The E-Sylum v7#40, October 3, 2004

whomren at coinlibrary.com whomren at coinlibrary.com
Sun Oct 3 19:01:50 PDT 2004


Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 40, October 3, 2004:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


SUBSCRIBER UPDATE

   Among recent new subscribers is Ian Milne.  Welcome
   aboard!  We now have 691 subscribers.


LAKE BOOKS SALE 76 CLOSING DATE

   Fred Lake writes: "Hurricane Jeanne did not spare us here in
   St. Petersburg, Florida. Our power has finally been restored
   after more than three days without lights, air, computer and
   everything else that we rely on electricity for.

   As a result, we have set a new closing date for our sale #76.
   It will close on Tuesday, October 5, 2004 at 5:00 PM (EDT).
   The sale is available on our web site at
   http://www.lakebooks.com/current.html
   Bids will be accepted until that time.

   All bids that have been received via US Mail, email, and/or fax
   have been entered and you may wish to email us to see if we
   missed anyone. Your patience and kind thoughts for us during
   this troubling summer have been most appreciated."


THE HISTORY OF COIN PRESSES

   Dick Johnson writes: "We are glad Dan Gosling is back from
   his five-week dream vacation enumerated in last week’s
   E-Sylum and is now asking questions. To answer his inquiry
   on Taylor & Challen coin presses, he need go to only one
   source: Chapter 14 of Denis R. Cooper’s book "The Art and
   Craft of Coinmaking; A History of Minting Technology." Dan
   will find there a picture of a Taylor and Challen press on page
   153 and the reason they were so popular at mints around the
   world – they employed the knuckle-joint action to efficiently
   strike coins and could do this at a rapid rate (at the same
   time inserting the blank and ejecting the struck piece). All
   coining presses today that are not hydraulic employ this
   knuckle-joint action.

   Perhaps a capsule history of the coining press would be
   useful for Dan (and perhaps all E-Sylum readers!).The first
   diestruck coins were made by hammer and anvil – no press.
   Similar hammered techniques continued for more than a
   thousand years. Leonardo da Vinci drew a press for striking
   coins, medals and seals in his notebooks in 1500. Da Vinci
   recognized you need a blank to strike so he put two presses
   back-to-back – one to blank, one to strike the design (with
   the same blow!). But da Vinci’s press was never built (until
   20th century – IBM had one build from da Vinci’s drawings,
   it is now in the Smithsonian Institution).

   In 1506 an Italian, Donato Bramante (inspired by a fruit press)
   built a screw press but only did blanking on it. In 1550 Max
   Schwab of Augusburg built a workable screw press which
   could both blank and strike, and made other equipment (as
   rolling mills to roll metal strips for blanking). He tried but failed

   to sell this equipment to mints in Germany and Italy. He
   succeeded, however, with the French who imported his
   equipment but met with resistance from French moneyers
   (who still made hammered coins).

   By 1641 the screw press was finally in use at the Paris Mint
   but the same thing happened in England, where the first screw
   press arrived but was prevented to strike coins. England
   overruled the moneyers and had a screw press in use at the
   Royal Mint by 1652.  [America obtained its first screw
   press for the 1652 Pine Tree Coinage]. The screw press
   was in universal use (and remained so until 1892 when it was
   entirely replaced by hydraulic presses).

   It was a German mechanic, however, who revolutionized
   coining. Diedrich Uhlhorn (1764-1837) invented the
   knuckle-joint action press in 1812. He patented his invention
   (1817) and built a factory to sell his presses to national mints.
   He called his invention a "lever press" and sold 57 such
   presses to nine European mints by 1847.

   In 1835 a Paris machinist, last name Thonnelier, also perfects
   a knuckle-joint press (similar to Uhlhorn’s technology). He
   does not build these presses, instead he sells drawings and
   plans to build his style presses. The U.S. Mint bought
   Thonnelier's plans in 1833, and their first such press was built
   by Merrick, Agnew and  Tyler; in1840 Franklin Peale
   rebuilds it.  In each case the mints either had to build their
   own or hire "constructors." In 1858 an engineer at the U.S.
   Mint, David Gilbert, rebuilds their Thonnelier press for greater
   strength.  Morgan & Orr was one of these constructors at the
   Philadelphia Mint. Joshua Morgan and Arthur Orr built these
   over three decades including a heavy duty coining press in
   1874 (to accommodate a new steam engine installed at the
   mint).

   The Paris Mint’s Thonnelier press was built by J.F. Caili et
   Cie, who act as agents and build these for European mints.
   Thus every Thonnelier press has a different nameplate,
   the name of the constructor (never "Thonnelier").

   Meantime in 1862, at the Second International Industrial
   Exposition in London, two coining press manufacturers
   exhibited – Uhlhorn’s sons, then in charge of the Uhlhorn
   factory, and Ralph Heaton, flush from acquiring all the
   Soho Mint equipment, purchased at auction in 1850 (who
   then used the name "Birmingham Mint"). As often happens
   at trade expos, these two press makers met and formed a
   consortium. Heatons get permission to build presses using
   Uhlhorn’s technology. Heatons build presses for the
   Mandalay Mint in Burma by 1865 but build 12 Uhlhorn-style
   presses for their own Birmingham Mint.

   Now Taylor and Challen were also coin press manufacturers,
   founded 1850 by Joseph Taylor, competitors to Ralph
   Heaton. They stepped up their activity and developed an
   improved coining press. This is what is shown in Cooper in
   chapter 14. They could supply complete press room
   equipment (as they did for the Sydney Mint, Australia).

   Early in the 20th century, another German firm, Schuler,
   enters the manufacture of coin presses. Schuler presses are
   now in use around the world. They developed a new
   technology – instead of the dies on a vertical axis going up
   and down with blanks fed horizontally, one style of Schuler
   press uses a horizontal axis with gravity fed blanks vertically.
   They also developed "indexing" and a method of double
   striking (as for proof coinage).

   In anticipation of tremendous need for new coins for the
   decimal conversion in the British Empire technicians at the
   Royal Mint in 1950 build 12 Uhlhorn-style presses in
   their workshop, still utilizing this 140-year old technology
   but with modern improvements.

   Today coining presses are made in Germany (by Schuler,
   Grabenel), in Austria (by Reinhard & Fernau), in England
   (by Heaton, Taylor & Challen and Horden Mason &
   Edwards, now a division of America’s Cincinnati Milacron),
   in Belgium (by Raskin), and in Sweden (by Arboga). Both
   national mints and private mints buy these presses as
   coining technology expands universally."

   [Many thanks to Dick for his detailed submission.  Every
   numismatist should become familiar with the basic history
   of coin presses.   -Editor]


CLINT HESTER INFO SOUGHT

   Ron Guth writes: "Here's a question for your readers:
   The name Clint Hester shows up in pedigree chains for the
   1884 and 1885 Trade Dollars and I've seen the claim that
   he was the consignor of those coins to the Menjou sale,
   possibly with other rarities.  Does anyone know from
   whence that claim arose and whether or not it is true?"


BOOK AUTHOR SOUGHT: SCRIBSON?

   Dan Gosling writes: "In the ANA's Dwight N. Manley
   library there is a listing for: JB40.E5 RARE BOOKS
   English, Scotch, and Irish coins; a manual for collectors,
   being a history and description of the coinage of Great
   Britain, from the earliest ages to the present time.
   London, Gill, 1883. 160p. ill. 20cm. 1c.

   Does anyone know the name of the author? Is it James
   Scribson?"


SCHOOL LIBRARY BOOK PROJECTS

   Regarding last week's item about donating numismatic
   literature to schools, Bruce Burton writes: "In Austin, Texas,
   The Capital City Coin Club (of which I'm currently president)
   has for many years now provided new "red books" to school
   libraries around the area.  I don't recall how many went out
   this year but suspect between 20 and 30 copies of the 2005
   edition."


EATON, ALVORD & BARDEEN ARTICLE

   Gregg A. Silvis has a great article in the September 2004
   issue of Penny-Wise, the official publication of Early
   American Coppers, Inc on three early numismatists,
   William Colgate Easton (1851-1936), Frederick Reed Alvord
   (1868-1923) and Dr. Wallace S. Bardeen (1866-1921).


CATALOG DATA FOR THOMAS MEDAL IN BOIS DURCI

   Dick Johnson writes: "In answer to Philip Mernick’s inquiry
   (from London) of the George Thomas Medal in last week’s
   E-Sylum: You didn’t give the artist’s first name of the medal
   you have – it was Alfred Borrel (1836-1927) -- because
   after the U.S. Civil War Tiffany & Co in New York City had
   several medals made for them in Paris. Alfred’s father Valentin
   Maurice Borrel (1804-1882) engraved the more famous medal
   of Cyrus W. Field for Laying the Atlantic Telegraph Cable
   Medal of 1867.

   The medal you have was ordered by the State of Tennessee
   for award (in gold) to George Henry Thomas (1816-1870)
   American Army Commander. He was nicknamed "The Rock
   of Chickamuga" for his defense of his position in the September
   1863 Civil War battle. One tough general!

   A medal similar to what you have may have been exhibited in
   the Paris 1867 Expo, however Tiffany did not exhibit it later at
   the 1901 Buffalo Pan-American Expo in the Tiffany Pavilion
   in the Manufacturing and Liberal Arts Building. The Cyrus
   Field Medal, however, was exhibited among this most
   extensive medal exhibit Tiffany ever mounted.  Incidentally all
   the medals in this exhibit were goldplated. When I cataloged
   the firm’s medal collection in 1972, some of these goldplated
   medals were still intact. I even have some of the lesser ones
   in my Tiffany collection. The more famous ones had all since
   departed prior to my inspection.

   Dies for your Thomas medal were indeed made at the Paris
   Mint in the 77mm size. A diestruck reverse cliché was sold
   14 December 1991 by H. Joseph Levine in his 51st Presidential
   Coin & Antique auction (lot 553). The same dies COULD
   have, indeed, been used to make the bois durci wood medal
   you have.

   Your data on bois durci is essentially correct. It is a wood
   paste made of hardwood sawdust to which albumin was
   added that is pressed, dried and molded under heat (imagine
   a waffle iron with steam heat!). The source of the albumin
   was animal (or human!) blood, with most sources stating ox
   blood mostly employed. The original color was a rich
   blood-red, however with time the composition darkened,
   turning first to red mahogany, then brown, and finally to black.

   If your piece is solid ebony black it is now stable and believed
   to remain so in the future.  It is believed the originator of this
   process was a French artisan, Charles Lepage, in the 1850s
   (for whom LePage glue is named after). When these pieces
   are cataloged they are often mistakenly called gutta percha,
   vulcanite or even Bakelite. The term is French and means, of
   course, hardened wood. Other objects were made of bois
   durci in exotic detail, include buttons, brooches, combs, even
   snuff boxes and picture frames.

   You did spell Chickanauga correctly. It is in northwest Georgia
   here in the American colonies. It was the 1863 field of battle
   during the Civil War and is now the site of the Chickamauga
   and Chattanooga National Park.

   This internet article verifies and expands on my notes:
   http://www.plastiquarian.com/lepage.htm

   Here is a web site on bois durci:
   http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/Bois_Durci

   Scroll down and click on Plaques A - L and see two
   Lincoln plaques made of this material.  Or. click on
   Plaques M -Z and see two George Washington plaques.

   I auctioned several bois durci plaques in the past. They are
   similar to each other, with the same background and lettering
   all alike.   I much prefer cast bronze plaques, or galvano
   casts of copper (or silver!) from models by different talented
   bas-relief artists.  I consigned several dozen casts and
   galvanos in Joe Levine's Presidential Coin & Antique auction
   last December, and have more coming up in his next auction
   for those interested in displayable medallic art."


NEW YORK TIMES ON NATIONAL COLLECTOR'S MINT

   The October 2, 2004 New York Times had an article about
   the National Collector's Mint, maker of the controversial
   "Ground Zero" relic items being marketed these days, and
   drawing the ire of the U.S. Mint.

   "The days of Avram C. Freedberg as a distributor of
   pornography are well behind him. No longer is he involved
   with such businesses as the exquisitely alliterative Dirty
   Dick's Dynamite Discount Den. No longer does he mail out
   videos and magazines in discreet packages.

   Fifteen years have passed since he struck a deal with the
   federal government to make a collection of obscenity
   charges go away. He paid $600,000 in fines, agreed to get
   out of the pornography business and set out to reinvent
   himself.

   He moved on to other direct-mail opportunities, including
   National Collector's Mint, which sells "collectible" coins
   - anything from classic American silver dollars to
   numismatic schlock. Gradually, Freedberg the Dirty Dick's
   Den guy was replaced by Freedberg the civic-minded citizen
   of Stamford, Conn., chairman of this nonprofit board,
   member of that.

   Ah, but destiny was not finished with Avram C. Freedberg,
   and it beckoned after the collapse of the World Trade
   Center."

   [The article goes on to discuss how the National Collectors
   Mint obtained some silver recovered from the World Trade
   Center vault of the Bank of Nova Scotia, and used it to
   create the "coins".   The article then asks, "BUT how do we
   know that this silver is Ground Zero Silver?"

   "To find the answer, a visit was paid to a dreary industrial
   park in the Westchester County village of Port Chester,
   where Mr. Freedberg runs his business in a warehouse-style
   building. The small lobby reeks of cigarette smoke.

   A receptionist's disembodied voice answered the doorbell's
   ring. A request to speak with Mr. Freedberg was answered
   with a written statement delivered to the lobby."

   Len Augsberger saw the same article.  He writes: "The
   New York Times business section on Saturday, October 2nd
   offered a numismatic two-fer.  An article on the front page
   delved into the dealings of one Avram Freedberg,
   ex-pornographer, currently doing business as the "National
   Collector's Mint", which sells WTC recovered and coined
   silver under the imprimatur of the Northern Mariana Islands
   (a commonwealth of the United States).  Well known
   numismatist David Ganz is serving as an attorney for Mr.
   Freedberg, and was quoted in the article.  Ganz responded
   to a reporter's question inquiring as to the authenticity of the
   "Ground Zero silver".  According to Ganz, "Mr. Freedberg
   has an opinion letter from a very respected law firm" vouching
   for the provenance of the silver.  "I'm not authorized to tell
   you" the firm's name, he added.

   Later on in the same section, a review is found of "Undertow",
   currently playing at the New York Film Festival.  The plot
   apparently revolves around a sackful of gold coins hidden in
   an auto junkyard in the deep South.  No word on the
   provenance of these pieces, whether they were U.S. gold, or
   perhaps NMI commemorative issues in the same vein as the
   above items."

   Full text available at http://www.nytimes.com (free registration
   required).


ANS BUILDING NAMES QUIZ CONTINUES

   Last week's quiz question regarding the numismatic
   luminaries whose names are chiseled in stone on the
   old American Numismatic Society building in New
   York is "a Polish historian and numismatist.  His works
   on Polish history ...  were published in twenty volumes.
   In addition, he wrote two  important works on numismatics:
   the two volume La Numismatique du mayen age (1835)
   and Etudes numismatiques (1840)."

   Ron Guth of coinfacts.com writes: "Thank God (or is it Gore?)
   for the Internet.  The answer to your name quiz is Joachim
   Lelewel.  Ten years ago I never could have found the answer
   to your quiz...today, all it takes is two minutes on Google!

   Here's a good bio of Lelewel:
   http://3.1911encyclopedia.org/L/LE/LELEWEL_JOACHIM.htm

   Keep up the good work!"

   On to the next name on the list for this week's quiz.  This person,
   a "Russian numismatist, is credited with the creation of the interest

   in oriental numismatics throughout Russia and is considered the
   founder of modern Islamic Science in Russia.  [He] wrote more
   that 143 publications and manuscripts .."


NEW U.S. FIFTY RELEASED

   This week the Houston Chronicle published an Associated Press
   story about the release of the new U.S. $50 bill.

   "A new $50 bill with touches of red, blue and yellow hit the
   streets today, and a new $10 bill is in the works. It would be
   the third greenback to get colorized to cut back on counterfeiting."

   "Government officials used one of the new $50s on Tuesday
    morning to buy a $45 U.S. flag, which came in a box, at a shop
   in Union Station. Old $50 bills will continue to be accepted and
   recirculated until they wear out.

   [OK, so who has that first $50 bill to be spent?   Was the
   serial number recorded and the transaction documented?  It
   would be a shame for that historic note to be lost to future
   generations of collectors. -Editor]

   As for plans for the new $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton, the
   nation's first treasury secretary, is expected to stay on the
   front, with the Treasury Department remaining on the back,
   Thomas Ferguson, director of the Bureau of Engraving and
   Printing, said in an interview."

   "The new $10 bill is expected to be unveiled this spring and
   put into circulation in fall 2005. That last time the note got a
   new look was in 2000, when Hamilton's portrait became
   oversized and moved slightly off center.

   "As with the $50 and the $20, there will be subtle background
   tones and tints. They will be different from those used on the
   other two so each of the notes will start to be even more
   distinctive and easier for people to differentiate quickly,"
   Ferguson said. He wouldn't say what the colors on the new
   $10 would be."

   "The colorizing project is part of a broader effort to make
   the bills harder to counterfeit, especially against the backdrop
   of readily available digital technology.

   "We've been working closely in cooperation ... with the
   manufacturers of ink jet printers, editing software, computer
   software in order to make it more difficult for people to be
   able to use that kind of technology to counterfeit," Ferguson
   said. As part of that effort, certain technology also has been
   incorporated in the new $20s, $50s and eventually the new
   $10s, he said.

   To read the full story, see:
   http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2818489


BUDDHA COIN OFFERED

   From a September 28 Reuters article:  "An Indian gold coin
   which is nearly 1,900 years old and shows one of the earliest
   depictions of Buddha is to be sold at auction where it is
   expected to fetch up to $27,000.

   The coin, about the size of a finger nail, shows Buddha on one
   side and the Indian ruler Kanishka I on the other and dates
   from Kanisha's rule in the first quarter of the second century.

   It is one of only four such coins, and the first to go under the
   hammer since 1991."

   [The coin will be auctioned by Morton & Eden Ltd on
   November 23.  -Editor]

   To read the full article, see:
   http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=6355081


ANOTHER MENTION ABOUT THE EARLIEST MONEY

   Howard A. Daniel III writes: "I thought about looking in some
   of my old Asian references for something about the earliest
   money but I  saw "The Beauty and Lore of Coins, Currency
   and Medals" (Riverwood Publishers Ltd., Croton-On-Hudson,
   New York, 1974) by Elvira and Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli and
   thought they might have mentioned it.  On page 185 is "It is
   generally conceded that China preceded the West in the
   invention and use of money."


RUPP TWENTY CENT PIECE BOOK

   Hal Dunn writes: "Perhaps this is a merely coincidence, but the
   Twenty Cent book was published in Fort Collins, Colorado,
   the ANA is in Colorado Springs, and there is a Robert O.
   Rupp living in the latter city."

   [Hal provided the man's full address and phone number,
   which I forwarded to Lane Brunner.   Stay tuned for more
   developments in the search.  -Editor]


SAN FRANCISCO GENEALOGY SITE

   Larry Mitchell sent us this note about another web site that
   may be of interest to numismatic researchers.  It "...
   Contains a browsable and searchable list of birth records,
   marriages, obituaries, and death records 'transcribed from
   historic San Francisco [California] newspapers,' mainly before
   1906. Includes related articles and full-text books; research
   tips; a profile of San Francisco cemeteries; maps; and
   research tips and annotated links to libraries, archives,
   museums, and government agencies...."  A labor of love of
   local amateur genealogists:  http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/


VERDIGRIS ON LITERATURE

   Jeff Reichenberger writes: "In regard to Nancy Green's question
   of verdigris on literature, I have not seen it first hand but I do
   have some knowledge of printing inks.  Years ago, metallic ink
   colors such as copper, actually had microscopic flecks of the
   metal in them to give the appearance of a metallic sheen. So
   given the right atmosphere, verdigris surely could attack an
   old copper inked catalog."


CANADIAN TWO DOLLAR COIN QUESTION

   Christopher Rivituso writes: "I recently received a Canadian
   two dollar coin, dated 2000, which is bimetallic. The lighter
   metal was on the exterior, while the darker metal was in the
   centre with Queen Elizabeth II's portrait.  This has given rise
   to a couple of questions.

   I saw a Canadian two dollar coin in 1997. Maybe my mind is
   playing tricks, but I recall it slightly differently; The darker
   metal was on the exterior, while the lighter metal was in the
   centre. Was that indeed the case?

   Also, the year 2000 Canadian coins had a portrait of the
   Queen that was used in Great Britain between 1985 and
   1997. Why are they still using that? Would the Royal
   Canadian Mint not have already adopted the current portrait,
   seeing that Canada is in the Commonwealth?  I know that
   Australia has."

   [On a recent trip to Niagara Falls, Canada, I noticed that the
   cents had an updated portrait of the Queen, so the switch
   has finally been made, at least on that denomination.  Could
   our Canadian subscribers enlighten us on the changeover
   process?   Thanks. -Editor]


SO WHO'S LOONIE?

   Myron Xenos writes: "Dave's spin of the Loonie and the
   U.S. dollar coins was interesting.  However, I have a
   counter-theory, encompassing two thoughts:

   1.  Certain politicians and the Crane Co. of Massachusetts
        don't want to give up the lucrative paper business

   2.  Add up all the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea
        dollars that were minted.  Where are they?  Sitting
        in drawers, boxes, bags, the Treasury, etc.  They cost
        around 3  to 5 cents each to coin, and go into the
        Treasury at $1 each.  I wish I could do that...."


BINION DOLLAR HOARD

   Regarding last week's item about the television show about
   a Nevada silver dollar hoard, an anonymous subscriber writes:
   "The CSI episode was based on the real-life murder of Ted
   Binion, son of the founder of Binion's Horseshoe Casino in
   Las Vegas.  He was killed by his fiancée and her boyfriend in
   order to secure the precious metals and coins he had buried
   in a vault in the Nevada desert.  The pair was tried and
   convicted several years ago."


RARE SIKH COINS:  COLLECTOR VS MUSEUM

   Raising the age-old question of whether rare coins (or any
   artifacts) are better off in museums or private hands, this recent
   article from India describes a collection of Sikh coins:

   "The first Sikh coin came into existence with the founding of a
   Sikh kingdom by Banda Bahadur, a few years after the last
   Sikh Guru Gobind Singh's passed away.

   Historians say that though all the rulers brought in their new
   coins as soon as they assumed power, the common factor in
   each of them is that all the kings released coins in honour of
   Sikh gurus."

   "Researcher and numismatist Surinder Singh, who based his
   work on empirical evidence, while citing several nuances in
   the design of the coins to reigns of the kings during the period,
   said that while most of the coins were shifted off by the British
   to Bombay and Calcutta, some however remain in the
   possession of collectors."

   "When the British occupied the Punjab, the Sikh coin was of
   pure silver and the British coin was 95 per cent silver. Where
   the British rupee was sold of 16 annas in the market, the Sikh
   coin was sold of 17 annas. The Britishers shifted almost 10 to
   20 crores of Sikh coins to Bombay and Calcutta and converted
   them into British rupees", said Surinder Singh.

   Some of these coins are in the hands of a collector. Numismatist
   Narinder Katwar of Mohali who has some 200 rare coins,
   related to Sikh history, has refused to hand them over to the
   museum. He says it is his life's passion, which he will always
   guard zealously."

   "... I personally feel that besides giving my collection to any
   museum, I can preserve them better. And as its my personal
   collection I want to keep it with me only".

   The Central Sikh Museum in the precincts of the Golden
   Temple in Amritsar, is home to a large number of the ancient
   Sikh coins, providing a rare glimpse of the rich Sikh culture to
   the people."

   To read the full story, see:
   http://www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=48829


FIRST CONFEDERATE CURRENCY COLLECTOR

   We had no takers on last week's quiz to name the first
   collector of Confederate Currency, according to the research
   of Fred L. Reed III.  Quoting from his article in the October
   2004 issue of Bank Note Reporter, in 1866 the gentleman
   "presented a collection of Confederate paper money and
   postage stamps to the Boston Numismatic Society, of which
   he was already a correspondent.  That collection was
   exhibited at the BNS meeting of April 12, and reported in the
   May issue of the American Journal of Numismatics."   The
   gentleman also "subsequently donated a collection of
   Confederate Currency and Confederate postage stamps, as
   well as Confederate and Virginia bonds ..." to the American
   Numismatic and Antiquarian Society.  He was born in 1839
   and lived to 1914.    Any guesses now?  No fair looking at
   the Bank Note Reporter article, but if your library includes
   the right issues of the AJN, your shelves are fair game.


FEATURED WEB SITE

   This week's featured web site is on Irish coinage, and was
   recommended by Ray Williams.

      http://www.irishcoinage.com/


  Wayne Homren
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society


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