The E-Sylum v7#29, July 18, 2004
whomren at coinlibrary.com
whomren at coinlibrary.com
Sun Jul 18 18:32:08 PDT 2004
Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 29, July 18, 2004:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATE
Among recent new subscribers is American Numismatic
Association Executive Director Christopher Cipoletti,
courtesy of David Sklow. Welcome aboard! We now
have 669 subscribers.
UPDATE FROM GEORGE KOLBE
George Kolbe writes: "Currently, one more Ford sale is
planned for next June. It may be a mail bid sale or
combination public and mail bid auction.
Hardbound cloth ($95) and quarter leather ($175) editions
were available only through us. We ordered a few extra of
both. If any of our regular sale participants forgot to place an
order, we'll try to help while we can if they call us at
909 338-6527.
The August 19, 2004 American Numismatic Society Library
Chair Benefit auction sale catalogue is currently being printed.
Any NBS members not on our mailing list can obtain a copy
of the catalogue by sending $5.00, made payable to the
American Numismatic Society, to George Frederick Kolbe,
P. O. Drawer 3100, Crestline, CA 92325. Fifty lots are
featured in the sale, covering a wide variety of topics; average
lot value is slightly over $1,000. The catalogue is also
accessible on our web site: www.numislit.com.
We would also like to announce that the English translation of
Ernest Babelon's "Ancient Numismatics and Its History,
Including a Critical Review of the Literature" has, after long
last, been published by Kolbe & Spink. It remains the best,
and only, comprehensive introduction to the history of ancient
numismatics ever written. Hardbound copies of this 248 page
book are available from us for $68.50 plus $5.00 shipping
in USA; elsewhere $12.50 air mail or $6.50 surface mail
(£35 from Spink plus shipping). Further details are available
on our web site."
NBS TABLE AT ANA CONVENTION
Howard A. Daniel III writes: "The ANA misplaced the NBS
(and IBNS & NI) applications for a club table at the upcoming
Pittsburgh convention. They were mailed in with my
applications for IBNS & NI meetings on Saturday at 11AM
and Noon, that were processed, but somehow the club table
was not processed.
Luckily, Rachel Irish at the ANA remembered I usually have
a club table and contacted me about it. No more club tables
were available but arrangements were made to sit with the
Philippines Collectors Forum club table. Sharing a table will
make NBS less visible but I've also discovered that the club
tables are hidden off to the right of the entrance and no one
was probably going to find me anyway. For those NBS
members attending this convention, if you find someone who
wants to join us or renew their membership, please send
them to table 15, and hope they can find it."
RARE NBS EPHEMERA PRINTING ERROR
[The ANA's mistake isn't the first snafu regarding
the Numismatic Bibliomania Society club table.
The following is from the July 11, 1999 issue of
The E-Sylum (Vol 2, No. 28). -Editor]
Speaking of errata, somewhere in my vast "archives" is a
sign rescued (i.e. "looted") following the 1989 A.N.A.
convention in Pittsburgh. The sign hung over the NBS
table and proudly proclaimed our organization as the
"NUMIATIC BIBOMANIA SOCIETY"
Spelling was apparently not a strong point of the
ANA's sign printing firm that year.
THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE
Asylum editor Tom Fort writes: "By the time this issue of
The E-Sylum is published the special issue of The Asylum
celebrating the 25th birthday of our organization will be at
the printer. Measuring in at 276 pages this is by far the
largest issue of our journal that has ever been published.
The previous record holder is Fall 1996 which measured
in at 60 pages.
NBS BENEFIT AUCTION
NBS President, Pete Smith writes to remind everyone that
there are TWO "fund-raising literature auctions at the
Pittsburgh ANA convention. The first auction, for the benefit
of the American Numismatic Society, offers high-value items
averaging $1,000 per lot at a $50 per plate benefit dinner.
The second auction, for the benefit of the Numismatic
Bibliomania Society, is inclusive, accepting the most humble
working-class items of any value. There is no admission charge
for the sale and non-members are invited to attend. We will
accept donations from red states, blue states, swing states,
and from our members around the world.
If you wish to support the NBS, please bring items to the sale
during the membership meeting, or send them with someone
who will attend. The proceeds will support the special 25th
anniversary issue of The Asylum and on-going activities of
the NBS.
Tom Fort writes: "The 25th Anniversary meeting of the NBS
will be held on Friday, August 20th at the ANA Convention in
Pittsburgh. Among other activities will be the annual auction of
numismatic literary items to benefit our society. To do this we
shall need your donations. Wayne Homren has agreed to
collect lot donations. Bring them to the meeting if you're
attending. If you can't attend, ship them prior to the convention
to P.O. Box 452, Glenshaw, PA 15116.
Please send any material that in some way involves numismatic
literature. All those who contribute to the auction, as well as
the items they donate will be listed in the Fall issue of
The Asylum.
[Once again, Brad Karoleff has agreed to be our auctioneer.
-Editor]
NUMISMATIC LIBRARIES OF PITTSBURGH TOUR
Tom Fort adds: "After the NBS auction and celebration at
the ANA it will be time for the Great Numismatic Libraries
of Pittsburgh Tour. The bus is now over half full so NOW is
the time to send your $20 to NBS Treasurer David Perkins
so you won't miss out on the chance to see lots of books on
a wide variety of numismatic and related subjects.
Once the tour sells out you may have to wait another 15 years
before this opportunity comes around again. Payment MUST
accompany all reservations. No money, no space on the bus.
We cannot accept promises that people "will pay us Tuesday
(or at the ANA) for a bus tour today." This means way too
much work for our busy treasurer. Again, the address is:
W. David Perkins
NBS Secretary-Treasurer
P.O. Box 3888
Littleton, CO 80161-3888"
CARNEGIE LIBRARY NUMISMATIC LITERATURE
We're sorry we were unable to fit a visit to the Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh into our tour plans. The numismatic
literature is under the care of Greg Priore, and he is willing
to host bibliophiles able to make the trek on their own
during normal library hours, M-F 10am-5pm. Greg may
be reached at (412) 622-1932 or via email at
oliver at carnegielibrary.org.
The following description of the collection is on the Library's
web site:
"This collection was acquired through a transfer to Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh from Carnegie Museum of Natural
History. The literature had formed the reference library of
the coin section of the Museum. Because of its ties to the
Museum, this body of numismatic literature is a reflection of
the Museum's former coin collection and the collectors who
formed it. The chief curator and all major volunteer curators
were members of the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic
Society founded in 1878.
Due to the efforts of these people, Carnegie Library of
Pittsburgh's numismatic literature collection is very strong in
books, catalogs, research notes, and correspondence. The
areas represented include: Early American copper coinage,
colonial coinage, communion tokens and prison money.
Due to their connection with WPNS, the library collection
is also very strong in items written by or formerly owned by
WPNS and its members.
Highlights are: Panoramus Antiqua 1695, a handwritten
manuscript by Valentine on Sassonian Coins; Rudding's
Coinage of Great Britain; Burns' The Coinage of Scotland;
and Clapp's leatherbound personal copy of his own book,
The Cents of the Years 1798-1799. Another rarity is a
set of The Numismatist, a periodical in continuous publication
since 1888. Only a dozen complete sets are known to exist.
The key to the set is the first six volumes."
http://www.clpgh.org/locations/oliver/rarebk.html#link17
OLYMPIC MEDAL COLLECTION DISPLAYED
There was an Associated Press story this week about
a display of Olympic participation medals in San Diego:
"Art Prior has 16 Olympic medals -- six first-place,
seven seconds, and three thirds. He's been a regular at
the Summer Olympics since 1972. And, at 63, he still
runs sprints every day.
But the last time the San Diego resident had a medal
hung around his neck was in high school. And, to be
honest, he's never been cheered on the Olympic podium.
Instead, Prior is one of a small but dedicated group of
people worldwide who collect Olympic medals -- a
feat in itself.
"It's probably as difficult as collecting the Medal of Honor,"
Prior said."
"Despite the challenges, Prior's collection -- which is on
display this summer at a local sports museum, the San Diego
Hall of Champions -- has slowly and steadily grown at a
rate of about a medal a year. For 15 years he has combed
garage sales, antique stores, memorabilia catalogs and
eBay for medals, though many have come to him through
Olympic memorabilia dealers.
The difficulty is, of course, that few medal winners want to
part with their prizes."
"You put scarcity and personal involvement together, and
you've got something that's very hard to get out of somebody's
hands," Cincinnati-based collector Pete Wade said. "Even if
there were 10,000 of them, people would be hard-pressed to
give them up."
"Still, Wade has managed to collect almost 50 Olympic
medals, which were displayed at the Salt Lake City and
Atlanta games.
Both Wade and Prior have gotten help building their collections
from Ingrid O'Neil, an Olympics memorabilia dealer in
Vancouver, Wash., who each year auctions off between 20
and 30 medals. O'Neil said the medals become available in a
variety of ways."
"A medal that was minted but never awarded -- if there was a
tie, for example -- might be had for as little as $1,500, but a
rare medal from the first modern Olympics in 1896 can go for
upward of $20,000. Medals with documentation showing
they belonged to famous winners sometimes go for more.
Australian track and field star Shirley Strickland de la Hunty
sold her seven medals as part of a lot of Olympic memorabilia
at a 2001 auction, fetching about $200,000. She was criticized
by some for doing so, but said she owed it to her 11
grandchildren to help pay for their education."
"Prior says he is proud of his collection, but his pride can't
match that of an athlete who earned it.
After all, he said, "I just bought these things."
To read the full story, see:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/07/13/sports1625EDT0248.DTL
COIN WORLD "BUY THE BOOK" ARTICLE
Dick Johnson writes: "Kudos to Michele Orzano for the
Coin World article on numismatic books this week. As brief
as it was it covered the field brilliantly -- listing eight online
book sources, five specialist dealers, all NBS members --
in addition to mention of Numismatic Bibliomania Society and
especially E-Sylum's allure. Expect a bump in our ratings with,
perhaps, new members and subscribers. What Orzano
overlooked, however, was mention that most NBS book
dealers have their auction lists available on the net in addition
to printed format."
The issue also caught the eye of our Secretary-Treasurer,
W. David Perkins, who writes: "For those who have not seen
it yet, the Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS) was
referenced twice in the Monday, July 26, 2004 issue of
Coin World. The first mention was as part of an article on
page 16 by Michele Orzano titled “Buy book before coin /
Web sites offer collectors opportunities to add to personal
numismatic libraries.” Six paragraphs under the heading
“Book club” were dedicated to NBS, including membership
information.
The second mention was in Q. David Bowers “The Joys of
Collecting” (column), page 46. This week’s column was
titled “The published word / Out-of-print books contain
wealth of info.” David’s suggestion, “If you like collecting
literature, write out a check for $15 ($20 if you do not live
in North America) to the Numismatic Bibliomania Society…..”
Good advice David! Thanks from the Numismatic
Bibliomania Society for this recommendation. Many
bibliophiles must agree – lately, NBS has been receiving
many new membership applications. E-Sylum subscribers,
if you are not already a member we encourage you to join
today.
[As always, instructions for joining appear at the end of
this issue. -Editor]
MENDACITY REVISITED
Brad Karoleff writes: "I read with intense interest Myron
Xenos' article in the current Asylum on the conjecture as
to the identity of the prankster responsible for the greatest
practical joke in numismatic bibliophile history. After
reading the article I feel that I must adjust my thinking on
the culprit.
What better way to divert suspicion from oneself than to
try and find the "true" culprit? Is Myron using the O. J.
Simpson defense in scouring the Florida golf courses for
the "criminal"? Or, is he overusing the Bart Simpson
defense of "I didn't do it and you can't prove it?" Me
thinks thou doust protest too much.........."
GARRETT AT EVERGREEN HOUSE
Larry Mitchell writes: "My thanks to Leonard Augsburger
for his informative article on Perry Fuller in the Spring 2004
issue of The Asylum.
In a footnote on p.57, Leonard seems to suggest that the
title "John Work Garrett and his Library at Evergreen House"
is an "unpublished manuscript." In fact, this title was privately
printed in Baltimore in 1944 by Schneidereith & Sons. My
copy (75 pp., ill.) is bound in gilt-stamped light blue cloth with
a dark blue cloth backstrip. Limitation is unknown. The work
goes into some detail regarding the titles in Garrett's library,
but there is NO mention of numismatic titles -- the focus is
very much on what modern booksellers term "high spot" book
collecting (e.g., 14th-15th century manuscript horae [Hours
of the Virgin], a nice run of incunabula [western works
printed from movable type before 1500 BCE],
Shakespeare in the earliest quartos and folios, etc.)."
LOCAL AND TRADE DIRECTORIES ONLINE
Larry Mitchell writes that he found online "...a collection of
historical local and trade directories for England and Wales.
Currently directories from 1750-1920, divided by era....
Click on the title of the directory and you'll get a set of
images through which you can browse. Pages are zoomable;
information about the directory is available on the left. There's
also a link to search the entire collection"
From the web site: "The University of Leicester's New
Opportunities Fund project is creating a digital library of
eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth century local and
trade directories from England and Wales. Directories of
counties and towns are among the most important sources
for local and genealogical studies. They include lists of
names, addresses and occupations of the inhabitants of the
counties and towns they describe, and successive editions
reflect the changes in the localities over a period of time.
High quality digital reproductions of a large selection of these
comparatively rare books, previously only found in libraries
and record offices, will be freely available online to anyone
with an Internet connection. This online collection will bring
together a greater number and range of directories than any
one repository could provide. There is also a powerful search
engine available so that names, occupations, addresses and
other key words or phrases can be located to their exact
places on pages within the text."
http://www.historicaldirectories.org/
[Directories have always been a great starting point for
researchers of tokens and other local numismatic items.
-Editor]
NEW COMPOSITION FIGHTS ‘NEGATIVE SEIGNIORAGE’
Dick Johnson writes: "A joint press release this week from
the Royal Canadian Mint and a metal supplier, Alltrista Zinc
Products Company of Greenville, Tennessee, announced a
new metal composition for low value coins, which is called
“multi-ply plated steel ... with inclusion of zinc.” This is a
proprietary coin composition of the Canadian Crown
Corporation. It has a nickel gray color.
The release also contained a new phrase – ‘negative
seigniorage.’ It is obvious what the term means – its metal
cost and manufacturing costs are greater than a coin's
denomination – and that's ideal for the term's clear meaning.
Iron and zinc are two of the world's least expensive coinage
metals, aluminum is another. Alltrista president Albert Giles
made the announcement his firm's ability to manufacture the
new coinage composition for the Canadian Mint. The
composition is not for Canada's coins, said an Alltrista
spokesperson, but for coins of low value for foreign countries
to be struck by the Royal Mint.
Giles further stated “With the price of metals increasing
dramatically over the past year and metal availability being
an issue, zinc offers many countries the opportunity to retain
their lower denomination coins which are in or are under
threat of negative seigniorage while maintaining the prestige
of a quality coin.”
“Economically,” he emphasized, “lower denomination coins
are essential in curtailing the pressures of inflation.” His firm
had developed an aluminum plated zinc coinage composition
two years ago that has been employed for the coins of
Columbia.
Economic pressure of rising metal costs will continue to
create potential negative seigniorage for the lowest
denomination coins of all countries. American coins are not
immune to this effect. The present U.S. cent composition of
copper coated zinc -- Alltrista is one of two American firms
which had supplied this metal since 1982 and now the leading
supplier-- is getting closer to ‘negative seigniorage’ every
year as metal costs rise.
This may be leading to abolishing the copper color cent.
(Would it have to be replaced by a solid aluminum cent,
or an aluminum coated zinc composition?) Yet a Harris
poll, also released this week, states that Americans
continue to oppose abolishing the cent denomination 59
to 23 percent (with 18% not sure).
Not only is metal cost a factor for any new coin composition,
but scrap technology must also be considered. Coins do not
remain intact forever, most are reclaimed for their separate
metal components. America's copper coated zinc was a
brilliant choice in 1982, since it can be melted and easily
reformulated into brass.
It is yet to be seen how the new Canadian composition for
coins can be scrapped for its two core metals, iron and zinc.
The joint release mentioned can be found at:
http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/July2004/13/c2704.html
The Harris poll on possible cent abolishment is at:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040715/nyth178_1.html"
HARVEY THE BISON GOES TO WASHINGTON
The Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune published the
following article, based on a press release:
"To celebrate continued efforts to restore the American
bison from near extinction to a now thriving population,
U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Ben Nighthorse
Campbell, R-Colo., are unveiling a proposal Tuesday to
commemorate the bison.
The senators, as well as Dave Carter of the National Bison
Association and Bob Pickering of the Buffalo Bill Historical
Center in Cody, plan to unveil the legislation during Senate
Swamp at 10 a.m. in the nation's capital. They will speak on
the heritage, conservation and future roles of the American
bison, according to a release.
Harvey, a live bison, is also expected to attend."
http://tinyurl.com/5kvtb
The numismatic connection went unnoted in that story,
but thankfully Christopher Rivituso forwarded the following
story from United Press International (UPI), also published
July 13. The UPI reporter neglected to mention the name of
poor Harvey the bison:
"Western lawmakers and bison ranchers are proposing the
U.S. mint temporarily restore the Buffalo Nickel to celebrate
the revival of bison herds."
"Fewer than 1,000 buffalo were alive in 1900, even though
more than 70 million roamed the North American continent
before 1600.
Republican senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado
and Mike Enzi of Wyoming appeared with a live buffalo to
introduce the Bison Nickel Restoration Act of 2004.
"The original buffalo nickel honored a heritage that was nearly
lost," said Dave Carter, executive director of the National Bison
Association. "This new proposal celebrates the fact that bison
are once again a growing part of the American landscape.
The "heads" side of the original Buffalo Nickel minted in 1913
featured a portrait of an American Indian. The "tails" side was
a 1,500-pound bison named Black Diamond."
H. O. GRANBERG ARCHIVE TO BE AUCTIONED
Mark Borckardt writes: "For the upcoming American
Numismatic Association auction held by Heritage, I just
finished cataloging one of the most impressive numismatic
archives I have seen in quite some time (if not ever), and
this will be offered as the first lot in the ANA Signature Sale.
This is an accumulation of letters and other documents
received by H.O. Granberg during his tenure as chairman
of the board of governors of the ANA. There are 45
individual items including letters, financial statements, and
other items. Each monthly report of receipts for The
Numismatist for the year 1913 is included, itemizing every
individual amount of money received. Each monthly report
of expenditures for 1914 is also included. Most important is
an original legal document executed by W.W.C. Wilson
transferring ownership of The Numismatist to the American
Numismatic Association. Quoting from Pete Smith's American
Numismatic Biographies: "The Numismatist was owned and
published by George F. Heath until his death in July 1908.
It was purchased by Farran Zerbe who published for two
years. It had been designated as the official journal of the
ANA and there was a desire to transfer ownership. Wilson
arranged to purchase the publication and donated it to the
ANA in 1911." By the way, Heritage is donating the entire
15% buyer's premium for this lot to the ANA Young
Numismatists Program."
FT. WORTH B.E.P. OPENS FOR TOURS
The following is a new article by Bill McNease
reprinted from the July 12, 2004 issue of the MPCGram,
an email newsletter covering the World of Military
Numismatics. For more information, see
http://www.papermoneyworld.net
The Fort Worth printing plant (BEP) opened today
(Apr. 27) for the first time for public viewing. It was a
great tour and my brother and I were in the very first
group of only 6 people to go through the tour.
The tour is very interesting and it takes about 45
minutes to complete. It starts with a 15 minute movie
and then proceeds through an upstairs viewing corridor
so you can see all the operations as they are conducted.
We even we the first people to see the new $50 bill live
and in person. They will not be issued until October.
Purple is the predominate color.
On a normal day about $250 million dollars are produced.
This is the only place that the new $50 are produced. The
$100s are only produced in Washington. There is a lot of
money at this place. 800 employees and a really big facility.
(Don't remember the sq. footage, but it was a lot)
The vault holds 1.3 billion notes."
ANA NUMISMATIC THEATRE PRESENTATIONS
Denis Loring writes: "I'm doing an NT presentation
too: "The California Gold Rush through Numismatic
Eyes: How to Tell a Story with Coins." It's really
a story -- CA gold rush coinage from the CAL quarter
eagle through the Wass Molitor $50 -- within a story
-- how coins illustrate history -- just as the name implies."
Mark Borckardt writes: "I will also be giving a numismatic
theatre presentation: "Affordable Numismatics - Great
Coins You Can Afford to Own." Essentially, this will be
an interactive discussion of coins with great stories that
can be acquired even by novice collectors and YNs on a
limited budget. Items discussed will include such coins as
the 1909 VDB cent, the 1943 steel cent, 1913 Type One
Buffalo, the Morgan dollar, etc. I would be interested in
the opinions of E-Sylum readers who might suggest other
great but affordable coins. I am expecting that this may
also evolve into a monthly article in The Numismatist.
The primary purpose of the presentation is to suggest new
ways to approach numismatics as an answer to those who
say that coin collecting is not affordable. E-Sylum readers
may also be able to help me prepare for this program. I
am seeking a couple references from the 19th and early
20th century where collectors complained that coin collecting
was "a rich man's hobby" or some such. I know I have
seen such comments in The Numismatist and elsewhere,
but since I am literally in the process of moving, my entire
library is packed in boxes (which is a very uncomfortable
place to be)."
W.L. ORMSBY, SCULPT
In a followup to our earlier discussion on what the "Sc"
stands for after W. L. Ormsby's signature on Colt's Walker
revolver, Art Tobias writes: "On an earlier engraved scene
done for Colt's 1830s Paterson production the word "Sculpt"
appears after "W. L. Ormsby". Ormsby did not use either
Sculpt or Sc again when signing work done for Colt after
1847.
PAPER MONEY A BARGAIN
PAPER MONEY, the official journal of the Society of
Paper Money Collectors (SPMC) is edited by E-Sylum
subscriber Fred L. Reed III. Under his tenure the
publication has greatly expanded. For only $30 a year
SPMC members receive 500 pages of information and
entertainment per year. I've been a member for about
twenty years, and the quality of the publication has
always been high. For more information about the
society, see their web site at www.spmc.org.
Dues should be mailed to:
Frank Clark,
P.O. Box 117060
Carrollton, TX 75011-7060
The current issue (July/August 2004) has a number of
items of interest to bibliophiles, three of which are
reprinted with permission below.
For example, the issue includes a 10-page article by
Q. David Bowers titled "W. L. Ormsby, Idealist".
The 1852 Ormsby book is a classic of American
numismatic literature and original copies are a
cornerstone of better numismatic libraries. I know
Armand Champa was particularly proud of his copy.
Dave's article is the first extensive work in the
numismatic press (or anywhere, no doubt) about the
life and work of Ormsby.
As a bibliophile I scour all the specialty club journals
for word of new publications. In another valuable
work for researchers, the issue announces an indexed
and searchable CD produced by George B. Tremmel
and Tom Carson titled "Correspondence of the Treasury
Department of the Confederate States of America,
1861-65, by Raphael P. Thian. Thian's rare works
are also key components of a U.S. numismatic library,
and this disc brings a wealth of original historical source
material to the fingertips of readers (see below for
details).
COLUMBIAN TOKEN WORK PUBLISHED
From the July/August issue of PAPER MONEY:
"A new work Fichas de Colombia by Ignacio Alberto
Henao was released last fall, according to Latin America
correspondent Joaquin Gil del Real.
Written in Spanish, the work is “excellent, well presented
and documented,” according to the Panamanian researcher
and frequent Paper Money author. Coverage not only
includes Columbian tokens, but those from Panama when
the isthmus was part of Columbia, he added. Additional
information and pricing on the volume may be obtained
from fichascolombianas at yahoo.com"
SOUTH CAROLINA CURRENCY BOOK PUBLISHED
From the July/August issue of PAPER MONEY:
"A life spent collecting and studying obsolete currency of
his native state has enabled past SPMC President Austin M.
Sheheen Jr. to completely revise and update his 1960 catalog
with the release of his new 368-page South Carolina Obsolete
Notes and Scrip.
Sheheen’s work is not only a comprehensive survey of his
subject (state, bank, railroad, town, city, private, depression
scrip, and miscellaneous notes), but a sumptuous one at that.
Printed on heavy 80-pound glossy paper, virtually every note
(more than 1,000) is published in full color.
The book’s dapper author credits a brace of deceased and
current collectors as well as the State’s Museum and
Department of Archives and History for advancing his
knowledge of this field.
The catalog includes basic information on the banks of issue,
their officers, capitalization and dates of organization. Rarities,
note descriptions, printers’ imprints, as well as listings of
counterfeit, spurious, altered and raised notes are detailed as
well. A very helpful index and a comprehensive set of running
heads (folios) make navigating the book a breeze. Certainly
an excellent addition to the literature and highly recommended
as a definitive listing.
This hardbound volume is priced at $45 (dealers inquiries
invited) from its author at PO Box 428, Camden, S.C.
29020. --Fred Reed"
THIAN E-BOOK PUBLISHED
From the July/August issue of PAPER MONEY:
"Correspondence of the Treasury Department of the
Confederate States of America, 1861-65, by Raphael P.
Thian. An indexed and searchable CD produced by
George B. Tremmel and Tom Carson. 2659 pages.
Requires a reasonably modern PC or Macintosh and
Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6 (free software).
Many know Raphael P. Thian’s Register of the
Confederate Debt through the 1972 Quarterman reprint.
This is a highly detailed compilation of data about
Confederate treasury notes by issue, serial number, plate
letter, signer, etc--190 pages of tables. But Thian, in his
remarkable and long career as Chief Clerk in the Adjutant
General’s Office, did much more to preserve the history of
Confederate finance since he believed that “…the history
of the purse is as valuable as that of the sword….”
This CD duplicates four volumes of Thian's compilations --
incoming and outgoing Treasury Department correspondence
and Treasury reports to the Confederate Congress, President,
cabinet officials, and others. They were published in very
limited editions about 1878-1880 and today are very rare
and fragile volumes.
Most of the correspondence from the Treasury Department
is that of Secretaries Memminger and Trenholm. They wrote
to President Jefferson Davis and other Confederate government
officials, to bankers, to printers such as Keatinge and Ball, to
foreign officials, and to many others. Correspondence to the
Treasury Department is as varied. Henry Savage, an official of
the Commercial Bank of Wilmington, NC, writes secretary
Memminger on May 26, 1864: "SIR: I regret to report the
capture by the enemy of the steamship Greyhound, on which
vessel I shipped for account of the Treasury Department
$26,600…in gold."
Memminger writes to Joseph D. Pope of Columbia, SC on
August 4, 1862: "I have had a full conference with Mr. Keatinge
in the relation of the practicability of printing engraved signatures
to Treasury notes, and of new issues in place of the present
issues which have been counterfeited. It seems to me that we
shall be compelled to create something like a Government
establishment to make everything secure."
The correspondence is by no means just about money, but
includes the full and broad scope of the business of the
Confederate Department of the Treasury. This is the raw
material of historians and the fascination of Civil War and
Confederate paper money enthusiasts.
The 2,659 pages are reproduced on your screen exactly as
they were originally printed. The CD uses Adobe Acrobat
technology. While you see the facsimile pages on your screen,
the file also stores the words so they can be searched. In
constructing the CD files, Acrobat uses an automatic word
recognition methodology called optical character reading
(OCR). OCR is not 100% perfect when the original paper
or microfilmed page is dirty, marred, or deteriorated. This
is the case for part of this manuscript. The compilers estimate
that about 85-90% of the words were captured accurately for
searching. I searched on "Keatinge" and found 139 listings
of the word.
The compilers have created an extensive index (called
bookmarks) to the document. For example, every letter
from the Treasury Department is individually listed by subject
or recipient. Click on a letter entry like a link on a web page,
and you go to that letter. The correspondence index is
arranged chronologically. They have also color coded index
entries: Red, about counterfeiting; green, about currency
production; and blue, those they found especially interesting.
Tremmel and Carson, both advanced collectors and respected
numismatic authors, have made a major repository of primary
material about Confederate finance available to researchers
and hobbyists at a low price and in a very useful format. In
this reviewer's opinion, having the index and the word-
searchability, even if not fully complete, is far superior to
having a paper or microfilmed copy.
The CD is available for $42 from Tom Carson, 5712
N. Morgan Lane, Chattanooga TN 37415; email
htcarson at comcast.net. Tom is interested in converting other
historical documents. Send him your suggestions.
-- Bob Schreiner"
[While most bibliophiles would readily agree to the
benefits of the electronic version, to get them to give up
their bound copies you'll have to pry them from their
cold, dead hands. -Editor]
ROYAL NUMISMATISTS
Martin Purdy writes: "As the current President of the Royal
Numismatic Society of New Zealand, I should have thought
of this one, shouldn't I? Apart from having the Governor-
General as our patron, I don't think we have any current
Royal connections, though.
(I'm not aware of a Numismatic Society with Royal
patronage in Australia, though someone may care to fill that
gap in my knowledge.)"
David F. Fanning of Fanning Books writes: "I was surprised
you didn't have more responses to your quiz question: "who
can list some of the famous royal numismatists of history?" The
one who springs to mind immediately is Vittorio Emmanuele
(Victor Emmanuel) III, King of Italy, who wrote the 20-volume
"Corpus Nummorum Italicorum: Primo Tentativo di un catalogo
generale della monete mediovale e moderne, coniate in Italia o
de Italiani in altri paesi."
Others would include the Grand Duc Georgii Michailovich,
who wrote an extensive catalogue of Russian coins, "Monnaies
de l'Empire de Russie 1725-1894." Sotheby's sold a numismatic
library belonging to "His Serene Highness the Prince of
Furstenberg" in 1982. The Swedish Queen Lovisa Ulrika's
library of numismatic literature is still preserved in the
Vitterhetsakademiens Bibliotek / Library of the Royal
Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. I'm sure there
are more."
[Victor Emmanuel was my top choice as well, and we've
written before in The E-Sylum about Queen Lovisa Ulrika.
Then there is King Farouk of Egypt. Who else? -Editor]
COIN FIND IN GEORGIA
The Catoosa County News of Ringgold, GA reports that
relic hunters have discovered in a 5x5-foot area atop White
Oak Mountain"silver coins dating from the 1830s and 1850s,
square nails, a pocket knife, and Civil War-era bullets,
buttons and a powder flask.
Their greatest discovery was an 1853-D Coronet Quarter
Eagle gold coin. "
To read the full story, see:
http://tinyurl.com/63puw
CURRENCY PAINTINGS
[My apologies for not publishing the following item last week.
It may have gotten tangled in the web of spam and deleted
accidentally. -Editor]
Fred Reed, Publisher-Editor of PAPER MONEY writes:
"Regarding the item on Victor Dubreuil and "Barrels of Money",
trompe l'oeil currency paintings have been a favorite of mine
for nearly 30 years now. I have two excellent examples
hanging in my office now.
Dubreuil painted ***at least*** eight different "Barrels of
Money" paintings (and I suspect that number could actually
be many dozens of them) all of which will be illustrated in a
future issue of PAPER MONEY devoted to Paper Money
Art.
The artist's "barrels" paintings are in a variety of sizes, but
differ most explicitly in the numbers of barrels and types and
configurations of the large size U.S. paper money they depict.
Especially prominently featured in several of them are
Martha Washington $1 Silver Certificates (F215-221),
William Windom $2 Silver Certificates (F 245-246),
U.S. Grant $5 Silver Certificates (F 259-265),
Edwin Stanton $1 Treasury/Coin Notes (F347-349), and
$50 Second Charter Brown Backs.(F 507-518a).
Dubreuil also did less "hectic" tromp l'oeil currency paintings
featuring French notes, $5 Woodchopper Legal Tender Notes
(F 64-92), $10 Second Charter Brown Backs (F479-492),
and $10 Hendricks Tombstone Silver Certificates
(F 291-297)."
WEB COPYCAT FINDER
John and Nancy Wilson of Ocala, FL write: "We found
this neat site while looking at latest releases of new search
engines. Take a look and if you think it is worthwhile let
the rest of the E-Sylum readers know about it:
http://www.copyscape.com."
[The site is a test version of a service that uses Google
to locate duplicate copies of web content. If you are a
numismatic author and would like to track where copies
of your work have ended up on the Internet, this tool
could come in handy. It only works one page at a time,
however - you feed it one web page address and it
comes back and tells you if it locates duplicate content
elsewhere on the web. I tried it for one of the E-Sylum
archive pages as follows:
http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v05n06.html
The tool discovered some similar content on the American
Numismatic Society web site; specifically, it found an
obituary of Geoffrey H. North. In this case, the duplicated
text was part of an E-Sylum submission from Frank
Campbell of the ANS. -Editor]
BRYAN MONEY ON THE WEB
In response to my quest for web pages picturing Bryan
Money, Gar Travis writes: "Here are two interesting pages
from Vassar College, with the second being the real "meat".
http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/bryan.html
http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/currency.html"
[These are good pages, but they do not picture Bryan
Money items. The second page does show a "Silver Bug Pin"
for sale in the campaign, though. -Editor]
PUBLISHERS BATTLE AGAINST USED BOOKS ONLINE
The New York Times this week featured an article about
the problems used book sales on the Internet are causing
publishers.
"Publishers, particularly textbook publishers, have long
countered used-book sales by churning out new editions
every couple of years. But the Web, particularly sites like
Amazon and eBay, have given millions of consumers an
easy way to find cheap books - often for under $1 -
without paying royalty fees to publishers or authors.
Mass-market publishers are not certain the used-book
phenomenon is a problem worth addressing, but others in
the industry have already made up their minds.
"We think it's not good for the industry and it has an effect,
but we can't measure it," said Paul Aiken, executive director
of the Authors Guild, a trade group. "There has always been
used-book sales, but it's always been a background noise
sort of thing. Now it's right there next to the new book on
Amazon."
"Amazon has listed used books alongside new books since
late 2000. But analysts and industry executives said the
momentum among consumers and newly minted used-book
sellers was just now approaching the point of biting into
new-book sales.
"We've not been able to pinpoint a definite effect, but my
gut is that absolutely there's an effect," said Dominique
Raccah, chief executive of Sourcebooks Inc. of Naperville,
Ill., a publisher of both fiction and nonfiction titles. "And it
concerns me that we're not formalizing a reasonable,
proactive response."
"This is not a new phenomenon," said Albert N. Greco, a
professor at Fordham University's graduate school of
business administration. "But now it's different. The computer
and the Internet have revolutionized things."
Furthermore, Mr. Greco said, there is no stigma attached to
buying used books. "It's not like buying a used pair of shoes.
And the prices are very reasonable," he said.
To read the full article, see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/12/technology/12ecom.html
EISENHOWER DOLLAR MATH
Mark Borckardt writes: "The man and his hoard of Ike
dollars was not quite correct. The hoard (assuming it is exactly
175,000 coins), if laid end to end, would be less than 73
football fields. To be exact, it would be 72.917 football fields
long!"
DUE UPON RECEIPT: ONE CENT
The July 15th the New York Daily News published a story
about a woman who had a collection agency after her for
the payment of a one-cent account balance:
"Some cents-less penny pinchers at Coney Island Hospital
are putting the squeeze on Gloria Benavides-Lal.
The city hospital has sicced a collection agency on the
Brooklyn mom over an unpaid bill for some back surgery.
And how much does the 45-year-old office worker owe?
One red cent."
"I showed it to everyone I knew, and they all said it was
ridiculous."
And pound-foolish, too. Postage alone for the invoices was
58 cents, and the stationery and labor used to send them
wasn't free, either.
"I guess they need that penny more than I do,"
Benavides-Lal laughed."
"She carried the letter around with her to show
friends, wondering if it was a mistake.
But she figured the hospital was serious about getting
its penny when she opened her mailbox yesterday and
found a second notice."
"I'm willing to write them a check for the penny if
they'll just leave me alone," she said."
To read the full story, see:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/212371p-182889c.html
FEATURED WEB PAGE
This week's featured web page is a biography of artist James
Earle Fraser, designer of the original U.S. Buffalo Nickel,
from American National Biography Online, "the premier
biographical work on people from all eras who have influenced
and shaped American history and culture."
"In 1911 Secretary of the Treasury Franklin MacVeagh
asked Fraser to design a coin to replace the Liberty Head
nickel. The sculptor's goal was "to achieve a coin which would
be truly American, that could not be confused with the
currency of any other country." The result was the Indian head
and buffalo nickel. Fraser also created several other medallic
designs, including the Victory Medal (1919), which was
distributed to more than four million World War I veterans,
and the Navy Cross, which in prestige is second only to the
Congressional Medal of Honor."
http://www.anb.org/articles/17/17-00296.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,
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