The E-Sylum v6#10, March 9, 2003
whomren at coinlibrary.com
whomren at coinlibrary.com
Sun Mar 9 18:51:02 PST 2003
Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 10, March 9, 2003:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2002, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
COLONIAL NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED
Gary Trudgen, Editor of The Colonial Newsletter, writes:
"The April 2003 issue of The Colonial Newsletter (CNL)
has been published. The entire issue is dedicated to an
important study on the enigmatic and rare 1694 Carolina
Elephant Token. One of the goals of the author, Neil Fulghum,
"keeper" of the North Carolina Collection Gallery at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was to place the
token into its proper historical context. In this effort, Neil
has investigated the agents who represented the lords
proprietors' interests and who personally promoted the
Carolina colony in London. From this study, he has
suggested who might have been responsible for the tokens'
production and distribution. Plus, Neil has studied the
potential connection of the token to the Carolina Coffee-House
along with its possible ties to like establishments in Cornhill and
to the Merchants' Walks inside the Royal Exchange.
For the collectors of Elephant tokens, Neil has identified the
earliest published American references. He has provided an
overview of Elephant Token reproductions and called
attention to a high-quality electrotype that is often mistaken
as genuine. His paper also initiates a project to compile a
full census of Carolina Elephant tokens.
CNL is published three times a year by The American
Numismatic Society, Broadway at 155th Street, New York,
NY 10032. For inquires concerning CNL, please contact
Juliette Pelletier at the preceding postal address or e-mail
pelletier at amnumsoc.org or telephone (212) 234-3130
ext. 243."
NEWSPAPER ROBBERY
Dave Bowers forwarded the following message from
newspaper dealer Jim Lyons, who suffered a robbery.
Bibliophiles are encouraged to keep a look out for
offerings of the listed missing material.
"This is to inform you that I was subject to a newspaper
robbery sometime between May and September, 2002.
I didn't notice it until some time later and still haven't been
able to determine the extent of the robbery. But here's a
list of what I have found so far:
Bound Volumes:
Daily Evening Bulletin, San Francisco:
Oct 8 (vol. 1 #1) to ca. Apr 7, 1856, may be marked withdrawn from
the California Historical Society, early 1970s.
A second volume, from Stanford Library.
Apr 8, 1856 probably to Oct 7, 1856.
Jan to June 1857.
Jan to June, 1858.
Jan to June, 1860.
Apr 9 to Oct 6, 1860.
Oct 8, 1860 to Apr 9, 1861.
Apr 10 to Oct 7, 1861.
Oct 8, 1861 to Apr 7, 1862.
Apr 8 to Oct 7, 1862.
July to Dec 1862.
1863 complete
1864 complete
1865 complete (lacks Apr 15)
Many of the above will be stamped Stanford Library.
Daily California Chronicle, San Francisco:
July to Dec 1854.
July to Dec 1855.
Jan to June 1856.
Daily Alta California, San Francisco:
July to Dec 1851, in nice white cloth binding stamped
Stanford Library.
July to Dec 1853.
Jan to June 1857 in pretty red leather binding stamped
Stanford Library.
July to Dec 1859 in great near-new black cloth binding.
Probably stamped Stanford Library.
Sacramento Daily Union:
March 19 to Sept 17, 1858.
March 19 to Sept 18, 1860.
June to Nov 1860.
1861 complete (two sets).
July to Nov 1863.
July to Dec 1865.
Jan to June 8, 1866.
Jan to June 1867.
Other Civil War volumes of uncertain date. May be stamped
Stanford Library.
Loose Issues:
Pacific News, San Francisco, 1850 to May 1851, estimated
25 or 30 issues. Most or all in very clean white near new
condition. California of Civil War date, estimated 75 to 150
issues.
Tombstone Epitaph, 1880 to 1882, estimated 75 issues, all
in custom cut polyester folders with my notice of deacidification
at the bottom right corner. In typical brittle and chipping
condition of the run I got about 1984. Some may have tiny
Bancroft Library rubber stamp on dateline. Of course the
notice may have been cut off or the whole polyester folder may
be gone.
About 50 to 100 single sports pages, all in custom cut polyester
folders. Dates between 1907 and early 1950s; titles may
include:
Chicago Record or Record-Herald, S. F. Bulletin, N. Y.
American, Stockton (Cal.) Record, San Diego Tribune, New
York Daily News, S. F. Daily News, N. Y. World, N. Y.
Sun, N. Y. Herald Tribune, Boston American, and the Boston
Globe.
As I said, this is all I've found missing so far. Whoever took
the papers had a key to the office and found my storage
locker keys in the office desk. Whoever took the papers had
a good knowledge of what I had.
I ask you to please keep your eyes open for any of this
material and to contact me (phone (650) 949-1525, mailing
address: P. O. Box 580, Los Altos, CA 94023) if anybody
offers you any of it, if you hear about it, if you see it on a list
somewhere, or if it should appear on eBay. Thank you.
Jim Lyons
jim at jimlyons.com
http://www.jimlyons.com"
SCOTT'S "COINS OF THE BIBLE ILLUSTRATED"
My question about Scott's "Coins of the Bible" brought this
response from Bob Leonard: "My copy was purchased from
Marlcourt Books of Canada (now out of business) about
five years ago, but lacks the facsimiles of coins. It is an
attractive little book, based (as the anonymous author says)
on Coins of the Jews by Madden, Recherches sur la
Numismatique Judaique by de Saulcy, and has "many extracts
from Rev. Geo. D. Mathew's papers on Jewish Coins in the
Coin Collector's Journal."
The introduction explains that the silver coin facsimiles were
struck, not cast, in "fine white metal," and the mite in copper."
MILLION POUND NOTES
Regarding last week's excerpt from Mark Twain's story,
"The Million Pound Note," George Kolbe writes: "C'mon
Wayne, don't tease. What happened to the honest intelligent
electee? And "gorgeous flunkey"? (sounds like a Mickey
Spillane novel)"
[Well, to be honest, I haven't read the whole story yet
myself. But it's all available at the listed web reference.
Read on to learn about the Hollywood versions of the tale.
-Editor]
Bob Lyall writes: "£1,000,000 note! I believe I was told
many years ago that there were several million pound notes
produced for banks to use them for inter-bank settlements -
they were not for use by the public. But someone may know
better of course. Oh, and there was a classic British film made
of the same (similar) story, cleverly entitled "The Million Pound
Note" or something similar. I seem to recall Alec Guiness was
in it, but again someone may know better."
David Klinger writes: "There are may fantasy versions of the
Million Pound Note, and some highly collectable stage money.
This is a from a description of a Million Pound Bank Note
currently offered on eBay:
"In 1893, Mark Twain published the story. In 1954, J.Arthur
Rank Film Studios made this delightful story into a movie "The
Million Pound Bank-Note" with Gregory Peck and a large cast
of British character actors. A single banknote in the amount of
one million pounds was created to "star" in this movie. (The note
is dated 1903).
In 1989, this note was sold at auction by Sotheby's for nearly
2,000 pounds (then about $3,500 US). From that original, a
Limited Edition of only 1,000 of these unique banknotes have
been re-issued.
Another adaptation of the "Million Pound Bank Note" was
released in 1994, and was titled "A Million to Juan", produced
by Trimark Pictures and directed by Paul Rodriguez who also
stars in the title role. I do not known if there was a Bank Note
produced for that movie."
Peter Gaspar (Esylum subscriber #1) writes:
"1. The Twain story may be found, along with more than
a hundred other stories and books in the 1997 annotated
bibliography "Numismatics in Fiction" published by Chris
Carlisle and me in the print version Asylum.
2. Genuine "giant notes" including million pound denominations
are described in Byatt's (sp?) beautifully illustrated history of
the Bank of England note "Promises to Pay" published in 1994
as part of the Old Lady's tercentenary celebration. I believe
that I reviewed the book for the Spink Circular. The
photographs of notes from the Bank archives are really
spectacular, including several of the "giant notes." A canceled
one was sold at auction in 1997 and I have a photograph with
permission from Sotheby's to publish it. It arrived just too late
for the 1997 Gaspar, Carlisle Asylum publication, but we will
use it in a forthcoming addendum. I hope that friends will
continue to send me suggestions of additional items of
"Numismatics in Fiction." We have about 40 items not
included in 1997, but there must be hundreds more.
Thanks much!"
Len Augsburger writes: "I don't know anything about a million
pound bank note, but there was once a "trillion dollar bill" on
an episode of The Simpsons, which, by some contrived path,
ended up in the hands of Fidel Castro. Perhaps E-Sylum
readers could cite other numismatic allusions from this most
perspicacious font of modern American culture."
Ron Haller-Williams of the U.K. writes: "First, I think a quick
trip to "across the pond" is required, to the USA.
Apparently, the highest denomination ever produced by the
U.S. Federal Reserve Bank was $100,000 (with the portrait
of President Woodrow Wilson). These notes were used only
for transactions between the Federal Reserve and the
Treasury Department.
The highest denomination issued for public circulation was
$10,000 (with the portrait of 19th-century U S Supreme
Court Judge Salmon P Close). The highest denomination
currently in circulation is $100, as per a 1969 decision, and
only 200 of the $10,000 bills remain in circulation (or
"unretired"). Although my sources ( http://tomchao.com/trivia.html
and http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Floor/5282/trivia.html )
state that the $100,000 notes were "issued", I have my doubts
about this.
A film was made of Mark Twain's story in 1953, starring
Gregory Peck as the "victim", with Ronald Squire and Wilfrid
Hyde White as the brothers. Script adapt.: Jill Craigie.
Director: Ronald Neame. Also known as "Man with a Million"
(1954, USA). Runtime: 90 min. See
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0046072
The "Guinness Book of Records", c1980, confirmed the
existence of at least one of these notes. I no longer have this
volume, but (if I remember correctly) the account is something
like: One such note (or was it two?) was "adapted" by hand
from a £1000 note in order to use it for internal accounting
purposes, and (of course!!) it was never issued. But I
regarded the date as a problem: I was sure it was between
1904 and 1910 !!! (By the way, by this date all our notes
were 100% printed; prior to 1870, some parts were written,
dated and/or signed by hand.)
Update on the Guinness Book of Records, as dictated by a
cousin of mine: 1974 ed: "Two Bank of England notes for
£1,000,000 still exist, dated before 1812. These were used
only for internal accounting. The highest notes issued were
for £1000, issued from 1725 and discontinued on 22nd April
1943, being withdrawn on 30th April 1945. As of May 1973
(the latest date for which statistics are available), 62 of
these £1000 notes are unretired, but only 3 of these are in
the hands of collectors."
Discontinued 22-April-1943? But Pick shows last issue date
as Aug '43! 1979 ed. is exactly as above, except that
* Now "4 of these [£1000 notes] are in the hands of collectors",
not 3.
* "In November 1977 the existence of a Treasury £1,000,000
note dated 30th August 1948 came to light, and it was sold
by private treaty for $A18,500, then the equivalent of £11,300
in Australia."
Working mainly from Pick but also from other numismatic
sources: The Bank of England's highest denomination issued
for public circulation was £1,000 (which, like those of £100
and £500, was last issued August 1943). The £200 was last
issued in 1929. Our highest denomination currently in circulation
is £50. There was a ten-shilling note from 1928 to 1970;
emergency notes of half-a-crown and five shillings were
produced in 1941 but never issued.
Meanwhile, the Treasury issued "currency notes" of ten
shillings and £1 from 1914 to 1928, plus (in 1919 only) notes
for one shilling, half-a-crown (two shillings and six pence), and
five shillings. The signature on the Treasury Notes of 1914 to
1917 was that of John Bradbury, hence the enigmatic name at
the end of some versions of this song:
"Abe, Abe, Abe my boy - what are you waiting for now?
You promised to marry me some day in June:
It's never too late and it's never too soon.
All the family they keep on asking me,
which day? what day? I don't know what to say!
Abe, Abe, Abe my boy - what are you waiting for now?"
"John Bradbury!"
e.g. with unnamed artiste/s, on Ariel Records # 4068 (78rpm).
"Can you tame wild Wimmen" and "Abe Abe Abe my Boy"
( see for example http://www.guysrugby.com/songs.asp
although this site gives a "rude" parody for the 5th line:
"which day? what day? I'm in the fam'ly way!" )
For anybody who doesn't quite get it, the young man
presumably thought he did not have enough money available
to undertake such a commitment.
The Bank of England's home page is at
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/
BTW, you can see a promo £1M at
http://www.radifyordie.com/millionpounds/ with order form at
http://www.radifyordie.com/millionpounds/Campaign%202.htm
TEN million pounds? Well, the Turkish "lira" has also been
called "pound" (check derivation of our "£" symbol!), and
there are details of a £T10M note at
http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/duyuru/10Meng.html
Fiction, of course, goes higher than this - but not as high as
fact! In an episode of The Simpsons, variously called "The
Trillion Dollar Bill" or "The Trouble With Trillions", a unique
specimen of the eponymous bill had been printed with the
intention of relieving depression in Europe in the immediate
aftermath of World War II. [It would, of course, have been
even more impractical than was expected by one of the
brothers in Mark Twain's "Million-Pound Note".]
However, the avaricious C. Montgomery Burns stole it
while it was en route, and ended up with it hanging framed
on a wall in his house, where Homer Simpson happened to
spot it ...
This of course would have been US$ 1 000 000 000 000.
However, owing to a different system of numbering, we
"ungrateful" Europeans would not have reckoned it as being
worth more than a billion!
Meanwhile, in various parts of Europe at that time we had
higher notes:
Greece - 100 000 000 000 000 drachmai
(03-Nov-1944, Pick#135) [Pick's interpretation of
"dis-ekatom-myria" as a milliard is wrong.]
Hungary - 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 pengos
(03-Jun-1946, Pick#136)
and 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 pengos
(03-Jun-1946, Pick#137, not issued)
At other times:
Germany - 100 000 000 000 000 mark
(15-Feb-1924, Pick#140)
Yugoslavia - 500 000 000 000 dinara
(1993, Pick#137) - half-way there!
Although this last is claimed to be "the most zeros actually
printed (11)", including by the current (2003) edition of the
Guinness Book of World Records, one counter-example
is the uniface Mengen (Stadtgemeinde) K-3517d
locally-issued note of 1 Billion mark (1923), visible at
http://www.milliondollarbabies.com/Images/Germany/GermanRegional/Mengen1Bil.jpg
where you can see the value in numbers and hence showing 12 zeros.
2 different types of $1M promos (though there are others!)
can be found at:
http://www.millbill.com/Security_Features.htm and at
http://www.milliondollarbill.com/mdbpaper.html
The American Bank Note Company is responsible for the
design and production of the latter of these, which apparently
was commissioned by and at first exclusive to the "Institute
of Millionaires", and its design has been copied onto a 4-ounce
.999 silver ingot, details of which are at
http://www.jakesmp.net/Silver_Bars/Million_Dollar_Note_M.html
At http://www.development.psu.edu/News/2002/00135800.htm
there's a write-up of the 1 million Euros "banknote art" to
be found at http://www.banknotables.com/onemillioneuro.asp
I feel that this is the type of thing which maybe should
be dealt with by an item in the "ANA Money Talks" series.
WHY IS IT that some of the E-Sylum's questions open the
door to what might almost be called "research papers"?
MORE CHIT CHAT
Nancy Green, ANA Librarian writes: "I think Bill Spengler
gets the prize for best definition of chits. According to the
Oxford English Dictionary (OED), 2nd edition; chitty or chit
is an Indian word which means "a letter or note; also, a
certificate given to a servant or the like; a pass."
Just my 2 cents worth for the discussion.
NEW LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA
NBS Board member Joel Orosz spotted an interesting
article in The New York Times of March 1, 2003.
The article by Robert F. Woth is titled, "Online Library
Wants It All, Every Book"
"The legendary library of Alexandria boasted that it had a
copy of virtually every known manuscript in the ancient
world. This bibliophile's fantasy in Egypt's largest port
city vanished, probably in a fire, more than a thousand
years ago. But the dream of collecting every one of the
world's books has been revived in a new arena: online.
The directors of the new Alexandria Library, which
christened a steel and glass structure with 250,000 books
in October, have joined forces with an American artist and
software engineers in an ambitious effort to make virtually
all of the world's books available at a mouse click. Much
as the ancient library nurtured Archimedes and Euclid, the
new Web venture also hopes to connect scholars and
students around the world.
Of course, many libraries already provide access to
hundreds or even thousands of electronic books. But the
ambitions of the Alexandria Library appear to surpass those
of its rivals. Its directors hope to link the world's other
major digital archives and to make the books more
accessible than ever with new software."
"The library has scanned only about 100,000 pages of its
own material, mostly medieval Arabic texts, Mr. Serageldin
said. But it has embarked on a plan to digitize thousands
of books over the next several years, most of them Arabic
texts, with French and English translations, he said. Other
works are scheduled to be scanned elsewhere in Africa,
including a whole library of crumbling medieval manuscripts
in a monastery in Timbuktu in Mali, Mr. Serageldin said.
The library will also have access to one million books that
are now being scanned by Carnegie Mellon University, which
is creating its own vast digital archive and is one of
Alexandria's partners."
"And putting everything in one place is no longer as risky
as it was in the predigital era, said Brewster Kahle, the
founder of the Internet Archive. "One lesson of the
original Library of Alexandria," he said, "is don't just
have one copy."
For the full text of the article, see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/01ALEX.html?ex=1047785767&ei=1&en=c091ce1307d5404d
KLEEBERG COMMENTS ON W. H. SHELDON
John M. Kleeberg writes: "In a recent posting, John W.
Adams comes to the defense of William Herbert Sheldon
and asks us "not to be glib with the truth." Actually, if we
examine the truth more carefully, we can understand
Sheldon's life of crime better. Sheldon made many
extensive thefts of large cents: in the course of ten years
of litigation and many more of research, I have found
that he stole not only from the American Numismatic
Society, but also from many of the leading dealers of the
day - Abe Kosoff, Stack's, New Netherlands, Celina
Stamp & Coin - and from collectors (the T. James
Clarke Estate, the Gaskill estate, and Ted Naftzger)
through coin switches. Yet many have been puzzled,
asking "Why would a tenured professor at an Ivy League
university do this?" One answer is that he didn't
have tenure at an Ivy League or any other university.
We can understand the motive for these crimes by
reading J. E. Lindsay Carter & Barbara Honeyman Heath,
Somatotyping - Development and Applications (Cambridge
University Press, 1990). This has an extensive introduction
discussing Sheldon. Sheldon's career fell apart after the
"Starlight" crisis of 1936. A woman he thought he was
engaged to, whom he nicknamed "Starlight," married
another doctor. Sheldon wrote a foul, abusive letter.
Her husband circulated this letter among medical academia.
His bizarre letter led him to being squeezed out of the
profession, and after 1936 Sheldon did not ever hold
again another formal, salaried academic post (Carter &
Heath, p. 6).
His chief income was his full disability as a major after
he developed Hodgkin's disease while in the army in
World War II C & H p. 7). Heath, who worked as
Sheldon's research assistant, broke with him after she
discovered him altering his data to fit his theories. He
wanted her to trim photos to fit certain somatotype
measurements (C & H p. 12). At the University of
Oregon Medical School, Sheldon was given desk space
and the title of "clinical professor," but no salary and no
benefit under the grant. In 1953 Columbia University
threw him out of his space at the hospital (C & H p. 14).
Sheldon insisted rigidly on a 7 point scale for somatotypes
(C & H p. 13).
Sheldon had many mystical beliefs, in particular about the
number 7, which explains why he fit both somatotypes
and coin grades into Procrustean scales of 7 and 70.
After the Second World War, Sheldon had no substantial
pension and no large salary - except for whatever he got in
disability - and he turned to theft to pay for his retirement.
He wrote his cent books and created his grading system as
part of his plan - after all, I can always fool you into believing
it is colder than it is if I make the thermometer. He was a
talented, charming man, but also a psychopath and a thief.
We do not do justice to history or to numismatics when we
sweep his crimes under the rug."
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is Jersey Coins and Banknotes
by H.K. Fears
http://hiwaay.net/~hfears/coins.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. 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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