The E-Sylum v7#32, August 8, 2004
whomren at coinlibrary.com
whomren at coinlibrary.com
Sun Aug 8 20:32:21 PDT 2004
Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 32, August 8, 2004:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
1913 GOLD NOBEL PRIZE MEDAL STOLEN
An August 2 article in an Indian newspaper reports that "A
new team will take over the investigation of the unsolved theft
of litterateur Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel prize from his home
inside Visva Bharati University."
"On March 25, security staff of Uttarayan, Tagore's home
inside Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan town, discovered
that at least 50 of his memorabilia, including the Nobel gold
medal he won in 1913, were missing."
"Several people were detained, many suspects questioned,
criminal hideouts raided, antique dealers tapped and a Rs.1
million reward announced for information on the theft - but so
far no breakthrough has been made."
"University authorities have asked the Sweden-based Nobel
awards committee for a replica of the medal."
http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=5505
FINDER OF DOMITIANUS COIN AWAITS PAYMENT
A U.K. newspaper reported on 29 July that "An amateur
archaeologist is set to learn this week that his hobby has
earned him a five-figure fortune.
Brian Malin, of Cotswold Crescent, Chipping Norton,
discovered a hoard of Roman coins on a farm south of
Oxford with a metal detector in April 2003.
An inquest in Oxford at the end of May this year ruled the find
"treasure trove", meaning the coins must be sold to a museum
or collector and the money given to the discoverer."
"The official valuation of the 5,000 coins by experts hired by the
Department of Culture, Media and Sport, will be posted to Mr
Malin, who will split the value with the owner of the field where
they were discovered, rusted together in a Roman pot.
One coin is only one of two in existence and proves the identity
of an obscure Roman emperor, Domitianus, who ruled the
empire for just four days in the late 3rd century AD.
The coins are still on display at the British Museum in London,
where they have been since the end of February.
After their evaluation it will join the Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford in bidding for the collection.
http://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=687&ArticleID=830725
PHILIPPINE JOURNAL BARRILLA INFO FOUND
Last week, Ralf Böpple wrote asking for the period during
which the Money Museum of the Central Bank of the
Philippines published their journal BARRILLA.
Ken Berger writes; "Ralf Bopple's question regarding the
Barrilla is one I have wondered about for many years. All
I can tell him is that the last Barrilla I have in my collection
is dated December 1989."
Howard A. Daniel III writes: "Ray Czahor is my first contact
for anything and everything Philippines, so I recommend that
Ralf Böpple can have his question answered about the Barrilla
by contacting Ray at cjcpi at comcast.net. If Ralf, or anyone
else, is attending the Pittsburgh ANA convention and needs
information about Philippine numismatics, they can see Ray
there at club table 15 there for the Philippine Collectors
Forum (PCF). And he will be the moderator for the PCF at
1-4PM on Friday, August 20 in Room 316, where there will
be three presentations on Philippine numismatics, and a show
and tell of each attendee's favorite or unique item. More
information can be obtained at Ray's website at
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cjcpi."
Jess Gaylor writes: "Scroll down for an answer straight
from the horse's mouth. Thanks for a great newsletter.
These queries make my day. "
Lucrezia J. G. Villanueva, Chief Librarian, BSP Library
writes: "In connection with your email dated 3 August 2004
regarding the publication of Barilla Journal, kindly be informed
that said journal had been discontinued. Last issue was
December 1989. For more information kindly contact the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Money Museum at telephone no.
5247011 local 2981."
PHILIPPINE "KNOW THE COUNTERFEIT" BOOKLET
I don't have much on Philippine numismatics in my library,
but thought I'd mention an interesting booklet titled "Know
The Counterfeit" published by the Central Bank of the
Philippines in 1956. The 67-page pamphlet is well illustrated
and makes interesting reading.
PITTSBURGH LIBRARIES TOUR
As the "Great Numismatic Libraries of Pittsburgh" tour
approaches, a timely study reports that "Pittsburgh is the
third most literate city in the United States behind Minneapolis
and Seattle, according to a study of reading behavior released
yesterday. The city finished sixth last year in the first such
survey of reading done by the University of Wisconsin-
Whitewater.
The other top 10 cities were Madison, Wis., Cincinnati,
Washington, D.C., Denver, Boston, Portland, Ore., and San
Francisco.
Finishing last among the 79 metro areas with populations of
200,000 or more was El Paso, Texas. That city also was at
the bottom last year when 64 metro areas were surveyed.
Helping to boost Pittsburgh's ranking was its fourth-place
finish in library use, one of five categories devised to chart
reading activity."
[The top cities are all well-populated with E-Sylum readers.
If there were a survey targeting numismatic literary, I wonder
what city would come out of top? And what if we extended
the survey internationally? Where are the greatest
concentrations of numismatic bibliophiles? -Editor]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04217/356185.stm
CALL TO RITTENHOUSE SOCIETY MEMBERS
John Kraljevich writes: "The annual Rittenhouse Society
meeting will be on Friday, August 20 in Pittsburgh. Since
there is no official list of members of this most informal
group outside of the membership's collective memory,
could you ask those members who read The E-Sylum to
contact me (johnk at anrcoins.com) this week for time
and location specifics, and to informally RSVP?"
PROMINENT COLLECTOR UNMASKED?
Last week, W. David Perkins gave us this question at the end
of his submission on "a prominent early silver dollar collector
(active in the 1950s and 1960s)" He asked, "What was the
name of the “prominent collector?” Hint, this collector was
the subject of a talk I gave at the NBS Annual Meeting a few
years ago at the Philadelphia ANA Convention."
We've had no responses, but I'll take a guess. From my
recollection of the talk, it was about Alfred J. Ostheimer.
QUIZ QUESTION: NUMISMATIC NAMES IN STONE
Dick Johnson brings us a new quiz question. He writes:
"Now that the American Numismatic Society is leaving the
building that has been its home for 96 years, can you name
the numismatists whose names are inscribed on the tablature
of the facade above the building’s entrance? (The Society
moved into the building December 1907 from a room next
door at the Hispanic Society where it had been meeting
for a year. The first meeting in the new building was the
Fiftieth Annual Meeting January 20, 1908.)
Hint 1: Archer Milton Huntington’s name is not there (despite
the fact he donated the land and made up the difference
between the money raised for the building and its actual costs).
Hint 2: The names are all numismatic book authors. It’s fair
game to peek at the building (if you are standing on Audubon
Terrace while you read this)."
[See this week's Featured Web Page for more on Audobon
Terrace. It includes a picture of the buildings, but no close-up
of the tablature. -Editor]
NUMISMATIST LETTERS TO EDITOR SOUGHT
Gregg Silvis writes: "A question for the E-Sylum collective:
I need assistance in confirming two citations from The
Numismatist. In a letter to the editor of The Numismatist,
Commodore W.C. Eaton responded to the question, "When,
where and why did you start to collect coins?" Eaton's
letter is dated November 5, 1921. Unfortunately, it would
seem that these early letters to the editor are not indexed in
the Numismatic Index of Periodicals. I need:
1) The citation for Eaton's letter to the editor, which would
have appeared after November 5, 1921.
2) The citation in which the editor posed the question, "When,
where and why did you start to collect coins?," which
would have appeared prior to November 5, 1921.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated and acknowledged
in my forthcoming Penny-Wise article on William Colgate Eaton,
Frederick Reed Alvord, and Dr. Wallace S. Bardeen. I can be
contacted at gregg at udel.edu. Thanks!"
U.S. ESSAY, PROOF AND SPECIMEN NOTES, 2ND EDITION
Howard A. Daniel III writes: "I am a specialist in Southeast Asia,
but my 1st edition copy of Hessler's "U.S Essay, Proof and
Specimen notes is the only reference I own and knows that
explains essay, proof and specimen notes in plain English. And
I can hardly wait to get my hands on the 2nd edition because
there will be even more information in it than the 1st edition! I
have already paid for an autographed copy of the Limited
Collectors' Edition at the International Paper Money Show at
Memphis this past June, so I'm assured of obtaining my copy.
I highly recommend that every collector of paper money from
anywhere in the world should own a copy and that they should
order it now at the BNR Press website at
www.papermoneyworld.net before they are sold out."
[The book is one of my favorite numismatic books, and I've
already ordered the new edition. I'm looking forward to
reading it all over again. -Editor]
CHASE MONEY MUSEUM QUERY THANKS
Chris Faulkner writes: "Well, just ask and you shall be answered.
Thanks to all for the helpful responses to my inquiry about the
disposition of the holdings of the Chase Manhattan Bank Money
Museum. Just proved again that the E-Sylum is a wonderful
resource; kudos to Wayne for assuming the week in week out
editorial responsibilities that allow this resource to flourish.
The knowledgeable answers to my query prompt me to ask
whether thought has ever been given to an annotated guide/
history to past and present institutional numismatic holdings in
North America. The sorts of institutions that come to mind
include banks, universities, libraries, museums, archives,
foundations, historical societies, manufacturers (e.g. mints)
and numismatic associations. The knowledge and resources
with which to undertake such a worthwhile project are probably
to be found with the subscription list to the E-Sylum."
MAVIN COINS, BANKNOTES & POSTCARDS AUCTION 6
Howard A. Daniel III writes: "The Mavin Coins, Banknotes &
Postcards Auction 6 on catalog is on a nicely done CD-ROM
and has its own plastic holder. For those of you collecting
CD-ROM-based auction catalogs, it can be requested at
www.mavininternational.com The auction will be conducted on
August 14 and 15, but for those just wanting the CD-ROM, it
does not matter when you receive it. But if you are also
interested in Southeast Asian numismatics and/or postcards, you
can review the lots and bid online. I cannot remember at this
time how many of this firm's auction have been placed on
CD-ROMs, but I believe this is the third or fourth."
MORE ON THE "E" AND "L" COUNTERSTAMPS
Regarding the E and L counterstamps, Mark Borckardt writes:
"I must disagree with Tom DeLorey's disagreement regarding
the new theory. I have actually not read this article yet, so I
cannot say whether I agree or disagree with the article.
Tom made two observations. First, that the reverse does not
show any disturbance, indicating the counterstamps were
applied with the coin still in the mint die. Nearly every
counterstamped quarter I have examined does have a minute
disturbance on the reverse. With my old eyes, this is only
visible with 5 to 10x magnification, but it is there. Tom
compared these to the 1848 CAL quarter eagle that was
counterstamped in the die and does not show any disturbance
on the obverse.
The other of Tom's observations is that the people doing the
counterstamping would not have had access to a reverse die
as a base or support for the stamping process. Even though I
do not agree that these were counterstamped while resting on
the die, all of the early 19th century coinage dies that left the
mint (whether as scrap iron or any other reason) suggests to
me that it is quite possible a reverse quarter dollar die was
available outside the mint."
Ronald S. Thompson writes: "Unless I am missing something,
I don't think you need to put the quarters on the reverse die
to counterstamp the obverse without damage. I think the
same result would occur with a reasonable hard wood other
than really hard woods like oak, iron wood or ebony."
MORE ON LATIN PRONUNCIATION
Ken Berger writes: "In response to Dave Kellogg's comment,
the C was only hard in classical Latin not in vulgate Latin."
Dan Demeo writes: "No, no, no, no. I believe Celtic has its
origin in Greek, through Latin, and maybe German--Celtic,
Keltic, hard C. Civilization, sure, from Latin, and civis,
citizen, was pronounced something like ke-vis, not si-vis,
but we've had 2000 years of improvement since then, and it
came to us through French--do you really want to try to
correct the French? Worse yet, Latin had no J, so Julius
Caesar was actually yu-li-us ky-sar--enough, already."
FEATURED WEB PAGE
This week's featured web page is about the history of
Audobon Terrace, the former home of The American
Numismatic Society in New York.
"The Audubon Terrace Museum Group was the concept of
scholar, art patron and philanthropist Archer M.Huntington.
He was the son of Collis P. Huntington, owner of the Central
Pacific Railroad and Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock
Companies. The younger Huntington wanted to leave a cultural
legacy for Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights with a
variety of museums in one place.
Huntington began purchasing Audubon Park, which was
named for the estate of John James Audubon. The construction
of the complex was planned to coincide with the building of the
new subway line that was projected to go up Broadway.
The complex is bordered by 155th Street, 156th Street,
Broadway and Riverside Drive. The site was laid out in 1908
by Charles Pratt Huntington, who had created the master plan
for Audubon Terrace. Most of the major statues on the grounds
were executed by Anna Vaughn Huntington.
Audubon Terrace originally included The American Academy
and Institute of Arts and Letters, The American Numismatic
Society, The American Geographical Society, The Church of
Our Lady of Esperanza and the Museum of the American
Indian-Heye Foundation."
http://www.washington-heights.us/history/archives/000583.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. Membership is only $15 to
addresses in North America, $20 elsewhere.
For those without web access, write to W. David
Perkins, NBS Secretary-Treasurer,
P.O. Box 3888, Littleton, CO 80161-3888.
For Asylum mailing address changes and other
membership questions, contact David at this email
address: wdperki at attglobal.net
To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum,
just Reply to this message, or write to the Editor
at this address: whomren at coinlibrary.com
(To be removed from the E-Sylum mailing list
send an email message with the word "Unsubscribe"
in the body of the message to: esylum-request at binhost.com)
More information about the Esylum
mailing list