietta Holsman Fore and other dignitaries struck the coins in the Proof Room where the silver dollar will be produced. The official launch of the Marine Corps 230th Anniversary Silver Dollar will be at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., on July 20, U.S. Mint officials said. This is the first time the United States has honored a branch of the military with a commemorative coin, according to information provided by the Mint." The obverse, or "heads" side, design of the coin features the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima from the famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal during World War II. On the reverse, "tails" side, is the Marine Corps eagle, globe and anchor emblem and motto, "Semper Fidelis" - Latin for "always faithful." "The coin design is simple and heroic," Fore commented at the ceremony. "The Iwo Jima image is the storied symbol of the Marine Corps heroism, courage, strength and versatility. It exemplifies Semper Fidelis to an appreciative nation every day around the world." To read the full article, see: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2005/20050526_1362.html THE CREATION OF GOLD Writing from Lanka regarding Dick Johnson's post of a web article about the creation of gold, astronomer Kavan Ratnatunga writes: "Gold has to have been created BEFORE our solar system since any natural event energetic enough to create gold such as a Neutron star collision mentioned in that article would destroy the Solar System which was formed in the debris field of an older event which would have created some of our gold." PAPER MONEY QUERIES: MALAYSIA & ITALIAN P.O.W. NOTES Paul Neumann writes: "I wonder if anyone could help me - I am doing some research on paper money issued in the Nissan Estate in Malaya nr. Tarakan Malaysia. This note is not illustrated in the Tan catalogue used in Malaysia. Also research into Italian POW camps of WWI: I have a small group of which only one value of a set of three is mentioned in Campbell's book. If you could direct me to anyone who is a specialist or would know more about this material I would be most obliged. Kind regards!" STILL MORE ON OHIO'S "COINGATE" The Toledo Blade seems relentless in its coverage of Ohio's rare coin investment, publishing an article May 23 highlighting the key dealer's absence from a coin show: "Tom Noe was a no-show at a large coin show in Columbus this weekend, but that did not squash the buzz surrounding the state's controversial $50 million rare-coin venture with the Maumee coin dealer. Mr. Noe was scheduled to give a speech about the state quarter program on Saturday morning, but organizers of the Ohio State Numismatic Association Coin Show said he canceled a few days ago. The three-day show at the Franklin County Veterans Memorial, which ended yesterday, included more than 100 dealers from Ohio and as far away as Texas, California, and Illinois. The Blade first reported April 3 that Mr. Noe - the central figure in the scandal dubbed "Coingate" by Ohio Democrats - had received two installments of $25 million since 1998 from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation to invest in rare coins for the state." [I hadn't picked up on the "Coingate" term before, an allusion to President Nixon's "Watergate" scandal of the 1970s. It will be interesting to see in the end just how well the coin fund fared compared to the state's other investments in the same period. -Editor] To read the article, see: http://tinyurl.com/8vn3n On Friday, May 27 the paper reported that "Federal and state authorities are pursuing criminal and civil charges against Tom Noe for allegedly misappropriating $10 million to $12 million from the state?s rare-coin investment." "Asked where the state?s money went, Mr. O?Brien replied: ?I don?t know the answers to that question. The search warrant might partly answer that.? He referred to the search warrant executed yesterday afternoon at Mr. Noe?s Vintage Coins & Collectibles, his Monclova Township headquarters. As many as 10 fraud investigators pored over evidence at Mr. Noe?s office as Ohio Highway Patrol troopers stood guard outside. A technician photographed all the evidence inside the headquarters before it was brought outside and put into a state van backed up to the office warehouse. Late into the night, state inspectors loaded numerous boxes and at least eight desktop computers and a laptop into the van. Inspectors confiscated more than coins in their sweep yesterday. One investigator said they found that Mr. Noe had purchased other collectibles with the state?s money, including a Christmas card signed by former First Lady Jacqueline Onassis and a document signed by Thomas Jefferson." To read the complete article, see: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050527/NEWS24/50527001 INTERNATIONAL MONETARY PATTERN INFO In last week's issue, David Cassel asked about patterns made as a result of the International Monetary Conference of 1867 (in response to an earlier submission by Jan Moens). Angelo Cilia writes: "Italy was well known for pattern or provas as they are called and the mint produces them to this day. The book on them is Pagani's Prova an Progetti which has provas from about 1750 till 1961." [David's question was very specific, and we have not gotten any other responses. If anyone is in touch with Jan Moens, David would like to correspond with him. -Editor] WHAT TO DO IN RETIREMENT? THIS AUSTRALIAN BECAME A COIN DEALER Dick Johnson writes: "When a coin-collecting government worker in Brisbane, Queensland retired his wife recommended he become a mail order dealer in coins. Aided by eBay the 76-year-old did just that. At the time of this article, May 25, 2005, he had 103 coins listed on the Internet. Ken Leitch sells about 85 per cent of what he offers. His Internet name is "ehcnumis." His best sale to date: $20,000 Australian for a rare silver token. The article contains Australian idioms "penny drop" and "silver surfer" ? click on this if you can read Australian: www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,15401914%5E3122,00.html [Can anyone fill us in on just what the terms "penny drop" and "silver surfer" mean? -Editor] DENVER MINT TOUR ARTICLE The Daily Times-Call of Longmont, Colorado published an article on May 27, 2005 about touring the U.S. Mint in Denver, "At the U.S. Mint in Denver ? one of two facilities that manufacture U.S. coins (the Philadelphia Mint is the other) ? 25 percent of the nation?s gold bullion is stored. Eighty presses, many of which are in the process of being upgraded, work to convert blank coins into official U.S. currency. ?While all you kids are asleep at night, we?re busy making shiny coins,? says Dick Igez, a tour guide for the Denver Mint. The Denver Mint tours ? temporarily closed off to the public following the events of Sept. 11, 2001 ? are significantly different than they were four years ago" "Whereas the Mint once offered tours about every 15 minutes, tour guides now lead groups of 45 at most on a 35-to-40-minute tour (each of which starts on the hour), jam-packed with historical and procedural information. With the overwhelming amount of visual and auditory data, you might find yourself rushed. Antique equipment used in the early days of the Denver Mint?s run are in display cases across the tour area. But with other distractions ? windows showing the coin-making process and the guide?s boundless and intriguing monologue ? it?s difficult to take in everything there is to enjoy in the limited amount of time." "In 2003, the Mint hosted about 11,000 tourists, and in 2004, that number doubled. This year, Hernandez says the Mint has provided tours to about 48 percent more people than it did last year at this time." http://www.longmontfyi.com/entertainment/entertainment-story.asp?id=1921 FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is The Southern Gold Society. "The Southern Gold Society was formed to increase the enjoyment and study of Southern gold coins and related history, through an informal, relaxed mix of education and fellowship. The society is reminiscent of those of a bygone era, in which connoisseurship and a gentlemanly appreciation of Southern gold coins is the order of the day." The group's interests encompass coinage of the Southern branch mints (Dahlonega, Charlotte, and New Orleans) and private Southern minters (Templeton Reid and the Bechtlers)." http://www.southerngoldsociety.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