The E-Sylum v6#50, November 23, 2003

[whomren at coinlibrary.com]

Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 50, November 23, 2003:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2003, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


LAKE BOOKS SALE 71 PRL AVAILABLE

   Fred Lake writes: "The prices realized list is now posted
   to our web site at: http://www.lakebooks.com/archive.html
   After opening that page, scroll down (or press the "2003"
   link) to sale #71.

   Due to our travel plans this week and the Thanksgiving
   holiday next week, our usual "speedy" packing and shipping
   of lots to the winning bidders will be a bit slower.

   Many thanks to all of our bidders for making this a most
   interesting sale.

   Our next sale will be held on January 20, 2004 and will
   feature Part III of the library of Dr. William E. Hopkins.
   Excellent reference material in the field of ancient numismatics
   will be highlighted."


BYRON KANZINGER

   Regarding token author Byron Kanzinger, David Gladfelter
   writes:  "To know him was to like and admire him.  Although
   terminally ill and he knew it, he called upon all of his energy to
   provide leadership to the Civil War Token Society in his
   typically upbeat manner. He wanted to do all that he could,
   knowing that he didn't have much time to do it, so he got
   right to work, leading by example.  He got as much out of
   the hobby as anyone I know and made many friends along
   the way."

   Dick Doty writes: "Having been blessed with a melanoma
   myself, that hit home.  But thirty-two is obscene..."


CANADIAN NUMISMATIC BIBLIOGRAPHY DEADLINE

   Darryl Atchison writes: "The pre-publication deadline has
   passed but if anyone wishes to enquire if they can still get in
   under the wire, they should contact Ron Greene at
   ragreene at telus.net.  I cannot make any promises, however."

   [The cutoff date for ordering the new Canadian Numismatic
   Bibliography had been pushed back from October 15th to
   November 15th.  -Editor]


LIBERTAS AMERICANA REPLICA INFO SOUGHT

   John W. Adams writes: Back in the early 1960's, Stanley
   Apflebaum of FCI ran a promotion on replicas of the Libertas
   Americana medal.  Does anyone in the readership possess
   one of these replicas and/or have literature relevant to the
   offering of these items?   This information could prove helpful
   to the Comitia American survey that I am doing in conjunction
   with the Massachusetts Historical Society.  Thanks for your
   help. (jadams at ahh.com)"


1910 PATTERN CASE INFO SOUGHT

   Roger W. Burdette writes: "Saul Teichman referred me to you
   on the following subject:  Can anyone tell me anything about a
   legal case involving pattern coins (legality of private ownership?)
   that was being handled in Philadelphia in September 1910?
   I did a search of Lexus/Nexus but their database does not go
   back that far. Probably the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
   (Federal Court) - possibly NNN vs MacVeagh, or NNN vs
   United States.

   I found a reference to it in a letter from A Piatt Andrew (Asst
   Treas Sec) to William Woodin.  (There are also other letters
   with reference to a pending "pattern decision" by Andrew.
   This appears to be part of a larger US Mint issue in 1910
   involving pattern coins and dies.  Thanks!"


ADDING CYPRUS AND MALTA TO DESIGN OF EURO NOTES

   An article from the Reuters news service on November 7th
   describes an upcoming change to the design of the Euro notes.

   "If the designs on euro notes now in the pockets of millions of
   Europeans are to be believed, Cyprus and Malta have sunk.

   But the two Mediterranean islands are due to join the European
   Union next year and now want their inadvertent omission from
   the notes, which feature maps of the continent, set right.

   http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=3777140


DROOLING DOLLAR

   Regarding the "drooling dollar" question, Joe Boling was the
   first to respond with an answer.  Neil Shafer chimed in soon
   with some additional detail:

   Joe writes: "Nepal, several denominations (2, 100, 500, 1000
   rupees, Pick numbers 29, 34, 35, 36). The two low
   denominations carry little premium for the "drooling" variety;
   the two higher denominations are priced more than double for
   the early variety (so is the 2 rupee, but the difference is only
   $1.50)."

   Neil writes: "The "drooling dollars" are from Nepal.  King
   Birendra Bir Bikram's first notes, issued in 1981, did show him
   with what is thought to be a line of "drool" coming from his lower
   lip on some notes, specifically the 2,100, 500 and 1000 rupees.
   The Standard Catalog of World Paper Money lists two varieties
   of the 2 and 100-rupee notes, with and without the drooling line.
   As far as we know, the others with the drooling line were not
   issued in the corrected version. The 5, 10, 20 and 50 rupees
   were not issued with the drooling line.  There is only a slight
   premium on the 2-rupee drool piece, and even less on the 100."


NEW BOOK ON BULGARIAN COUNTERFEITS

   A new book has been published on the counterfeits of
   ancient coins emanating from present-day Bulgaria.
   From the press release by Eugeni Paunov & Ilya
   Prokopov, Sofia, Bulgaria:

   "We have the pleasure to announce the recent publication of
   a new book:  "Modern Counterfeits and Replicas of Ancient
   Greek and Roman Coins from Bulgaria", by Ilya PROKOPOV,
   Kostadin KISSYOV and Eugeni PAUNOV., in English,
   format 16°, 78 pp., glossy black paperback, 192 coins in
   bronze, silver and gold. Sofia, September 2003.
   ISBN 954-91396.1.1.

   Publisher's price per single copy: Euro / USD 20,-- (P&P not
   included), /or USD ~23. with P&P to America/.
   [Retail price discount available for distributors and larger orders].

   This is a second booklet on the counterfeits of ancient coins
   from present-day Bulgaria.  In 1997, a team of three co-authors
   lead by Dr Prokopov prepared and edited a first small book of
   fake coins, which was subsequently published in Sofia.  It
   covered a large group of contemporary fakes of ancient Greek
   and Roman coins from Bulgaria – 204 specimens in gold,
   silver and bronze. The present catalogue is the result of that
   first booklet.

   The authors prepared the second book in 1998 in the same
   format. It was not until 2003 that a publisher for this book was
   found. Prior to publication it was necessary to edit and reformat
   the manuscript - this publication is the result of that work and
   reflects information gathered up to the spring of 2003.

   In this small format (22.5x14.5 cm) catalogue is published a
   large group of modern forgeries of ancient Greek, Roman and
   Byzantine coins coming from Bulgaria. 192 coins in gold, silver,
   copper and bronze are catalogued and illustrated with nice
   black&white photos in chronological and geographic principle.
   From the total number, 112 specimens are Greek (2 in gold,
   the remainder in silver); 78 Roman (Republican - 5 denarii and
   a gold coin of 60 asses; Imperial - 18 in gold, 34 in silver, 5 in
   bronze, including 5 interesting 4th c. AD’ multipla/medallions
   in gold and silver), as well as 2 Byzantine pieces. A special
   section of the catalogue is devoted to a group of 77 modern
   fakes of Thasian type Celtic/Thracian imitation tetradrachms,
   all in silver. For the first time, 8 sets of modern steel dies for
   striking of Roman Republican and Imperial coins are illustrated
   and commented.

   A comprehensive 5-pages introduction provides background
   information about the phenomenon of modern coin forgery
   production in Bulgaria.  The patterns, technology and workshops
   known are discussed as well as some up-to-date references
   quoted.

   Publication is devoted to serve to professional numismatists
   and amateur collectors and make familiar with the modern fake
   types of ancient coins. Such imitations are offering for sale in
   museum giftshops as  replicas and souvenirs in Bulgaria and in
   the West and North America for use in coin jewelry. The
   series will include a third issue with more than 119 additional
   forgeries.

   We will be glad to accept orders from interested individuals
   and institutions.

   SP & P Publications Ltd.
   Mr Stoyan POPOV
   Sofia BG-1000, BULGARIA
   e-mail: <ccchbg at abv.bg>
   tel/.fax: +359-2-718630.


JOHN FORD TAPE AND CHARLESTON SLAVE TAGS

   Gathering dust in your editor's home office were a set of
   audio cassette tapes.  They appeared to be unlabeled but
   inside the case were notes I'd made indicating that they were
   from a previous American Numismatic Association convention.
   "I'll label these properly when I have some time," I surely
   said to myself, and of course, the time never came.  I believe
   further research will confirm that these are from the Baltimore
   convention in 1993.  The note with this tape indicated it was
   a recording of John J. Ford speaking at 4pm Thursday, probably
   as part of the Numismatic Theatre.  I listened to it in my car
   over the course of a couple days, and although it was hard to
   hear parts of the talk, it was very interesting and informative.

   One part of the talk touched on coins as an investment, and
   he mentioned the 1881-S Morgan Dollar, which is plentiful in
   high grades.  "I handled 127 bags of 1881-S dollars.  That's
   127,000 coins.  They aren't rare."   [I'm paraphrasing here -
   this isn't a transcript of his exact words.]

   As an example of something he collects that IS rare, Ford
   mentioned Charleston, S.C. slave tags.  Ford had been
   accumulating these for years at $100-$200 apiece.  His
   collection of slave tags was about to be auctioned by Stacks,
   and Ford estimated they would bring $1,000-$2,000 apiece.

   For reference, here are links to some interesting web pages
   about the badges.
   http://charleston.net/stories/022403/loc_24badges.shtml

http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues03/feb03/object.html
   http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/turningpoint/pages/6.3.htm
   http://www.wakeforestcoins.com/slave%20badges/slave%20badges.htm

   At the Stack's sale, I believe some slave tags brought
   considerably more than  Ford's estimates.

   Ford's other topics included dealer B. Max Mehl, Ford's
   discovery of Walter Breen, and a brazen broad-daylight
   theft of rare early American medals from the New-York
   Historical Society.


ANA HALL OF FAME

   In response to last week's question about the American
   Numismatic Association Hall of Fame, Chris Fuccione
   quickly located the information on the ANA web site.
   I suspected it could be found there.   Gail Baker, the
   ANA's Education Director, also responded quickly.
   She writes: "The ANA Hall of Fame with a listing of all
   the inductees is in the ANA web site (www.money.org)
   at http://www.money.org/halloffame.html"

   The following is from the web page:  "To perpetuate and
   enshrine the names of the most important numismatists of
   all time, the American Numismatic Association established
   the Numismatic Hall of Fame at its headquarters in Colorado
   Springs, Colorado.

   The brainchild of Jack W. Ogilvie, a Hollywood film writer
   and editor who served as ANA historian from 1950 to 1970,
   the Numismatic Hall of Fame was created in August 1964.
   A constitution and bylaws were drafted that year, and the
   first inductees were named in 1969. The next group was
   enshrined in 1970, with subsequent honorees inducted every
   two years thereafter."


S.I.N. ARCHIVES PRESERVED

   In response to my query, "What is to become of your
   archives?",  Phil Iverson of the Society for International
   Numismatics writes: "We have preserved all the files of
   our history that we could including all the publications
   that we know of.  Several years ago we donated our
   library to the Getty Museum here in Los Angeles.  We
   plan to donate whatever money we have left at the end
   of this year to the ANA to be used for young numismatists.
   Hopefully, our name and memory will continue on..."


DENVER MINT TOURS

   In last week's item about the Denver Mint, it was noted
   that "tours for schoolchildren still can be arranged, but
   adults hoping to see the mint must ask their congressman
   to arrange a visit."

   Gail Baker reports a third option:  "attend the ANA
   Summer Seminar! We have arranged a fabulous optional
   floor tour of the Denver Mint for Friday, July 9, 2004."


FRANKLIN MINT ARTICLE LINKS

   Dick Johnson writes: "The two links in this week's item on
   Franklin Mint both led to a dead end.  Both led to
   delcotimes.com  but neither had a Franklin Mint story.
   Perhaps for this daily it changes text that often.  FM now
   is old news for them. I searched for their archive news
   stories but could not find them.

   Perhaps this is a persistent problem in giving out news
   links. It ain't there when you want it. Even a day or two later.

   I am also leery of putting any Internet address in any
   published book -- or citing this in any bibliography. How
   long will it be available?   It is always questionable.

   I just read that CD technology will be obsolete in five years
   (before I had the chance to get my directory published in
   print and available on CDs!)   This is frustrating.  But it does
   point out the certitude of a bound book.  As long as there
   are human eyeballs, the technology will always exist for
   downloading the printed page!"

   David Gladfelter unlocked the secret of the missing pages.

   Go to http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/
    Click on "Articles last 7 days"
    Choose "Go to articles older than 7 days"
    Type "Andrew Cassel" in subject box
    Click GO to find his column for Nov. 14.

   [The broken link problem is a never-ending battle for
   web publishers.  That's why I like to quote key sections
   of articles or web pages referenced in The E-Sylum.  At
   least the quoted text will remain in the E-Sylum archives
   even if it disappears 10 minutes later from the original
   web page.   I believe most citations meet the "fair use"
   criteria for copyrighted works, but when in doubt I do
   prefer to err on side of over-quoting.  We'll be happy to
   retract or expunge anything the original author objects
   to, but in six years of editing The E-Sylum, this hasn't
   happened yet.  -Editor]


URBAN LEGEND, RIGHT?

   A bank story making the rounds of the Internet recently:
   "A thief burst into a Florida bank one day wearing a ski
   mask and carrying a gun.  Aiming his gun at the guard, the
   thief yelled, "FREEZE, MOTHER-STICKERS, THIS IS
   A ****-UP!"  For a moment, everyone was silent. Then
   the sniggers started.  The security guard completely lost it
   and doubled over laughing. It probably saved his life,
   because he'd been about to draw his gun. He couldn't have
   drawn and fired before the thief got him. The thief ran away
   and is still at large. In memory of the event, the banker later
   put a plaque on the wall engraved with the words, "Freeze,
   mother-stickers, this is a ****-up!"


FEATURED WEB PAGE

   In light of this week's anniversary of the assassination of
   President John F. Kennedy, this week's featured web page
   discusses the 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar.

   "The story of the Kennedy half dollar’s inception is perhaps
   best told in the words of then Chief Engraver of the United
   States Mint, the late Gilroy Roberts:

   “Shortly after the tragedy of President Kennedy’s death,
   November 22, 1963, Miss Eva Adams, the Director of the
   Mint, telephoned me at the Philadelphia Mint and explained
   that serious consideration was being given to placing President
   Kennedy’s portrait on a new design U.S. silver coin and that
   the quarter dollar, half dollar or the one dollar were under
  discussion.

   “A day or so later, about November 27, Miss Adams called
   again and informed me that the half dollar had been chosen
   for the new design, that Mrs. Kennedy did not want to replace
   Washington's portrait on the quarter dollar.  Also it had been
   decided to use the profile portrait that appears on our Mint list
   medal for President Kennedy and the President's Seal that has
   been used on the reverse of this and other Mint medals.”

   This work was undertaken immediately, Gilroy Roberts
   sculpting the portrait obverse, while his longtime Assistant
   Engraver, Frank Gasparro, prepared the reverse model
   bearing the presidential seal."

   http://www.ecoinprices.com/kennedy-halves.htm


  Wayne Homren
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society


  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a
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