The E-Sylum v6#02, January 12, 2003
whomren at coinlibrary.com
whomren at coinlibrary.com
Sun Jan 12 18:48:15 PST 2003
Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 2, January 12, 2003:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2002, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
NBS PREPARES FOR ANNUAL MEETING
NBS Vice-President John W. Adams reports:
"I have contacted Barry Tayman and George Fuld. Happily,
they have agreed to join us at our annual meetings at the
American Numismatic Association convention in Baltimore
this summer. Barry and George are working on a monograph
covering the Blacksmith Tokens; I have asked them to talk
about their research methodology for this as well as for other
projects they have executed. Astute questioners from our club
will no doubt want to learn George's secrets for building the
fabulous library that he succeeded in assembling."
NBS President Pete Smith adds: "Can anyone suggest a
Baltimore resource for the NBS Symposium who is not part
of the "normal" ANA crowd? Does anyone have Baltimore
contacts to recommend?"
[I'm already looking forward to hearing Barry and George's
talk. Perhaps we can add a local historian, author, or
archivist to the lineup who can add something interesting
regarding numismatic research. Aren't there Mint or B.E.P.
archives in the Baltimore/D.C. area? Perhaps an archivist
or caretaker could be persuaded to join us and outline the
extent and an availability of the collections for numismatic
researchers. -Editor]
KOLBE SALE 90 (FEBRUARY 20) PREVIEW
George Kolbe writes: "An overview of Sale 90 follows:
Auction 90 features 1200 lots of works on a wide range
of numismatic topics, among them a number of important
16th and 17th century numismatic books. American works
in the sale include books and catalogues from the New
Netherlands Coin Co. Library. Among the many sale
highlights are: an Exceptional 1925 Browning on Early
Quarter Dollars of the United States; Very Fine Sets of
Yeoman Red Books and Blue Books; Mazzini¹s
Monumental 5 Volume Monete Imperiale Romane; two
Original 1869 Maris Works on 1794 Cents; Walter
Breen¹s Annotated 1950 Bolender Silver Dollar Book;
Two Original Handwritten Letters by Sylvester Crosby;
an Original 1923-1929 Set of the McClean Collection of
Greek Coins; a Fine, Annotated Set of Dalton & Hamer
on 18th Century Tokens; an Original Set of Corpus
Nummorum Italicorum; and a Fine Selection of Numismatica
Americana, Including Numismatic Correspondence from
the Walter P. Nichols Files. Printed catalogues may be
obtained by sending $15.00."
KOLBE WEB SITE UPDATE
George Kolbe adds: "There are three new "items" posted
on our web site (http://www.numislit.com):
1) A revised 2003 List of Books for Sale featuring, for a
limited time, savings of up to 20%
2) Our February 20, 2003 Auction Sale Catalogue
3) An Important New Acquisition: THE FIRST
ILLUSTRATED NUMISMATIC BOOK. An
extremely rare example printed on vellum.
RUBINO EBAY AUCTIONS
Art Rubino writes: "Many of your subscribers know me
from the many coin shows all over the United States where
I put up my large numismatic bookshop. I am doing
something new that may interest some of your subscribers
right now. Here's my press release:
Art Rubino & Co.
Antiquarian Booksellers
Numismatic Arts of Santa Fe
Has opened a permanent revolving auction of fine numismatic
books on eBay. There are 30 or more numismatic books on
sale by auction at any given time. The individual auctions run
for ten days. New books are added to the sale daily, as old
books are sold.
Dealers & collectors are invited to visit the site regularly to
view and bid for the lots on sale. This is done by going to
http://www.ebay.com and signing in, then going to the “Find
Items” sector, selecting “By Seller” and keying in my ebay
user ID which is Art_Rubino."
CHAPMAN CORRESPONDENCE ARCHIVE AT ANS
An intriguing item was published in the Winter 2002 issue
of the American Numismatic Society magazine. Librarian
Francis D. Campbell notes in his column on p21 that
"Through a generous donation from the Estate of Mrs.
Henrietta Chapman Judson, the Library has received a
substantial quantity of the correspondence and other papers
of the coin auction firm run by Henry and Samuel Hudson
Chapman, which began operations in 1879."
The article goes on to describe the career of the firm, but
does not elaborate on the contents of the correspondence
archive. Perhaps some E-Sylum reader will poke their
nose in the archive sometime and let us know some of the
highlights.
SAN FRANCISCO MINT VISIT
Numismatic researchers and writers Richard Kelly & Nancy
Oliver write: "On January 10th, 2003 we got a unique
opportunity to receive a tour of the third San Francisco Mint
while it was in the process of making the 2003 Proof Sets for
sale to the public.
The third SF Mint is not open to the public for tours so we
jumped on the chance for a tour when it was offered to us.
A gentleman we know arranged it for us and gave the tour
personally. It was an enriching experience to say the least.
Our tour began with the outside of the facility, with its thick
walls of granite to the upper facade where large concrete
representations of each commemorative coin made by the
mint circle the roof. Inside, we were shown where the
blanks for the proof sets arrive, massive vault doors, the
storage bins for the blanks for all denominations and then
the mint operations.
We were right there with our guide on the floor where all
the planchet making operation is conducted. In fact, he
reached his hand into the turning burnishing bin and showed
us several newly polished dollar blanks. We saw the upset
mills, and the storage of newly made planchets. But, what
we saw next gave us a deep appreciation of the delicate and
hard work involved in making every proof coin as perfect
as possible.
The SF mint receives all its dies from Philadelphia unpolished,
so all the work of polishing and chrome plating has to be done
in SF. The work involved in this, not only includes the
polishing and plating of each die, but the intricate microscopic
work required to remove any excess metal or plating in the
crevices of each and every die. The dozen or so workers in
this room labor over the small detail of their work for 8 hours
per day. Perfection was the key and these workers were very
intent on their task. With protective ear plugs, we entered the
press room where we watched as the massive presses stamped
out beautifully frosted, double struck coins. Near each press
operator was a bag of reject coins, but the ones we were
shown had but smears and light scratches on them. Perfection
was also the key here.
Lastly, we saw the packaging process of each 2003 proof set
as they made their way down several conveyor belts that made
loops and stops as they inserted each individual denomination
by machine. Then the filled sets arrived at the sealing operation
to eventually be placed into their final packaging to all be sent
out to Tennessee for final processing and shipping.
All the people we met during our tour were friendly and were
more than willing to answer any questions we might have
concerning their department. The tour was an eye-opening
event for us both. And we left with a deeper appreciation of
the hard work involved in making proof coins for the public."
LAPA KANDY KINGS REVISED EDITION
Last week, Scott Semans mentioned a revised edition of
a Frank Lapa book: "While in prison, he produced a
revised version of his Kandy Kings of Ceylon, 1986, in
8.5x11 spiral bind, though I'm not sure he ever marketed
this edition."
Kavan Ratnatunga reports: "I have a copy of original 1968
edition as well as this 1986 spiral bind. I did not know of its
provenance til today. The original book is clearly the best
illustrated book on these copper massa coins. I have not
studied the details or tried to find all the 50 or so varieties
he illustrates for each of the 6 more common Kings and
Queen.
The coins are from Kings in Lanka in Pollonnaruva and
Dambadeniya in the era 1055-1295 AD. The kingdom
moved to Kandy many centuries later, and the colonial
name Ceylon was not even invented."
COINING A PHRASE
Kavan has a question for E-Sylum readers: "Is there a
Numismatic origin to the usage "Coin a Phrase"?
PARANUMISMATICA REVISITED
In response to Paul Withers' mention of the term
'paranumismatica,' Tom DeLorey writes:
"I had never heard the term "paranumismatica" before, though
I have not been active in the field since editing the "TAMS
Journal" for 1981, and I think I prefer the shorter term
"exonumia" coined by Russ Rulau and widely used in
America. Which is more common in Europe?"
[It seems like just yesterday, but it was two years ago
when this term first came up in The E-Sylum. See Volume 3,
Number 54 (December 31, 2000). Back issues are archived
on our web site: http://www.coinbooks.org/. I was unfamiliar
with the term myself when I first encountered it on Paul Withers'
web site. Here's what I wrote, under the title, "Vocabulary
Word: Paranumismatica"
"We discussed numismatic word definitions several issues ago.
Mr. Withers' web site uses a word your American-bred Editor
hadn't seen before: paranumismatica. In context: "World
Paranumismatica - Tokens, Countermarks and the like from
around the globe."
A web search turned up 25 pages using the term, one defining
it as the "British term for exonumia" I'm sure Paul would prefer
a definition along the lines of "Exonomia: American term for
paranumismatica"
A search today (January 6, 2003) turned up 84 references
to "paranumismatica," more than triple the number found two
years ago. -Editor]
EUROPEAN NUMISMATIC LIBRARIES
Bob Knepper of Anaheim, Calif. ask, "Where, if anywhere,
does there exist a list of numismatic libraries in Europe which
are accessible either to walk-in public or by appointment? I
realize that all numismatic dealers have libraries.
I would also like a similar list of coin and/or paper money
museums. I've visited a few but there must be more. Thank
you."
[I believe we published this request once before, but we
haven't gotten any responses and thought we've try again.
-Editor]
Bob adds: "I'm now planning, with my wife Sue, a trip
around Europe in April - May to combine sightseeing, coin
and book hunting, and visiting friends. I'm still hoping to see
or possibly buy the book about the coins of German state
"Salm". As my queries to several dealers have found only
one copy of the book (not for sale and in an inconvenient
location), I'll start trying various libraries."
NUMISMATIST CHANGE
Bruce Perdue writes: "I haven't read all of the "new" format
"Numismatist", but it seems to me that some of this change was
done for the advertisers ... their ads seem more intrusive than
they did in the old format. I of course agree with Greg Heim
that without David Bowers and Ken Bressett's columns it
isn't as good as it was."
Ken Bressett writes: "I must second what Greg Heim had to
say about the new Numismatist. One can only hope that the
extra effort and cost that went into the renovation is on target
and of benefit to the typical ANA member. The decision to
drop the columns by Dave Bowers and myself, as well as all
the other changes, was strictly that of the ANA, and not ours."
Regarding Greg's comment that "the articles were too
specialized," Martin Purdy writes: "I find that rather odd, if I
may say so. Put alongside a really academic and quite turgid
publication such as the Numismatic Chronicle, which I have
never succeeded in reading from cover to cover, the
"Numismatist" is decidedly populist and lowbrow. Maybe
that's not a good comparison, who knows.
I enjoy receiving the "Numismatist" each month (I haven't
got the January 03 issue yet, so I can't make an old/new
comparison at this stage), but it's hardly a heavy read. It
also tends to let some fairly basic errors through the
editing process, which I wouldn't expect of a more
academic publication."
Bill Malkmus writes: "I noted the comments about the "new"
Numismatist in last week’s E-Sylum. I was compiling a list
to send to the editor, and thought I’d offer a few of my
comments.
The dropping of the article I agree is a non-issue. But some
of the other changes for the sake of change are not so
innocuous. I have tried to resist my usual septuagenarian's
viewpoint that equates "change" with "bad" (however often
that may be the case).
I do credit them for placing the name, date, and page number
on (almost) every page. (It’s frustrating when a Xerox file
copy is found to be lacking in ID.)
The typography and proofreading seem good, although I am
still checking my pocket change unsuccessfully for that
Eisenhower quarter mentioned on p.12.
I agree that the dropping of Bowers and Bressett is regrettable,
but would add Sear, Fitts, and Hessler (at least) to the list.
But I cannot accept the premise that the former journal was
too "erudite" or highbrow -- I don't go along with the "lowest
common denominator" theory. I can't believe that vast
numbers of readers could not cope with what David Sear had
to offer in 2 or 3 pages on ancient coins. I do not collect dog
tokens or beer tokens (and expect I never will), but I do not
feel put upon for seeing articles about them; in fact, I feel my
horizons are widened for having read them.
In the "form overcoming content" category, I must remark on
one of my pet peeves, that of overlapping photos of (usually)
obverse and reverse images of a coin (the cute technical term
being, I believe, "eclipsing") when, as is usually the case, there
is no space constraint requiring it. I really get upset when what
would be the best illustration I have of some particular coin is
thus artsily mutilated, with partial obscuration of a reverse
design or legend.
The use of icons ("next page" and "end") is good, although the
"end" icon should be at the very end of all text (after "learn
more"). (I am not sure what the "end" icon represents, if it
matters, and it is barely distinguishable from "next page.")
Unfortunately, the introduction of the "learn more" caption
seems to imply that there will never be any sufficiently
important comment ever made which might require one of
those untidy and intimidating footnotes or endnotes."
MUSEUM OF FINANCIAL HISTORY
Joel Orosz points out "an interesting article on a little-known
museum with significant numismatic content." The article by
Ralph Blumenthal titled "Museum Explores Capitalism's Feats
and Follies" was published January 6, 2003. Here's an
excerpt. To access the full article, see the link below.
"What would John D. Rockefeller say?
In the basement of his Standard Oil Building, just steps from
Wall Street, where the Museum of American Financial History
celebrates the wonders of capitalism, an exhibit wall is papered
with gaily colored stock certificates carrying names like Enron,
WorldCom and ImClone Systems.
It's the dark side of the American dream. But the dot-com
debacles and infamous bankruptcies of the infant millennium
are as much part of the nation's financial heritage as scandals
of the past and the stock market crash of 1929, says the
museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
Exhibits about that Black October Friday that ushered in the
Great Depression, and accouterments like the plunging ticker
tape record, have long been the biggest draw of this low-profile
and literally underground museum, in its 15th year at 28
Broadway, where Rockefeller first moved into a smaller
building in 1883, on same the site where Alexander Hamilton's
law office once stood."
"The stock certificates are on display until Feb. 28. Other ]
exhibits now at the museum include one of the four remaining
largest bills ever issued by the United States: a $100,000 gold
note issued in 1934 and depicting Woodrow Wilson. It was
used for monetary transfers between Federal Reserve banks."
"Another exhibit displays an exquisite palette of high-
denomination bills issued by other countries during periods
of runaway inflation, including, from Germany between the
world wars, a trillion-mark note."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/06/arts/design/06MUSE.html
WILLIAM SHARON DINNER SILVER INGOT
One standout exhibit at last year's ANA convention in
New York included a silver ingot made for a special dinner
in San Francisco in 1876 in honor of William Sharon,
a Nevada Senator and bank baron. Dealer Fred Holabird
published an article on newly discovered example of the
ingot in the Winter 2002 issue of The Brasher Bulletin,
newsletter of the Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatics.
The article contains a reference to Panamint Balls of silver,
which were discussed in the E-Sylum last November
(v4n47 and n48). From the article (and Holabird's web
site):
"Senator Wm. Morris Stewart ... headed a bunch of investors
along with John P. Jones in the mines at Panamint, California.
In 1875 they pulled out a million in silver, but were acutely
aware of highwaymen just waiting for the bullion-laden wagons
to come down the treacherous canyons out of the Panamints.
The mountains are so rugged, that there is about 6000 feet
of relief in just over a mile of horizontal distance. Even the
mighty Wells Fargo & Co. would not dare to establish an
express office there for fear the risk of robbery was too high.
“They said they wouldn't run any risks at Panamint, not with
that bunch of highwaymen lying around just waiting to swoop
down and gobble up every dollar in sight.” Stewart needed
a plan. “Finally I hit on a scheme. I had some moulds made
in which a ball of solid silver could be run weighing 750 pounds.
Then I began smelting the ore, and I ran out enormous cannon
balls of the precious stuff that could have bombarded a
battleship. When the road agents saw what I was doing, their
eyes stuck out of their heads…they acted as though I had
cheated them out of property…”
http://www.holabird.org/americana2002/archive/Auction11/ingots.htm
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING OF THE HUNLEY
Small world: In response to last week's item about numismatic
items found in the wreckage of the Confederate Submarine
H. L. Hunley, David Fanning writes: "Nondestructive Testing
is the somewhat arcane area of science in which I work as an
editor. It's basically industrial science--physics and engineering
-- involving evaluating components, structures and materials in
ways which do not affect the future utility of the thing being
tested. Hence, ultrasound, radiography, eddy current, infrared
and electromagnetic testing are all forms of nondestructive
testing (so is alloy analysis like X-ray diffraction, useful in
numismatics).
The journal I edit is "Materials Evaluation" and in a recent
issue I published an article on the nondestructive testing of
the structure of the Hunley wreckage: "The Confederate
Submarine H.L. Hunley and Nondestructive Testing," Vol. 60,
No. 3, March 2002, pp. 409-419 (published by The
American Society for Nondestructive Testing,
http://www.asnt.org/)"
CARNEGIE HERO FUND MEDAL REDESIGN
As part of my duties as Chairman of the local committee
for the 2004 Pittsburgh ANA Convention, I visited the
headquarters of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission
this week to plan a possible exhibit of hero fund medals at
the show, in cooperation with the Carnegie Museums of
Pittsburgh. 2004 will be the 100th anniversary of the fund.
Officials of the fund have preliminary sketches for a
redesign of the medal for the centennial year. It will
bear a 1904-2004 inscription, and the die will be retired
at year end. Some other small changes are being
incorporated into the design, and these will continue in
2005 and beyond.
For more information on the fund and its medals, see
http://www.carnegiehero.org/
ARTHUR C. CLARKE COIN CACHE
While we're on the subject of shipwreck coins, at
a local club meeting this week, Kavan Ratnatunga
brought along a copy of a nonfiction book written by
science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, with Mike
Wilson. "The Treasure of the Great Reef" was
published by Harper & Row, New York in 1964.
The book describes a March 1961 discovery by the
authors of a shipwreck at the Great Basses reef off the
south east coast of Lanka, where Clarke has lived since
1956. The numismatic connection is a fabulous hoard
of silver rupees dated 1701-1702 found in the wreck,
which are pictured in the book. Kavan illustrates one
of the hoard coins on his web site. See
http://serendib.org/coins/indian/1701_surat_1r_ag.html
From Kavan's web page: "The coins appeared to have
been packed in coir sacks with about 1000 coins each
and perhaps packed several sacks to a wood chest. The
coir bags held together long enough for the silver coins
to have been concreted solidly together, so that when
the sacks rotted away, the coins remained in twenty five
pound lumps in the shape of the sack. The coins in the
middle of the lumps were in perfect mint condition. The
inner side of the outer coins were similarly protected as
was the reverse of the coin shown above.
The Smithsonian institute was donated a 1,000 rupee
lump soon after the discovery of the unrecorded wreck
on the Great Basses Reef - off the south east coast of
Lanka. Accession record 239761 dated December 7,
1961 describes a gift made to the Smithsonian by Arthur C.
Clarke. as 1 cluster of approx. 1000 silver rupees dated
1702, found off Great Basses Reef, Ceylon by Mr. Mike
Wilson."
Kavan's book was signed by Clarke, whom Kavan has
known since the 1960's, and visits on his trips home.
WHERE'S GEORGE
We've profiled the "Where's George" web site before.
The site allows people to register the serial numbers of
U.S. currency passing thru their hands. This week, I
received in change a note that had been overstamped
with the Where's George URL and other slogans. So
I registered the note and shoved it back in my wallet.
For those who care, it's a 1999 series $1 note, serial
number K40586052D. I wonder where it'll turn up
next? See http://www.wheresgeorge.com/ for more
information.
LYNN GLASER
Last week, Bob Leonard shared some information about
numismatic author Lynn Glaser. Glaser was one of the
collaborators on The Fantastic 1804 Dollar book, along
with Walter Breen, Eric Newman and Ken Bressett.
Ken writes: "I was shocked to read Bob Leonard's
comments on Lynn Glaser. I had never heard any of that
story. Lynn just sort of dropped out of sight at one point
and I never heard from him again."
"As far as I can recall, Lynn never did autograph any
books along with the rest of us. I do not even have such
a copy. He did very little to assist with the writing of the
book other than to offer some background notes that he
had accumulated as part of his research on other projects.
He showed promise as a budding numismatist and we
were happy to offer him encouragement, but he quickly
drifted away into other fields."
[Through Walter, I contacted Lynn Glaser about ten years
ago. I was hoping to have him sign my copy of the 1804
book - the other three authors already had. Walter told
me the town he was living in, and through directory information
I managed to locate him. He seemed quite surprised to hear
from someone in the numismatic field and said he'd nearly
forgotten about his work on the book. He said he didn't
normally sign books, but since I'd gone to the trouble of
contacting him, he agreed to do it. I sent him the book by
mail, and a couple weeks later it came back with a signature.
I've never met him in person. With Walter dead I wonder
if my copy is the only one signed by the "Gang of Four".
I should also note that I believe we had typos in earlier
E-Sylum issues (v3n35 and v3n40), where Currency
Auctions of America principal LEN Glaser was listed
incorrectly as LYNN Glaser. -Editor]
RETINAL SCANS REPLACE CASH AND SCRIP
Here's a science-fiction turned fact item for you: a
school in western England has turned to the use of retinal
scans to determine payment for cafeteria food. From a
January 8, 2003 USA Today story:
"... students will be charged for their lunches with a retina
scanning device to prevent poor children who eat for free
from being ridiculed in the cafeteria.
"... the school is concerned that if students are forced to
pay for their lunches in cash the poor ones who receive
food for free could be stigmatized. So officials have
decided to make the entire school "cashless."
The retina scanning device also will be used in the library
when students take out and return books..."
"But this is not a James Bond school for spies. ... This is not
science fiction. This is technology that exists."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-01-08-retina-school_x.htm
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is the Hellenic Numismatic
Society of Athens, Greece. "The Hellenic Numismatic
Society was founded in 1970 to serve the interest of Greek
and foreign numismatists and collectors concerned with
every aspect of Greek numismatics from earliest times to
present day."
"The journal of the society, Nomismatika Khronika
(NomKhron), has been appearing since 1972. It contains
articles by Greek and foreign numismatists, covering the
whole range of the history of coins in the Greek world,
as well as related subjects (paper money, medals and
decorations, tokens etc.). It is now completely bilingual:
all articles are printed in the original language (usually
Greek or English) with a full translation or detailed
summary in Greek or English as required."
http://www.helicon.gr/hellenum/
[The web site was last updated in 2000; does anyone
know if the society is still active? -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. To join, print the application and
return it with your check to the address printed
on the application. For those without web access,
write to David Sklow, NBS Secretary-Treasurer,
P.O. Box 76192, Ocala, FL 34481.
For Asylum mailing address changes and other
membership questions, contact Dave at this email
address: sdsklow at aol.com
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