The E-Sylum v6#43, October 26, 2003
whomren at coinlibrary.com
whomren at coinlibrary.com
Sun Oct 26 20:36:07 PST 2003
Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 43, October 26, 2003:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2003, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATE
Among recent new subscribers is Dave Blumenfeld of the
Osborne Coin Company. Welcome aboard! We now have
598 subscribers.
NEW VIET NAM BOOK IN THE WORKS
Howard A. Daniel III writes: "With some spare time on my
hands here in Viet Nam, I started part four in my series of
books about Vietnamese numismatics. It's title is "Socialist
Republic of Viet Nam Coins and Currency" and covers the
time from about 1976/78 to the present. Yes, I know the
coins/currency in the title but I started using it in my titles
many years ago and the people over here are expecting it,
so I am keeping it.
In about ten days, I have all of its 120 pages formatted,
and about 95% of the text/data completed. But I have all
of the illustrations to merge into it, and have some drawings
done by an artist. But this book is on the fast track and
should take me much less than the three years for the last one.
I will be having a few printed and hardbound like my past
books, but most will be in an 8x6 inch format on glossy paper,
glossy hardcard binding, and in color because I am trying to
have it printed here in Viet Nam. Color printing is much
cheaper here than in the USA!
If any of you have something you feel should be in this
reference, please contact me at Howard at SEAsianTreasury.com.
I am here in my house in Ho Chi Minh City, but I just bought a
PC and can now easily do emails here instead of in an Internet
cafe."
S.I.N. FOUNDER PAULINE PAULING EMMETT DIES
Pauline Pauling Emmett, a founder of the Society of
International Numismatics has died at 101. From an
obituary in the Oregonian newspaper of Portland, OR:
"In the 1950s, Mrs. Emmett developed an interest in coins
and operated her own coin shop in Santa Monica, Calif.,
between 1960 and 1963. About that time, she also
became a founder of the Society of International
Numismatics." Emmett was the sister of scientist Linus
Pauling, who won the Nobel Prize in 1954. Pauling also
won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962, "in part for his protests
against nuclear weapons." Ironically, Pauline married her
brother's college friend Paul Emmett, who "worked in the
1940s on the Manhattan Project, which led to the
development of the first atomic bomb."
"It made for interesting conversation around the dinner table
when Linus came to visit," said Mrs. Emmett's granddaughter."
"Although she remained close to her famous brother all his
life, she followed more creative outlets than scientific ones,
said her daughter-in-law, Karla Ney. She enjoyed novels
and was a seamstress, quilter and painter as well as a coin
collector."
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/106682488783970.xml
[Have any E-Sylum readers ever met Mrs. Emmett? Can
anyone tell us more about the Society of International
Numismatics?"
THE OSBORNE COINAGE COMPANY
Dick Johnson writes: "I am going to break my own rule and
send to the E-Sylum the exact text I have on Osborne from my
upcoming directory of 'American Artists, Diesinkers, Engravers,
Medalists and Sculptors' in which I list Producers in addition
to individuals:
Osborne Coinage Company, manufacturer, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Founded 1920 by Wiley W. Osborne as Osborne Register
Company. That same year the firm had purchased the Murdock
Stamp and Speciality Company -- headed by James Murdock Jr.
(q.v.) -- which, in turn, traced its roots to John Stanton (q.v.)
the area's first diesinker. While the exact date may be nebulous,
Osborne uses 1835 as the firm's founding date. In 1944 W.W.
Osborne sold the firm to Dayton Acme Company, which later
named it Osborne Coinage Company."
When I was in business as Johnson & Jensen, my partner,
Chris, and I visited Osborne. (Ostensibly we wanted to see if
they could strike a die we owned. Unfortunately while Chris
was getting the car, I placed the box containing the die on the
curb at the hotel we were staying, I got in the car and we drove
off. I didn't realize I didn't have the die until we were inside
Osborne's offices. Chris, goodfellow he was, drove back to
the hotel to retrieve the die.)
What we observed was that Osborne had a lot of specialized
machinery. They are well known for striking transit tokens.
They were, in fact, the leading producer of these because of a
Progressive Die invented and patented by their Vice President,
Clifford F. Stegman Sr. (The Stegman family has long been
associated with the firm and there are, I believe, still Stegmans
in the firm.)
A Progressive Die is an ingenious coining invention. It performs
three functions with each cycle of the press. A blank strip is
fed into the press. At the first station the image is struck (both
obverse and reverse) while still on the strip. At the second
station it is pierced (to create the unique holes as on transit
tokens). At the third station it is blanked, the circular token
is cut out of the strip. All with one cycle of the press! The
advancing of the strip is critical, as each of the three stations
must be in register.
With this single invention, the firm produced millions of such
transit tokens.
While their website touts '165 years of continuous coin, token
and medallion manufacturing' the "coin" here means any product
struck on a coining press. Remember the coining press is a
metalworking machine and striking actual coins (U.S. or foreign
for circulation) is but a small part of "coining." Such presses
also strike cog wheels, washers, or any flat small part that
requires precise specifications required in large numbers with
or without design.
Also the use of the word "medallion" here is misleading. To
numismatists, a medallion is a large medal, larger than 3-inches
in America, 80mm in Europe. To the public medallion sounds
better than medal. So everything is a medallion. We are more
precise in numismatics.
From the equipment I observed at Osborne I doubt if they
could strike a 3-inch item or larger. (I may be wrong, or they
may have acquired newer equipment in the 20 years since my
visit.)
In addition to transit tokens, Osborne is also well known to
collectors for casino and amusement tokens, Mardi Gras
doubloons, sports items and 'promotional' coins [i.e. tokens or
medals], including such items as sobriety coins given to
members of Alcoholics Anonymous on the anniversary of the
day they stopped drinking.
Osborne Mint, Osborne Coinage, Osborne Register, is a fine
old firm with a heritage deep in midwest history. Collectors
should be aware of their many products created for more than
150 years. We only wished they would have marked every
item they struck for the high quality die work and striking they
have achieved. They deserve their fine reputation."
Dick forwarded the following note by Dave Blumenfeld of the
Osborne company. He writes: "I wish I could find the time to
write a new history on Osborne. So much has changed over
the past 10 years, but there isn't' anything in print. Cliff Stegman
passed away some years ago, and the business has been
owned and operated by his brother Tom and nephews Jeffrey
and Todd. We have become less involved in transit tokens -
most transit authorities have transitioned to magnetic fare cards.
Between '95 and '00 we became the market leader in casino
tokens, selling tokens with the X-Mark anticounterfeiting
optical codes on them. We have over 150,000,000 X-Mark
slot tokens running around casinos here and abroad. We've
become international, with sales in Latin, central and south
America, Europe, even Russia. Current initiatives include old
favorites like advertising specialties and video tokens, along
with some Mardi gras doubloons like in the old days.
We now strike medallions as large as 2", and have coining
presses that run 700 strokes per minute. It's very exciting to
see them run.
You might find some interesting info on our web site:
http://www.osbornecoin.com."
[David asked to be added to the E-Sylum mailing list, and
he is our newest subscriber.]
POLITICAL GRAVEYARD
John and Nancy Wilson, Ocala, FL. write: "While doing
some research on politicians we came across the site
http://politicalgraveyard.com/ which is great for researching
deceased politicians and other famous people. Though it
deals with politicians it also includes many other categories
of individuals. We think it is a useful tool for numismatists
who do research or just want to know some information
regarding deceased politicians and others. Thanks for a
great E-sylum."
SAN FRANCISCO MINT EMPLOYEE IDENTIFICATION
Regarding last week's query, Tom DeLorey writes: "I can't
decipher the name, but would like to add the comment that
"U.S.B.Mint" is probably "United States Branch Mint" rather
than "United States Bureau (of the) Mint."
Steven Olson wrote: "Wow - your newsletter seems to have
an active readership! I got two answers at almost the same time;
I assume it was the day or day after your newsletter went out.
Question answered and problem solved!
I've updated my query page ( http://www.fofex.com/stamps/ )
to show the results. My sincere thanks for your help in solving
this puzzle, (and also for the spelling correction!)."
The page notes: "Sincere thanks to Rich Kelly & Nancy Oliver
who identified the addressee. According to their records he
was: "Joseph A. Souther, a receipt clerk for the first San
Francisco Mint. He was hired December of 1861 and records
still show him working at the mint in 1864. In 1864 he was
being paid at the rate of $2000 per year."
[Bob Leonard also pointed out that "B" stood for Branch.
-Editor]
AMAZON BOOK SEARCH FEATURE
The Mercury News of San Jose, CA, published an article
about a new search feature at online bookseller Amazon.com:
"Call it a Google for books: Amazon's latest feature allows
readers to search millions of pages online to browse before
they buy.
The question now is whether they will buy after they browse.
The nimble search engine unveiled by mammoth online retailer
Amazon.com makes 120,000 of its books -- or 33 million
pages -- fully searchable for free. When the reader types in a
word or phrase, the ``Search Inside the Book'' technology
will call up every reference in each book, along with the page
numbers. Readers can also call up the two pages before and
after, if they sign in and provide a credit card number, which
is not charged unless they buy.
The feature is already drawing rave reviews from librarians
and researchers.
``This is a really great feature for the public,'' said Mary
McGrath, librarian at the Redwood City Public Library.
``It crosses over into being a real reference tool. Definitely
a value add.''
To read the entire article, see:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/7101399.htm
1909 ANA PHOTO VARIANTS
Russell Hibbs wrote: "Pertaining to the issue of the 1909 ANA
"official" picture taken on 10 August 1909 on the porch of Hotel
Burean, Bout de l'Isle, has anyone noticed that there are two
different pictures of this event, probably taken only minutes
apart? One is the "Adams" picture on page 68 of Vol.2 of his
book and the second is the "ANA" picture on page 259 of THE
NUMISMATIST, 1909. There are subtle but definitely different
aspects of each picture, but the wearing or not wearing of hats
seems to be the easiest way to differentiate between them. In the
Adams picture the fifth seated man from the right in front row is
wearing his white hat, whereas in the ANA picture, he has taken it
off. However in Adams the gentleman third from the left has his
hat off and has put it back on in the ANA photo. My question
to you readers of E-sylum is: which picture was taken first and
why? And also does it really matter? It also brings up for
discussion why there are two pictures and how and why did
John Adams use one that was not in ANA for his book and
where did he get it? And awwaay we go! Russ Hibbs,
jruss57 at henderson.net."
BENJAMIN MAXIMILLIAN MEHL ARTICLE
The Fort Worth, Texas Star-Telegram recently published
an article about the city's prolific coin promoter, B. Max
Mehl.
"A small, lively Fort Worth man gained an international
reputation as a rare-coin dealer, a reputation that lasted
through much of the 20th century and still exists posthumously.
His name was B. Max Mehl."
"Mehl was also a natural advertising and public-relations
expert. Born in Lithuania in 1884, he started in the United
States as a teen-age shoe clerk. But he was always interested
in rare coins. It was in December 1903 that he ran his first
coin advertisement in the Numismatist magazine. The next
March he published a booklet called Catalogue of Fine
Selections of Choice United States Gold, Silver and Copper
Coins, Private and Territorial Gold, United States Fractional
Currency. This was possibly his first publication, (and
certainly the one with his longest title).
Soon, he began publishing his own monthly magazine. He
even started a radio program beamed to countless coin and
stamp collectors avidly listening to this brand new broadcast
medium.
By 1910, his innovative advertising caused the Fort Worth
Post Office to double the number of mail carriers on Mehl's
route. Mail addressed to him that first year accounted for
more than half the business of the Fort Worth postal system."
"The headquarters of B. Max Mehl's coin and catalog business,
which he built in 1924, is still a south Fort Worth landmark on
the corner of Henderson Street and Magnolia Avenue. The
brick-and-limestone, three-story building has a unique design. '
B. Max Mehl's name is prominently inscribed in the limestone
in the center of the building.
The building is scheduled for renovation and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places as well as being on Fort
Worth's list of Most Significant Buildings."
To read the complete article, see
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/7074077.htm
WEDDINGS AS SOURCE OF INCOME
The September 28, 2003 E-Sylum (v6n39) described how
counterfeiters in Taipei shove fake bills at weddings. The
following is an amusing non-numismatic item about money
and a wedding, this time in Japan:
"A Japanese "prince and princess" looked unlikely to live
happily ever after Tuesday when they were arrested on
suspicion of defrauding 13 million yen ($117,900) from
guests at a fake royal wedding in Tokyo.
Yasuyuki Kitano and Harumi Sakamoto, both in their 40s,
issued 2,000 invitations to "Prince Arisugawa's celebration
banquet" in April, attracting 400 people including celebrities,
domestic media said."
"The couple deny having pretended Kitano was a member
of the now-defunct Arisugawa branch of the Imperial family."
"Guests at Japanese weddings are expected to bring cash gifts.
In this case they are also said to have been charged 10,000
yen a time for taking pictures with the happy couple."
For the complete story see:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=3655820
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is recommended by
Adrián González Salinas of Monterrey, N.L. México.
He writes: "This site may be be useful readers of The
E-Sylum (it's in English). It contains information about
the newest bimetalic coins of Mexico commemorating
every Mexican state and, in descending order (Z-A),
that is, Zacatecas thru Aguascalientes (32).
http://www.banxico.org.mx/cMoneda/MonedasConmemorativas/003_EN.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
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 W. David Perkins, NBS Secretary-Treasurer,
P.O. Box 212, Mequon, WI 53092-0212.
For Asylum mailing address changes and other
membership questions, contact David at this email
address: wdperki at attglobal.net
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