The E-Sylum v7#44, October 31, 2004
whomren at coinlibrary.com
whomren at coinlibrary.com
Sun Oct 31 20:12:30 PST 2004
Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 44, October 31, 2004:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATE
Among recent new subscribers is Isabelo Toledo.
Welcome aboard! We now have 696 subscribers.
FRANK VAN ZANDT
George Kolbe writes: "I just learned that Frank Van Zandt
passed away Saturday morning, October 30th, after long
being ill. In a field filled with unusual and remarkable people,
Frank stood out from his peers. A collector all his life, Frank
was past president of the Rochester Numismatic Association
and also served the Numismatic Bibliomania Society as
Secretary-Treasurer.
Over the past fifteen years, Frank formed an outstanding
numismatic library. Coming from an old-time numismatic
family, Frank was deeply engrossed in American numismatics
but his interests ranged far wider than that and he sought and
obtained key numismatic works in an impressive number of
other areas. At heart, Frank was a historian, and perhaps his
first love was his extensive library centering on New York
and early American history, particularly as it relates to native
Americans.
In some ways Frank was like Jack Collins. Opinionated and
pugnacious at times, Frank, like Jack, had a heart of gold and
was a valued friend. He truly loved his family. His wife of 31
years, Barbara, was his treasure. He was devoted to her and
often commented to me that she was the brains of the family,
though those who knew him are well aware that this "simple
farmer" from upstate New York was certainly not lacking in
that department. He likewise doted on his only son Bill.
Bill Coe forwarded an following obituary notice from the
from the Sunday, October 31, 2004 Democrat and Chronicle
newspaper, of Rochester, NY:
"FRANK W. VanZANDT
October 30, 2004 Livonia, NY, Age 55
Friends may call Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2-4, 7-9 p.m. at Kevin
W. Dougherty Funeral Home, Inc., Route 15, Livonia, NY,
where services will be held Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 10:00 a.m.
Burial, Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Geneseo, NY. Friends
wishing may make memorial contributions to the Geneseo
Dialysis Center, C/O Noyes Memorial Hospital, Dansville,
NY 14437.
Visitation hours are on Tuesday, from 2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00
to 9:00 PM. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 AM on
Wednesday, November 3rd, at the Kevin Dougherty Funeral
Home, 21 Big Tree Street, Livonia, New York, 14487.
Tel: (585) 346-5401."
AT LAST: 25TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE PUBLISHED
E. Tomlinson Fort, Editor of our print journal, The Asylum,
writes: "After numerous delays, most involving changes to the
cover or my "real" job, the 25th anniversary issue of The
Asylum was mailed to members on Friday. With luck,
NBS members should start receiving their issue by the end
of the week. Those who purchased our limited edition
hardcover will have to wait a few weeks longer. The copies
were shipped to the bindery at the same time and it will take
them two or three weeks to complete the work.
Finally, as always, I need material for the Fall issue and
beyond. Several people talked to me about possible
submissions at the ANA and none of these have yet to
reach my mail box (either in cyberspace [etfort at comcast.net]
or P.O. Box 77131, Pittsburgh, PA 15215)."
FANNING BOOKS FIXED PRICE LIST #3
David Fanning of Fanning Books (also the Editor-in-Chief
of The Asylum) writes: "My third fixed price list of numismatic
literature will be published in the next week. The 32-page
catalogue features important 19th- and 20th-century U.S.
material, including items from the libraries of Joel Orosz and
Wayne Homren. Rarities include a copy of the first article on
a numismatic subject ever published in the United States
(James Mease, 1821); runs of the Historical Magazine and
Frossard's Numisma; early works by John K. Curtis and
sales by Bangs; and interesting and scarce publications by
the various firms headed by Q. David Bowers. The free
catalogue is available in hard copy (limited quantities) or in
PDF format and can be requested from David Fanning at
fanning32 at earthlink.net.
David F. Fanning
Fanning Books
P.O. Box 6153
Columbus, OH 43206 "
PANIC SCRIP RESEARCH ASSISTANCE SOUGHT
Tom Sheehan writes: "I am meeting this weekend with Neil
Shafer and Doug Corrigan in Santa Barbara to coordinate
our efforts in researching and publishing a catalogue of the
Panic scrip of 1893, 1907 and 1914. Could you again ask
the esylum readers for assistance. We could use listings of
scrip in their collections, photos and contemporaneous
articles on the subject.
The last time we did this several people responded and I
hope more will come forward this time. I have keep the
names of the people who replied and will be sure to
acknowledge them.
Reply to ThomasSheehan at msn.com or write to me at
P. O. Box 1477, Edmonds, WA 98020-1477
Thanks, Tom."
SOUND CURRENCY REFORM CLUB
Tom's request for information on Panic scrip is timely.
A few weeks ago I acquired an interesting pair of volumes
for my library. They are bound volumes of Sound Money,
a periodical produced by the Sound Currency Committee
of the Reform Club (Vol II/III, 1895/1896, Vols VI/VII,
1899/1900).
The Reform Club was an organization formed during the
great "currency question" debates of the William Jennings
Bryan presidential candidacies. Although I generally shy
away from the literature of this era for fear that the politics
distorts the writing, I was delighted to find a number of
straightforward articles relating to the history of money and
currency. The one which first caught my eye is in the
February 15, 1895 issue (Vol. II, No. 6), titled "The
Currency Famine of 1893" by John Dewitt Warner. The
20-page article illustrates 48 specimens of the 1893 panic
scrip. I've never seen this many 1893 notes illustrated in
one place - this may be the most comprehensive listing
ever compiled prior to the work now underway.
Other articles in the volume discuss the bank currency of
various states, Canada and Scotland, as well as compilations
of coinage laws. The March 15, 1896 issue (Vol. III, No. 8)
has an 8-page page article by Simon W. Rosendale on
"Wampum Currency: The Story Told by the Colonial
Ordinances of New Netherlands."
ANS PUBLICATIONS WEB SITE
Joe Ciccone, American Numismatic Society Archivist writes:
"I am happy to announce the launch of a new website on the
history of ANS publishing. Located at
http://www.amnumsoc.org/archives/publicationhistory.htm,
the site is designed to serve as a quick reference resource for
all the monograph series and periodicals published by the
ANS since its inception in 1858. (Please note that
monographs not published as part of a series are not included,
but will be added shortly.)
Visitors to the site can find, for each series or periodical, a
brief paragraph describing the series or periodical and, for
series, a list of all titles. In addition, an image of the first
issue
of each series or periodical is included."
1783 LIBERTAS AMERICANA PAMPHLET SOUGHT
John W. Adams writes: "In his 1957 paper on the Dupre
material at the American Philosophical Society, Carl Zigrosser
mentions a four page pamphlet, published in 1783, describing
the Libertas Americana medal. .Zigrosser also mentions an
engraved broadsheet explaining the medal, illustrating the copy
belonging to the APS. Have your readers ever seen copies of
the pamphlet or other copies of the broadsheet?"
THE BRENNER HANEY MEDAL
Mike Marotta writes: "On the Usenet newsgroup
rec.collecting.coins, Roger DeWardt Lane asked about a
medal designed by Victor D. Brenner. (Lane is the author of
"Modern Dime Size Coins of the World", a CD which won
the 2003 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for for Best
Software.) Lane found the medal at a swap meet. The
obverse shows a woman reading a manuscript; in the exergue
is "For Fine Craftsmanship." The reverse says "Haney Medal
Awarded 1940 by the School Art League of New York City"
with "Medallic Art Co." below. Brenner's name is vertical
along the left side of the obverse. Lane asked, "Who was
Haney?"
Searching the Worldwide Web via Google, I put together a
long reply and posted it to RCC in the thread "Does anyone
know who HANEY was?" Here is a synopsis:
James Parton Haney was an art educator. He is associated
with the School Art League of New York City. He had at
least one exhibition of his own drawings in Chicago March
15 thru April 2, 1917. He edited a book in 1908 titled: "Art
Education in the Public Schools of the United States." You
can see Haney's work at the John H. Vanderpoel Art
Association in Chicago. Dr. Mary Ann Stankiewicz (Penn
State) said in the Caucus on Social Theory and Art Education
maillist newsletter: "...Frank Alvah Parsons and Henry Turner
Bailey and James Parton Haney who believed they had
qualifications that insured their superiority over female
teachers of art and art amateurs..."
(http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/kkb/_disc2/00000001.htm)
While I was uploading that, Bust coin enthusiast, Byron L.
Reed, posted this: "It might be James Parton Haney, a
painter."
The medal can be seen at
http://www.geocities.com/dewardt/year2004/haney_medal.html "
DUVAL-JANVIER RESEARCH HELP SOUGHT
K. Bestwick of the U.K. writes: "I have been really
interested in your comments about the Duval-Janvier
reducing machine and have tried to do a little research
myself but Janvier is proving to be very elusive and
Duval impossible. I would like to know how Janvier
started his company and whether he was related to the
clockmaker Antide Janvier. I have discovered that his
premises at 64 rue du Faubourg St Denis in Paris are
now used as a mosque but little else as yet."
THE BODE MUSEUM NUMISMATIC DISPLAY
Bill Bischoff writes: "People are best advised to go to the
German site concerning the Bode exhibition, as given by
Chris Hoelzle. When I saw the figure of 500,000 coins on
display in an earlier entry I knew that something was very
wrong: even in its new headquarters, the ANS would have
to take over a dozen blocks or more to exhibit half a
million coins! The correct figure, given on the German
website, is ca. 2000 coins. The rest of the text details the
holdings of the collection (which, in toto, come to ca.
500,000). Anyway, who can absorb 2000 coins at one
viewing, not to mention 25 times that many?
Ars longa, vita brevis est."
Alan V. Weinberg writes: "Regarding the segment on Berlin's
Bode Museum exhibition of coins:
In the summer of 1966 I toured Europe extensively and
wound up in communist East Berlin. I'd heard of a numismatic
display at a museum there and went to see it - the name of the
museum now escapes me. As I walked in, I was astonished
to see displayed on a wall case a gold Joseph Manly 1790
George Washington medal, an original (Born Virginia) Baker
61. If they had that, what else in classic American coins &
medals did they have?
I wonder if the Bode Museum, Berlin having since been united,
is that museum I visited?
Also, the same summer at the Royal Museum in Copenhagen
Denmark, I asked to see some of their American coins kept
in the vaults. I examined a Gem Uncirculated Noe 1 Oak Tree
shilling, a gem proof early Bust 1820's quarter, a choice Unc
1795 flowing hair dollar, and other superb early American
coins that escape me now. The tickets accompanying the
coins all indicated acquisition in the very early 1800's."
DEPARTMENT STORE COIN LORE
Bruce Burton writes: "The times I saw a coin department
within a department store were at Macy's (Kansas City, ca.
1963-ish), Houston (downtown ca. 1977, I don't recall
what store) and Sear's (I think) in Lisbon, Portugal in
about 1979."
Myron Xenos writes: "Back in 1956, I was a high school
senior, and did my shopping, so to speak, at Halle Bros.
Dept. Store, the building which now houses the Drew
Carey TV show's Winfred Lauder Store.
48 years ago, the stamp & coin dept. was operated
by Carl DiFalco, who was my mentor in the coin hobby.
One day I was looking at some coins and also bought
some stamps from the King Farouk collection. Carl
looked at me and said, much like a father would,"You
can't collect both stamps & coins successfully. You
have to divorce one or the other." Not wanting to be
thought a bigamist, I chose coins.
Several years later, I became his accountant and
tax advisor when he opened his own shop.From one
decade to the next, I became his mentor regarding
his finances. His eyesight began to fail, and I then
had a coin dealer who was legally blind. We were
friends till he died, but we spent many hours sharing
our opinions about numismatics, politics, and taxes."
David Lange writes: "My first coin purchase was from a
Woolworth store. Until that time (c.1967) I had always
wondered how collectors found all the old coins I saw listed
in the Blue Book (my entire library at the time). I knew they
certainly couldn't be found in circulation, and it hadn't
occurred to me that old coins were actually for sale until I
saw them at the dime store. The coins were mounted in
2x2s and displayed within swinging, glass and metal frames
of the sort used by libraries to display historic newspapers
and photographs. My first purchase was of a 1914 cent in
Good condition, priced at 75 cents. It was a high price at
the time, and it remains above retail even today. Mom was
a bit skeptical of paying 75 cents for a penny, but I had to
have it.
A couple years later I began buying from the coin and
stamp department at The Emporium department store,
downtown San Francisco's largest retailer at the time.
Dad would drive me down there on Saturday mornings so
I could relieve myself of whatever money I had managed to
acquire from doing work around the house and other odd
sources. I bought BU Roosevelt Dimes to fill the few holes
remaining in my set, along with Buffalo Nickels that actually
had readable dates. I also acquired 1892 and 1893
Columbian Halves for $3 apiece, along with a few heavily
worn Barber coins. I lusted after the sandwich bags filled
with dozens of Walking Liberty Halves and Indian Head
Cents, all different dates. These were priced way beyond
my budget, but I was surprised for my birthday one year
with a bag containing almost an entire set of Mercury
Dimes. Such coins seem so ordinary and worthless now,
but to a kid who daily searched in vain for anything dated
before 1940 this was absolutely magical.
Both store chains gave up their coin and stamp franchises
in the early 1980s, about the same time that neighborhood
coin shops likewise disappeared at a high rate. Now,
twenty years later, both Woolworth and The Emporium
are history. Buying coins from eBay may be more efficient
and cost effective (if done correctly), but somehow the
magic just isn't there anymore. Old coins and stamps,
attractively presented, were a powerful lure to bored kids
being dragged around by Mom while she shopped for
clothes and other uninteresting stuff."
Ken Berger writes: "Regarding the Golden Age of
department store coin shops, I have an item of interest.
Growing up in New York City, we had two major
department stores next to each other in Manhattan:
Macy's on 34th Street & Gimbel's on 33rd Street.
Periodically, my family would go into the City (this is the
way residents of the other four boroughs of NYC refer to
Manhattan) to go shopping. Macy's didn't have a coin
(or stamp) department but Gimbel's did. I seem to recall
that both the coin & stamp departments were next to each
other on the ground floor, with the stamp department being
bigger than the coin department. At that time, they
emphasized the fact that they were selling stamps from
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's collection. This was
in the late 50s & early 60s.
To make a long story short, I have a copy of Gimbel's "1961
Coin Price List No. 1." Some prices are as follow:
4-Piece Gold Set (2 1/2, 5, 10 & 20). "The coins ... are in
choice and brilliant condition ... Each set is mounted for
presentation & display in a sparkling lucite holder." --- $145.00
1798-1803 Silver Dollars in VF (choice of date by Gimbel's)
--- $65.00
1933-1934 Vatican Jubilee 100 lire gold coin --- $50.00
1893 Columbian Half Dollar in Unc. --- $2.50
Those were the days."
Denis Loring writes: "Many years ago I went into Rich's
department store, I think it was in Denver. I asked to look at
their large cents. They had an "1800 Fair" for sale for $6.00.
It was indeed a Fair, clean and very well worn. Only the top
half of the date was visible, but that was enough to tell that
they had missed it by a year -- it was a 1799. Needless to
say, I bought it-- even paid the sales tax."
An anonymous reader writes: "In your piece on coin
departments in department stores, you posed the question:
"Why did the practice die out in the first place?" (see below).
Many of these coin departments and stamp departments
were actually owned by independent companies who leased
space from the department stores, much in the same fashion
as stores currently lease space from shopping malls. What
killed these retailers was probably the percentage of gross
sales demanded by the department store. This would also
account for why few coin stores are located in shopping malls.
To be successful as an independent leaser of space in a
department store (or a mall), you have to sell high markup
goods. That's why shoe stores and women's fashions are
leading retail categories in malls.
I'm hardly an expert on this subject, but I know someone
who can probably give you the definitive answer. I'm
referring to Arthur Friedberg of Capital Coin Company in
Clifton, NJ. I believe his firm was the largest owner of
these coin departments in department stores across the
country. As I recall, Capital abandoned these coin
departments during the early to mid-1980's. I remember
Art posing the question: "How can you agree to a lease
that requires you to pay a percentage of the gross on your
Krugerrand sales?"
Dick Johnson writes: "In response to our editor’s inquiry about
the Golden Age of department stores' coin shops: The giant of
this field was Robert Friedberg. At the height of his empire in
the 1960s and 1970s he operated 35 of these coin departments
in Gimbel’s stores across America. This is the same Robert
Friedberg who wrote the early standard works on U.S. paper
money and world gold coins. He published these in addition to
Hibler and Kappen’s "So-Called Dollars." the standard work
on dollar-size medals.
He taught himself numismatics in the reading room of the New
York Public Library, went on to create Coin and Currency
Institute for his numismatic firm. He ran this empire from a
building across the street from Gimbel’s flagship store in New
York City. It was a family firm. He brought in his brother, his
wife, and ultimately his two sons to help manage this giant firm.
Can you imagine the buying they must have done to keep
these departments supplied with material? The customers were
primarily women, buying gifts for family members. So there
were a lot of sales of coin supplies, but they had to stock
numismatic material as well. It was natural for Bob Friedberg
to join forces with Medallic Art Company when the Hall of
Fame medal series was inaugurated; Coin and Currency
Institute was the exclusive distributor. Friedberg’s buying of
numismatic material extended worldwide. It was so extensive
he was even the owner of an 1804 dollar.
His sons, Arthur and Ira, are still active in the numismatic
field. Perhaps they will read this and respond with some
reminiscences of their numismatically famous father and the
perils and profits of the coin departments empire."
[If any of our readers are in touch with the Friedbergs,
please forward this item to them and ask if they'd care
to share some memories with us. -Editor]
DEPARTMENT STORE INSPIRES FAMILY TALE
Roger deWardt Lane of Hollywood, Florida writes: "You
made me think back to when I started collecting coins with
my young children. The SEARS near where I lived had a
"Coin counter" and we nearly bought them out at twenty-five
cents each for world coins.
It was 1966, I was in Dayton, Ohio at NCR computer
school studying programming in COBOL. Two weeks had
almost ended; soon it would be time to return home to
Florida.
Like a good husband and father, I thought of gifts to take
home, so when the class let out early one afternoon, I
walked from the Sheridan Hotel, where the classes were
being held and where I was staying with about twenty-five
other hotel industry people, down the street to the local
large department store. Rikes was the name, and after
making a jewelry purchase, adding a new gold charm for
my wife’s bracelet, I looked around for a gift for my
10-year-old daughter. I found a very nice orange off the
shoulder leather handbag for Andria.
What should I get my six-year-old son? The store had a
rather large stamp and coin department. Andria and I had
both done stamps, she collecting Israel stamps and I, as a
teenager years earlier, remounting and adding to my father’s
stamp album. But none of us had ever looked at coins,
except the usual penny boards that most young boys start
with, out of pocket change.
So, I made a six-dollar investment in six modern mint sets
for my son. I can now tell you, that this started a hobby
and lifetime pursuit to become a numismatist
My interest in Modern Dime Size Silver Coins of the World
began over twenty-five years ago, quite by accident best
told by this little story once used for an exhibit at a coin show.
“Once upon a time, there was a very busy executive far far
away on a business trip. Thoughtfully, before returning to his
native land he visited a local emporium in search of gifts.
Gold for his Fair Lady, leather goods for the beautiful
daughter and foreign mint sets for his young son.
“Now as time went on, this bright young man of seven years
became an enthusiastic collector with weekly trips to centers
of knowledge; the local coin stores in search of souvenirs of
far-a-way lands - all from the junk bowl.
“Dear Old Dad soon started calling himself a numismatist
and proudly showed off to his friends and neighbors his new
Crown collection and with his Fair Lady they joined the
local Council of Collectors.
“Now the beautiful little Daughter wished to join the clan with
specialization mirroring her father, but being of limited budget,
spotted the shiny little coins of Dime Size Silver that true to
the cataloguers adjustment for size were like her Dad’s in all
respects except size and cost.
“Thus the Collection of Dime Size Silver Coins of the World
came into being. True to their young ages other interests soon
replaced the learned endeavors, leaving Dear Old Dad to carry
on the new pursuit; to study and catalogue Modern Dime Size
Silver Coins of the World, and they all lived happily ever after”.
CONCENTRATION MONEY EXHIBIT TRAVELS
In an earlier E-Sylum issue, we mentioned the traveling
exhibit of concentration camp money currently making
the rounds. An article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
describes the collection's latest stop. [Sorry we're late
publishing this - it just missed last week's issue. -Editor]
"A traveling exhibit of one of the world's larger collections
of paper money issued in Nazi-imposed ghettos and
concentration camps is on display through Oct. 29 at
Frost Bank, 4200 S. Hulen St.
The currency -- issued at 13 concentration camps including
Auschwitz in Poland, Dachau and Buchenwald in Germany,
and the Warsaw, Poland,ghetto -- is on loan from the
Holocaust Museum Houston."
"Livia Levine of Fort Worth, a survivor of the camps at
Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, Germany, said it was
something she had never seen.
"Not only did I not see it, I never heard about it," Levine,
80, said as she visited the display.
She said there was nothing to buy or sell in the camps.
"Sometimes we traded a little piece of bread for a little
piece of potato. That was it," she said."
The artifacts are part of a 400-piece collection donated to
the museum by Charleton Meyer, a money and coin
collector from Shreveport, La., who collected it to help
document the Holocaust."
To read the full story, see:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/9996600.htm
MORE ON LEO MILDENBERG
Rick Witschonke writes: "Dave Kellog's note in response
to your request for recollections of Dr. Leo Mildenberg
reminds me that I also attended Leo's talk in Boston. I
subsequently had the opportunity to sit next to Leo at an
ANS-sponsered dinner that evening, and I asked him about
the "eye" for great style in an ancient coin. He allowed that
it was a rather rare gift. When I pressed him as to who he
thought had the gift, he singled out Sylvia Hurter (his assistant
and eventual successor as the head of the Numismatic
Department at Bank Leu), and Bruce McNall (former head
of Numismatic Fine Arts, and sometime prison inmate; I
recommend his recent autobiography)."
NEW YALE UNIVERSITY NUMISMATIC WEB PAGES
Arthur Shippee writes: "Yale Art Gallery has new
web site up:
http://artgallery.yale.edu/
http://artgallery.yale.edu/pc_coins.html "
BRAND LEDGER QUESTION
Bob Yuell writes: "I have reread the entry for lot #518 of
the Green collection. There is a quote that says ".....which
are arranged by date of acquisition". But that refers to Virgil
Brands ledgers. If my guess is correct that Green was the
purchaser, the citation for the Eaton Collection could be
anywhere."
JACOB MILES MORRIS EARLY CURRENCY VOLUME
NBS Board members Joel J. Orosz and John J. Kralkevich,
Jr. have published a very interesting article in the Fall/Winter
issue of The Numismatic Sun (issue #4), published by American
Numismatic Rarities. The title is "Continental Paper Money
From the Dawn of U.S. Numismatics: The Newly Discovered
Jacob Giles Morris Volume, The Oldest Intact American
Numismatic Collection in Existence."
The article discusses a volume recently donated to the
Colonial Williamsburg Museum by descendants of Morris.
WHY DO WE COLLECT NUMISMATIC BOOKS?
Dick Johnson writes: "I collect numismatic books for one
reason -- to learn something new in the field. After sixty-five
years in the field -- my father gave me a Whitman penny
board in February 1939, not the fold up kind, the flat board
kind -- I am still learning. It have read something about
every aspect of numismatics. I have studied selected topics
-- like medallic art, coin and medal technology and coin and
medal artists, and have written on these subjects. But I can
still learn more.
What are your reasons?
You might find this midwestern college professor's reasons
interesting in an article "My Own Private Library." He gives
lots of reasons: Convenience. Pedagogy. Economics.
Preservation. Community.Aesthetics. Hope.
You will enjoy reading this:
http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?%20id=1cvgzs9zd8sxgemnopkfgh64fdb24lt5
"
BUTTREY-KLEEBERG GOLD BARS WEB SITE MOVED
The Buttrey-Kleeberg web site housing their writings on
gold bars has been moved:
"Professor T. V. Buttrey, Jr., of Cambridge, and Dr. John
M. Kleeberg, of New York City, have moved their website
about the false western gold bars and false Mexican gold
bars (a controversy that some have called "the Great Debate")
to a new website. The new address is:
http://www.fake-gold-bars.co.uk "
DENVER MINT ARTICLE PUBLISHED
The Denver Journal-Sentinel published an article October
24 about the workings of the Denver Mint. Here are some
excerpts:
"The Mint contracts with companies that supply 13-inch-wide
flat metal coils - from which nickels, dimes, quarters and half
dollars are stamped - or penny planchets, which are purchased
preformed.
The planchets are fed into stamping machines, where they
inch their way down tiny chutes and are imprinted with
Lincoln's head and his monument."
"The 4-ton metal coils are about 41/2 feet high. They are put
on rollers and fed into a blanking machine, where they're
stamped up to 700 times, creating the blanks that will
eventually become a quarter or nickel.
On a recent tour of the Denver Mint, plant manager Tim Riley
plunged his hands into a tub and scooped up what looked like
little metal bow ties - what's left over from the stamped metal
- which is sent back to the coil manufacturer to be melted
down and recycled."
"Planchets are washed in a mixture of soap, cream of tartar
and water and then dried. They're checked for imperfections
- wrong size or shape - and the good ones go through an
upsetting mill, which raises a rim around their edges. Riley
said this makes it easier to center the blanks when they're
struck by dies."
"Above each striking machine is a large photo of the coin,
which shows spots where cracks or chips are most often
found. On the nickels, Thomas Jefferson's eyebrow, mouth
and chin are marked as trouble spots.
"There's different places where they'll start to chip out,
depending on the coin," Riley said. "That's what makes it
difficult for the quarter, because we have a different design
every 10 weeks."
"On this day, the first day the Wisconsin quarter is being
struck, inspectors peering through magnifying loupes have
already discovered that a spot below the cow's neck chips
easily."
"A mint worker showed visitors two dies used to stamp
the Wisconsin quarter.
They looked fine, but under a magnifying glass, part of
Washington's head can be seen among the cow, cheese
and corn - the result of the dies striking each other without
a blank coin between them. The bad dies will be defaced
further so they can't be used again. The Mint sells used
dies to collectors."
"Riley, who collects each year's proof sets, knows the plant
he oversees isn't just another factory turning out widgets.
"When you're around it day in, day out, you're aware it's
not just a product. It's part of our nation's history and our
nation's commerce," Riley said in an interview inside his
Denver office, the same office used by mint managers since
the building opened a century ago when double eagles and
half eagles - $20 and $5 gold pieces - were rolling off the
assembly line.
"They're not just stamping out little discs. They're stamping
out coins that will be held by millions of people."
http://www.jsonline.com/alive/news/oct04/268774.asp
ANDOR AND MICHAEL MESAZOROS, MEDALLISTS
An Australian publication "The Age" recently published a
very lengthy and interesting article about Andor Meszaros
and his son Michael, medallists of Melbourne, Australia.
The following are a few excerpts. Those interested in
learning more are encouraged to follow the link and read
the article in its entirety.
"Monuments stand on the streets and shout to all, while medals
whisper to individuals. The two are flip sides of the same
philosophical coin. But on the Meszaros medallions, which
appear in the British Museum and national galleries here,
experts are unanimously kind."
"Australian medallion art would be a very different scene
without Michael and Andor, says John Sharples, curator
emeritus of Museum Victoria. Andor's medals are
"astonishingly good", says another curator, and if you are
talking about Michael being in the same league as his father
"stick to the medals".
MICHAEL'S studio is a cave-like room enveloped by shadow
and grey dust. When I visited, Michael's niece, Daniel's
daughter Anna, was waiting upstairs. She is tentatively carving
out a career of her own, and a few years ago landed a $90,000
commission from a coalition of churches in Melbourne's CBD
for 14 bronze sculptures depicting the Stations of the Cross.
Hanging over her, a constant thorn in her side, was Andor's
masterstroke; the Canterbury Stations of the Cross medallion
series, completed only days before his death.
Michael displays some of his medals. Manhattan, an aerial
view of the city's skyscrapers has jagged edges, creating a
vertiginous effect of gazing down through chasms. The Escape,
an idea conceived during the Prague spring of 1968, shows a
person at the coin's bottom flattened under looped barbed
wire.
Some medals are self-referential in-jokes. The Gospel
According to the Medal is a book/medal where even the
pages are circular."
"It began when 38-year-old Andor Meszaros disembarked at
Port Melbourne's Station Pier in June 1939, leaving behind
fascist Hungary and ominous Europe. He knew little about
Australia (other than hearing a few anecdotes from a
Hungarian anthropologist who had visited briefly to "study the
Aborigines"), but it was the only option on offer at the British
embassy in Budapest. His wife, Elizabeth, and their son
Daniel, Michael's elder brother, were soon to join."
"Andor knocked on the doors of notables and offered to do
portrait medallions on a "no obligation" basis. The portrait
medallion belonged more to Paris or Vienna than to
Melbourne, but Andor understood the power of flattery. The
people liked what they saw, spread the word and slowly the
commissions trickled in. At Glamorgan primary school in
Toorak, where Daniel studied, his portrait medallions of
teachers were accepted in lieu of fees when money was short."
The work has rolled in since Andor's death more than 30
years ago when, swallowing hard, Michael rang clients with
outstanding commissions and offered to finish them. Among
his current jobs is a large sculpture for a major Melbourne
institution.
Michael is a solid 59-year-old man with glasses and a
Groucho Marx moustache similar to Andor's in his later
years. Bald on top, with wiry frizz flying out to the sides, the
look is more mad scientist than bohemian artist."
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/22/1098316843855.html
ANOTHER "THICK BOOK" ENTRY
Bruce Burton writes: "Regarding Bill Spengler's questions on
the thickest book, I also have one four inches thick, cover to
cover, that is a custom bound, "one volume" set of Michael
Mitchniner's Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian Coinage, which
previously existed as nine separate volumes."
FIRST AND ONLY NUMISMATIC BOOK IN BRAILLE?
Rich Mantia writes: "I just read an issue of The E-Sylum while
jumping around on the internet and one of the articles caught
my attention. The question was posed as to the thickest
numismatic book and I'm reasonably sure that I own it. I
realize that pages and paper thickness matter, but for shear
thickness it would have to be my copy of the "Redbook".
Yes, The Guide Book of United States Coins by R. S.
Yeoman. I own the 1969 edition which was typed in braille
and is to the best of my knowledge unique. The book is
slightly thicker than 12 inches. It was so thick when typed
that it couldn't be bound in one volume. It takes nine volumes
to create the single book. Page counts vary from volume to
volume while the cover size remains at 11 1/2 by 12. It is
considered to be one book because it is fully transcripted
from the regular 1969 edition. This was done in 1969, not
recently. I also believe that it is the only numismatic book
that was ever written in braille. On the lighter side, it is not
this thick from ever having been water logged."
[If the date were April first I'd be certain this was a joke.
Blind numismatists? This sounded to me like something
cooked up after drinking one too many steins of German
beer after a Milwaukee Central States coin convention.
Of course, one needn't collect or even see coins to
appreciate their history. When I asked for more information
about the edition, Rich sent pictures along with the following
note. -Editor]
Rich Mantia writes: "I don't mind giving more information
about my "Redbook". I first became interested in "Redbooks"
when I read an article by Ginger Rapsus in the September
1988 issue of "The Numismatist". I didn't start to collect
"Redbooks" actively until several years later, but I'm blessed
with a good memory and I referred back to the issue when
I wanted to collect on a serious level. I'm aware that the value
in any collection is in its completeness as well as condition
and I decided to start with the rare copies first. I used the
article as the basis for my collection and I've collected every
item listed in it as well as some items that aren't listed.
I purchased the braille "Redbook" some years back in a
private transaction for a substantial price that I shall keep to
myself. I have sent along some photos of it which help verify
its existence. In the photos one can see that the book was
transcribed for Davyd Pepito who was a member of the
Covina Coin Club. It was done by Ms. Lois Kelly of the
San Gabriel Valley Transcibers in Covina, California over
a period of 3 months in 1969. The page counts vary from
volume to volume, but on average it took 4 braille pages to
equal 1 printed page. My guess is that there are about 1000
pages in the 9 volumes total.
The 9 volumes combined weigh more than 26 pounds. The
book has only been displayed a few times at some regional
shows over the years and I have no desire to bring it out for
more displays because it doesn't look as impressive as a
showcase full of rare coins. It is rather bland in its appearance,
because after all it is page after page of impressed bumps
with no inked words to accompany. To my knowledge it is
unique in that it is the only "Redbook" to be in braille and also
the only numismatic book ever written in braille.
More than anything else the greatness of Mr. Richard Yeo
stands out because it is his book that stands out as being the
one that reached into the darkness of a blind childs' life and
helped him enjoy a hobby that we take for granted. Perhaps
Davyd Pepito can be known as a pioneer coin collector
who loved coins without ever seeing them and his name
should be chiseled in stone on the new A.N. S. building as
prominently as the scholars of the past. I hope this helps
answer your questions."
NUMISMATIC HALLOWEEN STORY
Dick Johnson writes: "In West Milford, Passaic County,
New Jersey, if you travel on a scary road -- Clinton Road
-- at night you might see KKK sightings, Nazi meetings,
haunted dogs, a creepy castle and an old lady who walks
on the same side as you are driving.
You will cross over a little bridge. Years ago a little boy
was walking on this road one night and a car sped fast
around a sharp turn and hit him and the boy fell over the
little bridge and died. They say if you throw a penny over
the bridge at exactly midnight, he throws it back to you.
Creepy huh? You can read more on weirdnj.com "
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is recommended by Larry
Mitchell - the Money Museum of the Deutsche Bundesbank.
http://www.geldmuseum.de/index.en.php
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
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