The E-Sylum v6#15, April 13, 2003

[whomren at coinlibrary.com]

Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 15, April 13, 2003:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2003, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


SUBSCRIBER UPDATE

   Among recent new subscribers are Robert Rhue, courtesy
   of Andy Lustig.  Welcome aboard!  We now have 544
   subscribers.


LAKE BOOKS SALE #68

   Fred Lake writes: "The 68th mail-bid sale of numismatic
   literature by Lake Books has a closing date of April 22, 2003
   and is available for viewing on their web site at
   http://www.lakebooks.com/current.html

   The sale features a number of special presentations of classic
   American reference materials from the library of George W.
   Bowen.  Ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish coinage is well
   represented in the section devoted to their study.  A number
   of difficult to find "Redbooks" and other guide books are
   offered in the nearly 500 lots in the sale."


THE SADDAM DINAR BUBBLE

   From an April 10th article on the Wired News site:
   "In the three weeks since the start of war in Iraq, sellers of
   bank notes have seen a surge in demand from collectors for
   currency containing images of Saddam Hussein.

   On websites of currency dealers and on eBay, merchants
   say prices, particularly for higher-denomination bank notes,
   have increased appreciably even as the actual buying power
   of the dinar continues to decline.

   George Lindgren, who sells bank notes on eBay, calls it the
   Saddam dinar bubble."

   "Over the last three weeks, Lindgren said he has been
   receiving more than 1,000 dinar-related e-mails a day and
   has slept no more than a few hours each night.

   "I have literally spent almost all day bagging and tagging
   these little dictator notes," Lindgren said in an e-mail."

   http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,58402,00.html


NEW CURRENCY FOR IRAQ

   David Klinger writes: "There has been a lot of speculation about
   what is going to happen to the monetary system in Iraq in view
   of the current military operations there. This is from the 9 April
   edition of the "Financial Times" of London:

   "Washington has its own plans for what to do with the monetary
   system in Iraq. Treasury officials say that at present they have
   three phases in mind.

   In the first, for the sake of speed and simplicity, government
   officials and key workers will be paid in dollars, as indeed has
   already happened to local dock workers refitting the port of
   Umm Qasr.

   Second, as early as the next few days, a batch of new "Swiss
   dinars" - the old Iraqi currency still circulating in the Kurdish
   areas - will be printed. US Treasury officials say that the British
   company De La Rue printed the original stock of dinars and
   still has the printing plates, though De La Rue declined yesterday
   to discuss any of its past or future customers.

   In the third phase, a new currency replacing both the Swiss
   dinar and the newer "Saddam dinar" will be circulated."


CIVIL WAR CARDBOARD CHITS

   Russ Rulau reports that he is at work on the 4th edition of the
   Standard Catalog of United States Tokens 1700-1900 and
   needs some help on the very specialized area of cardboard
   chits of the Civil War period. Most dated pieces of this kind
   carry an 1862 date, but 1861-65 dates are known. The bulk
   of the pieces are undated, but conform in general to the
   illustrations contained in pages 461-469 of the 3rd edition,
   released in 1999.   The new edition is scheduled for release
   in mid-2004. An expanded manuscript for the 4th edition is
   ready. Anyone out there knowledgeable and brave enough
   to proofread it?  Or to report specimens in their own
   collection? If so, contact Russ at rviking at athenet.net or by
   mail at P.O. Box 153, Iola, WI 54945.


FORD WEST INDIAN SALE

   Bob Lyall writes: "Might I make a small amendment to your
   claim that the entire collection of John J Ford Jr. is being sold
   by Stack's?  His West Indian cut/countermarked coins were
   sold by auction in London on the 16th October 1989 by
   Glendinings, after being catalogued by Peter Mitchell of A H
   Baldwin & Sons Ltd (who I assisted).

   The sale did include 7 gold "joes", and 2 guineas,
   countermarked by North American goldsmiths with initials I.B,
   W.T, I.S and script B in addition to 26 West Indian plugged
   and/or countermarked gold coins (mostly joes) and around
   250 silver and billon West Indian coins plus some 70 lots of
   coins countermarked in other countries.

   The evening after the sale was memorable in so much as
   Baldwin's threw a dinner party for the main bidders.  The
   party was held in Rules Restaurant just off the Strand in
   London, a popular venue for Edward, Prince of Wales,
   later Edward VII, to dine Lilly Langtree privately."


CONSIMILAR COINS

   Regarding our recent discussion of "consimilar" coins (those
   bearing the same design on both obverse and reverse), Ken
   Berger writes: "Since the A.R.R.C. Tokens were issued by the
   government for use by the Matanuska Valley residents, they
   could be considered coins with the same obverse & reverse.
   In addition, the Palo Seco Leper Colony Tokens were also
   issued by the government for use by the lepers and therefore
   could also be considered coins with the same obverse &
   reverse."


RESEARCH ON NUMISMATIC LITERATURE

   Tom Fort, Editor of our print journal, The Asylum, writes:
   "As a few readers may know, each issue of the journal
   Anglo-Saxon England contains a bibliography of works
   published the previous year dealing with Anglo-Saxon
   studies   It occurred to me that a similar idea might be good
   for The Asylum. After all, we are not the only journal to
   publish works on numismatic literature (check out Joel
   Orosz' article in the latest issue of the American Journal of
   Numismatics as an obvious example).  Therefore, it is my
   idea to list in the Summer 2003 issue of The Asylum all
   works dealing with numismatic literature which appeared
   outside of our pages between 2000 and 2003.  To make
   this list even half as complete as I would like, I will need
   much help from E-Sylum readers and their friends.  I would
   like people to look through their libraries and other libraries
   (both public and private) and send me via email any listings
   they can find.  I especially need to hear from readers who
   live abroad and have access to material that is not in English.
   Likewise, those of you familiar with US coinage and writers
   (of which I have little knowledge) will be a big help.

   The listings should have the following:
   For books: Full name of author, full title, place and year of
   publication.
   For articles: Full name of author, full title of article, full title
   of publication, volume number, issue number (if there is one),
   year of publication, page numbers.

   Things which count: Any work that deals with numismatic
   literature in a substantial way.  If the material in the work is
   not obvious from the title, then please send a brief description
   - no more than two sentences.  For example, there might be
   a book on numismatic aspects of the reign of the emperor
   Vespasian that contains a chapter reviewing the history of the
   scholarship on his coinage. Such a book should be listed.
   Biographies of numismatic writers are welcome, but please
   use some judgment.  For example, W.B. Yeats did write
   a short monograph on Irish coinage, however this was not
   his primary (or even secondary) interest. Unless the work on
   Yeats devotes a substantial chapter, or more, to this work I
   would not include it.  On the other hand, Theodor Mommsen
   wrote a massive book, and a number of articles, on Roman
   Republican coinage. He also used numismatic evidence in a
   number of his other works. A biography on him would be
   acceptable.  Likewise, obituaries of numismatic writers are
   also good.

   Things that I do not want: Notices of publication or literature
   sales, like those that appear in Coin World or Numismatic
   News.  Likewise book reviews that simply give a summary
   of the contents should not be sent.  On the other hand, critical
   book reviews are welcome. I, also do not want to list auction
   sales or fixed price lists. The obvious exception to this are
   publications like the Numismatic Circular and the Rare Coin
   Review which include scholarly articles along with their lists
   of items for sale. Web sites, no matter how good, will not be
   listed because they lack the permanence of the printed page.

   If you know of something and are not certain please contact
   me and I shall let you know. All those who submit material
   will be listed (unless they say otherwise) in the article. I can
   be reached at etfort at aol.com."


QUIZ ANSWER: JONATHAN SWIFT AND NUMISMATICS

    Martin Purdy of New Zealand was quick with a response to
   last week's quiz question regarding Irish author Jonathan Swift's
   connection to U.S. coinage.  He writes: "Off the top of my head,
   he objected to William Wood's planned coinage for Ireland,
   which subsequently found its way to the "Colonies" instead.  (I
   refuse to cheat by going to the bookshelf to look it up, so if
   the facts aren't quite right ...)"

   Carl Honore writes: "Jonathan Swift's influence on our hobby
   goes back to the colonial Era. His "Drapier letter" was instrumental
   in getting the William Wood coinage (Rosa Americana) minted
   and circulated in this country as it had been refused in his own
   country of Ireland."

   Tom DeLorey adds: "You mean besides "Yahoo," wherein
   many and diverse coins are sold?"

   [The term "Yahoo" was coined in Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"
   Last year, in the v5n12 issue of The E-Sylum (March 17, 2002),
   our Featured Web site mentioned Jonathan Swift's connection
   to numismatic history:
   http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/writings.htm

   "In 1725 the English Government had proposed to impose a
   debased copper coinage on Ireland; certain individuals
   including Mr. Wood, the manufacturer of the coins, stood to
   make a large profit.  There was an immediate outcry against
   the proposal but repeated representations from politicians and
   public figures in Ireland proved of no avail.   Swift entered the
   controversy with a series of letters written under the name of
   J.B. Drapier. With a mixture of scorn, satire and economic
   sense, the Drapier poured ridicule on the proposed coinage."

   Swift's "Drapier's Letters" have been published on several
   occasions.  I have a copy in the U.S. colonial section of my
   library.   -Editor]


ONLINE TRANSLATION:  BALKAN COINAGE

   Dave Surber writes: "My partners and I have produced a
   translation of the Nikola Moushmov's 1912 Bulgarian classic,
   "Ancient Coins of the Balkan Peninsula and Coins of the
   Bulgarian Monarchs", and have put it online at
   http://www.ancientcoinart.com/moushmov.html

   It covers ancient Dacia, Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia, plus
   medieval Bulgarian coins.   There are a total of 7460
   numbered types, plus 68 original plates.  It remains a very
   important reference today, as there are many types unlisted
   in the major references.  (For comparison of comprehensiveness,
   in Moushmov's listings for Geta from Nikopolis, there are 43
   types; SNG Copenhagen lists only one.)

   The original plates are being augmented by the insertion of
   examples from the WildWinds DataBank and the
   AncientCoinArt.com inventory, and it is planned for the online
   work to continue to grow, enhanced by continuing additions."


COLLECTION INVENTORIES

   In the Colonial Coin Collectors Club email forum, Ray
   Williams recently wrote:   "To all my colonial friends:
   I've discussed with C4 members the possibility of preserving
   coin collection inventories in libraries.  I find it a shame that
   we can't go to the library and look at the collection inventories
   of the great early collectors Crosby, Maris, Mickley, Parmelee,
   etc...  We've lost a lot of pedigree information which is of now
   of importance to all of us.   Even in a more modern scenario,
   where did Spiro get his coins from?

   When the time comes and our collections are dispersed, what
   will happen to the information about how our collections were
   assembled?  If we keep good records about our collections,
   and most of us do, I suggest that you make arrangements to
   have your inventories and ledgers deposited at either the C4
   Library or the ANS Library.  This way, future collectors will
   be able to have access and keep pedigree chains intact.  I
   hope that Mike Hodder will do what he can to preserve John
   Ford's papers at ANS.   I believe that the Garrett Collection
   papers are already at the ANS.

   We often think to ourselves, "I'm not a Garrett or a Ford.
   My coins are not world class examples.  I'm no one that
   anyone will remember."   IT DOESN'T MATTER!  For
   the collector 100 years from now, he'd be thrilled just to
   know that an electronic technician, a baker or a stone
   mason owned the coin.   If I discovered the name of a
   previous owner of one of my coins, I'd do what I could to
   learn about him.  I would be thrilled to have a coin owned
   by a farmer from the 1800's!

   What can you do for the good of the hobby?  If your
   inventory is kept in a computer, print a hard copy at least
   yearly and keep it with the coins in the safe deposit box.
   If you have a digital camera, photograph your coins and
   keep the photos with the inventory.   Place a large note
   on the front cover of your papers where to send them if
   someone is dispersing your collection.  That's all it takes.
   Take good notes and include as much info about each
   coin as possible.

   There are some of you out there that have disposed of
   sections of your collections already, and are pursuing
   something else.  Please send the librarian a copy of your
   inventory papers.  There are a number of collections that
   have gone to auction and the collectors are still with us.
   Harry Rescigno (Saccone), Henry Garrett ( Spring
   Quartette), Russ Smith (March Sale) are just a few
   examples of dozens that could probably still help by
   donating a copy of their collection inventories.

   If anyone wants a sample of my inventory, I'm going to get
   a copy of it to the C4 Librarian this month, and you can ask
   Leo to send you a copy of a page.  You can use it as a guide
   and modify the format for your purposes."

   [Ray's suggestion is a good one for bibliophiles, too.
    Wouldn't it be interesting to have an inventory of the
   libraries of the great early collectors?   We U.S. bibliophiles
   are lucky to at least have catalogs of the libraries of folks
   like Ted Craig, Armand Champa, Harry Bass and others.
   And soon we may have a catalog of the Ford library as
   well.   Tom Fort has posted a copy of his detailed library
   inventory on the NBS web site.   If I had an inventory I'd
   probably do the same, but unfortunately I don't have one.
   Who else even HAS an inventory of their libraries? -Editor]


NUMISMATICS ON THE RADIO

   Leonard Augsburger writes: "Sometime somebody should
   write an article about coin shows on the radio - apparently
   this was a somewhat common thing in the 1930s.  But since
   I brought up the subject, I did a little preliminary legwork.
   NIP gives some promising leads by entering the word "radio",
   and here are a few others I know of:

   [NIP is the Numismatic Indexes Project of the Harry Bass
    Foundation.  Go to this address.  -Editor
    http://www.harrybassfoundation.org/search_numlit.asp ]

   * William Brimelow had a radio show for coins in Elkhart, IN
     - this is mentioned several times in the Numismatic Scrapbook
     c. 1937 & also Hobbies magazine of the same period

   * Edward Weikert, Jr. had a letter to the editor in the May
      1943 Numismatist and an article in the November 1953
      Scrapbook. In The Numismatist he claims to have given
      radio presentations on numismatic topics.

   Here's the question, & the only way to answer it is to talk to
   some really old collectors - what the heck were they talking
   about on these programs?   Did they bring along a copy of
   the latest Numismatist or club journal and just start reading it?
   These were long before the days of talk radio where you
   could have lots of callers chime in with stuff.  Presumably
   they had to bring a fair amount of material into the studio."

   [I've read of B. Max Mehl's radio advertisements, but I'm
   not familiar with any numismatic radio shows of that era.
   Perhaps one of our readers can shed some light on the
   subject.

   Somewhere among my Howard Gibbs papers, I believe
   there is a script of a radio show he did one time.  This may
   have been in the 1960's.

   In more recent times, I know that Jules Reiver was a regular
   guest expert on a radio show about coins in Delaware, before
   each of the Delaware Coin Club's coin shows.  Here in
   Pittsburgh, we have "Coin Talk," a half-hour show airing on
   the first Friday of each month at 8pm on KQV 1410AM.
   The show began in January 2003.  Sam Deep is the host,
   and I have been a regular guest expert.   It's not a call-in
   show - we tape it in advance.   The show is underwritten in
   part by the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists, and
   is supported by five local coin dealer sponsors.
   -Editor]


FEATURED WEB PAGE

   This week's featured web page is from Ron Wise's World
   Paper money site.  It features images of Iraq currency from
   1941 through 2002.

      http://aes.iupui.edu/rwise/countries/iraq.html


  Wayne Homren
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society


  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a
  non-profit organization promoting numismatic
  literature.   For more information please see
  our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/
  There is a membership application available on
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