The E-Sylum v9#01, January 1, 2006

[esylum at binhost.com]

Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 9, Number 01, January 1, 2006:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


WAYNE'S WORDS

Among our recent subscribers are Hayden Roses and Ben Keele.
Welcome aboard!  We now have 833 subscribers.

Happy New Year, everyone.  I hope your holidays were safe 
and enjoyable.  This issue opens with a story about coins 
and New Year's superstitions.  The issue also brings some 
interesting commentary on the topic of numismatic author 
Don Taxay, and the U.S. Mint's use of the pantographic 
reducing machine.  Dick Johnson contributed to all of these 
topics, and I'd like to give him a special thank-you for 
all of his wonderful contributions to our forum.

Among other topics, Azerbaijan and Uganda are issuing new 
paper notes, and a new celebrity coin collector appears. More
importantly for NBS members, a new issue of our print journal 
is on its way!

Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society


COINS AND NEW YEAR SUPERSTITIONS
 
Dick Johnson writes: "Happy New Year!  I did not know how 
coins are involved in so many countries' New Years Day 
traditions until I read an article by Glenn Tuney in the 
Uniontown Pennsylvania Herald Standard.
 
He relates the tradition that the first visitor of the 
year should be male and have dark hair. If he does he is 
given a coin as a gift. It was Italians who practiced 
this tradition.
 
A second one comes from Scotland -- put a dime outside 
on your front window ledge. You will never have a shortage 
of money in that house for the entire year.
 
The third one is to fill a sink with water, dump in some 
coins and wash your face in that water.
 
Another one is for two people to hold on to a dollar bill 
at the stroke of midnight. A higher denomination bill will 
bring greater wealth to the two people 
 
A final one is to bake a coin in a sweet bread.
 
Columnist Tuney adds "If you are able to observe these 
[last] two superstitions without putting out your eye with 
a penny or swallowing a doughy dime, your luck already is 
running on the positive side. As an added incentive for 
fortune to smile on you, you also can burn a bayberry candle 
before midnight on New Year's Eve to entice good luck to 
come your way."
 
It's a long article.  To read it in its entirety, see:   
http://tinyurl.com/e36ft

Good Luck to All E-Sylum Readers in 2006! Now where did 
I put that dime?"


LATEST ASYLUM ISSUE ON THE WAY

Tom Fort, Editor of our print journal, writes: "The latest 
issue of The Asylum should either be on its way or already 
in your mailbox by the time you read this. This issue's 
contents are as follows:

My First Numismatic literary Work or Who am I and 
Why am I Here 
by Frank L. Wiswall

Royal Mints and Royal Minors in England 1216-1389 
by 
Frank L. Wiswall

The Deluxe, Leather Bound, Interleaved Brownings 
by Karl Moulton

A Landmark Numismatic Book Auction
by George Frederick Kolbe

A Rare but Little Known Fixed Price List: America's 
Outstanding Collection of Silver Dollars for Sale at 
Fixed Prices 
by W. David Perkins

President's Message
by Pete Smith

Reading the introductions to the weekly newsletter I 
am struck by the fact that less than one half of The 
E-Sylum's readership (now at over 830) are actually paid 
members of the NBS. At the moment, The Asylum, the only 
periodical devoted to our passion, has a subscription base 
of less than 350. Come on people, it only costs $15! That's 
less than the price of two movie tickets and it takes more 
than a couple of hours to read a year's worth of issues 
and you don't have to put up with that guy who won't stop 
talking at full volume into his cell phone. If there is a 
better numismatic literary deal, I do not know of it. 
Before you read any further, jump to the end of this 
newsletter, write a cheque and send it off to our dear 
treasurer."

[So make a New Year's Resolution to join NBS!  It only 
takes a few moments.  As always, instructions for joining 
are at the end of this E-Sylum message. -Editor]


FRICKE CONFEDERATE PAPER MONEY BOOK REVIEW

Len Harsel writes: "There is a review of the new CSA 
book by Fricke in this week's Bank Note Reporter.  Not 
being a CSA collector, the book is just the thing for 
the collector who is concerned about varieties akin to 
the berries on large cents!"

Steve Feller writes: "I have the new Fricke book -- it 
is marvelous --- here is a little review I did for the 
I.B.N.S. Journal:

Review of Collecting Confederate Paper Money: A Complete 
and Fully Illustrated Guide to All Confederate Note Types 
and Varieties by Pierre Fricke 

This is a superb book.  Eight hundred pages in length 
it is chock full of new information on Confederate States 
of America bank note issues.  The last major works on 
Confederate notes were the tenth edition of the Arlie 
Slabaugh, Confederate States Paper Money, published by 
Krause Publications in 2000 and the Grover Criswell, 
Comprehensive Catalog of Confederate Paper Money, published 
by BNR Press in 1996.   This book brings the state of our 
knowledge up a quantum as we approach the sesquicentennial 
of America's most important formative event. In my 
opinion this new volume is superior to its predecessors.

The book is printed to a high standard and the color 
plates are of very high quality.  The plates include an 
example of each of the Criswell Type notes as well as some 
color varieties. This new volume is a work of original 
research.  In particular, there is a large focus on 
varieties.  Mr. Fricke expanded upon the original notes 
of the late Dr. Doug Ball.  In fact a new numbering scheme, 
PF numbered varieties, is introduced in this volume.  Also, 
condition census lists are provided for the first time.  
For example the Type 16 notes have a listing for 17 varieties.  
After the main listing there are detailed discussions of 
9 of these varieties with 9 illustrations.  Further, the 
pre-catalog informational section is extensive and useful 
to the collector.  Each major Criswell Type is discussed 
at some length and then additional pages are allocated for 
the aforementioned many varieties within each type and the 
book is extensively illustrated.

On the whole this high quality book is a must for the 
paper currency collector as well as for buffs of the 
American civil war.  Further information may be obtained 
at www.smytheonline.com.  The book is $49.95 plus $5.50 
shipping within the United States."


MORE ON THE U.S. MINT PANTOGRAPHIC REDUCING MACHINE

Last week Dick Johnson wrote: "To their credit, 
Treasury officials turned instead to American sculptors 
to create new coin designs. No small designs these. 
These artists - St-Gaudens, Weinman, Fraser, MacNeil, 
de Francisci - created oversize models which were 
pantographically reduced."

Howard Spindel writes: "The pantographic reducing machine, 
aka reducing lathe or transfer lathe, was around long 
before the appearance of the above mentioned sculptors. 
It was used in preparing coinage dies as early as the 
mid-1800s.

An article in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol 24, 
Issue 139 (December 1861) details the processes in use 
at the mint at the time of writing, including the use 
of the reducing lathe.  You can read a copy of that 
article on my local club's website at:

http://www.pdxcoinclub.org/articles/MakingMoneyPart2/MakingMoney.pdf 

I originally found this article at Cornell University's 
The Making of America project, which is a fantastic resource.

This takes nothing away from the beauty that the early 20th 
century engravers brought to our coinage, but I would say 
the quality of their designs is due to their skill as sculptors, 
not to use of the reducing lathe."

Dick Johnson writes: "In reply to Howard Spindel's comment 
to my item on the die-engraving pantograph in last week's 
E-Sylum -- Howard is correct. The pantograph has been in 
use at the Philadelphia Mint since their Contimin arrived 
from France in 1836. It was replaced by the Hill machine 
that the mint acquired from William Wyon in London in 1857, 
and the Mint acquired the Janvier in 1906. 

I gave a more complete history of the die-engraving 
pantograph in E-Sylum (vol 7 no 11 article 10) 
March 14, 2004. You can review this at:
http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v07n11a10.html

The difference was in HOW the American engraving staff 
at the Philadelphia Mint used these machines. From 1836 
well into the 20th century the engravers would only use 
the Contimin or Hill to make device punches of the main 
device. A master pattern would be made of the Liberty 
Seated or Liberty Head, say, and this could be reduced 
for each size required for the dime, quarter, half. What 
they would cut was a device punch alone -- not the entire 
coin design. The device punch would then be hubbed into 
a die, then add lettering, stars and dates by hand punching 
(to create a master die). 

It was not until 1920 that MINT engravers reproduced 
the entire design, lettering and all, from one model, 
de Francisci's Peace dollar design. Even though the 
Philadelphia Mint department had a Janvier they did not 
use this for the original models of Fraser, Weinman, and 
MacNeils (they tried for St-Gaudens model but that is 
another story). Galvanos of all these artists' models 
were made and reduced in New York City (at Medallic Art 
Company). 

The artists modeled (on average)12 to 16-inch models, 
Medallic Art reduced these to 9-inch patterns. What 
these artists turned over to the mint were these midsize 
galvanos. The mint used these galvanos to further reduce 
to cut hubs and dies. 

There are subtle differences from a die made by punches 
and hand punched lettering, figures and stars in contrast 
to a die made from one model intact. The Barber / Morgan 
hand punched dies are stiff designs with sharp demarcations 
of the punched elements. A modeled design is far softer 
as the elements tend to blend from the lettering into the 
field. It is very subtle; you have to know the technology 
and what technique was used for each to see these differences.

Howard, I hope that clears up the statement I made last week. 
My intent was to contrast the designs of talented sculptors 
(and the use of one model intact reduced on the Janvier 
pantograph) from the engraving methods of the Barber / Morgan 
era." 


AZERBAIJAN'S NEW PAPER CURRENCY

>From BakuToday.net, an Azeri website: "As earlier reported, 
Azerbaijan's new money to be released in January in light 
of the currency denomination was presented on Wednesday. 

Addressing the presentation ceremony at the Excelsior Hotel, 
President Ilham Aliyev said the issuance of the new banknotes 
and coins into circulation will mark a new stage in the 
country's history."
 
"The new banknotes and coins, printed by an Austrian company, 
were designed by Austrian expert Robert Kalina, who also 
developed Euro's design. 

1 Manat (national currency) will equal 5,000 Manats currently 
being used. The new banknotes, worth 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 
manats and coins worth 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50 hundredth factions 
of 1 Manat will be issued. 

The banknote worth 1 manat will display Azeri culture, while 
one for 5 manats - literature, and 10 manats history. 20-manat 
banknotes will cover the Garabagh conflict, on the initiative 
of the President, while ones worth 50 manats - education and 
Azerbaijan's future prospects, and 100 manats - the country's 
development. The banknotes will be protected by some 30 
watermarks, Rustamov said." 
 
"Since 1992, the rate of the national currency Manat has 
decreased 10,000 times, which necessitates the release of 
new banknotes from the economic and technical viewpoints." 

To read the complete article and view images of the notes, see:
http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=15580


UGANDA'S NEW PAPER CURRENCY

>From a recent news article: "The upgraded Shs10,000 note 
will go into circulation on Jan. 2, 2006, Bank of Uganda 
(BoU) has confirmed.

Members of the public who still hold the old Shs10,000 
bank notes printed in 1995 and 1998, which do not have 
the foil stripe, will have to exchange them at BoU's 
counter in Kampala and upcountry currency centres before 
the deadline of December 31, 2005. BoU officials say 
there will be no further extension for redemption of 
the old notes after that date.

Addressing the BoU's monthly press briefings on Thursday, 
the Deputy Director Currency, Mr Raymond Otim, said the 
upgraded note will circulate side-by-side with the 
existing Shs10,000 banknote and will reach the public 
through the normal banking system.

"This is part of the bank's programme to upgrade its 
currencies and it has been going on for the last two 
years," Otim said."

"Distinct features include among others, an electro-type 
watermark of the denomination figure 10000, visible below 
the crested crane watermark when the note is viewed against 
light. The feature is absent in the current note. The 
denomination figure 10,000 at the bottom corner of the 
front face has been enlarged and printed with special 
ink, which shifts colour from magenta to green, when 
the angle of view is changed." 

"BoU began the process of upgrading new notes two years 
ago. They started with the Shs1,000, Shs5,000 and Shs20,000. 
This is expected to be the last exercise of upgrades."

To read the complete article, see:
http://www.monitor.co.ug/business/bus12311.php 


NEW CELEBRITY COIN COLLECTOR: JACK BLACK

In the past we've discussed celebrities who have an 
interest in numismatics.  This week there was an article 
about the collecting interest of an actor in the news:

"Jack Black has an unusual hobby - collecting coins.

The 'King Kong' star admits to being a numismatist - the 
official name for people who enjoy discovering and keeping 
old coinage.

Broadcaster and fellow hoarder Phill Jupitus said: "Jack 
is a numismatist. He was really excited about a coin he 
had, saying it was really old. When he showed it to me it 
turned out to be from only 1847, not really what I would 
call ancient.

He added to Britain's Daily Express newspaper: "So I 
decided to give him three coins - one a Roman coin from 
the first century. I don't think he could quite believe it."

Meanwhile, Black admits he felt the pressure while 
shooting new movie 'King Kong'..." 

To read the complete story, see
http://tinyurl.com/9ld5j  


DON TAXAY WHERE ARE YOU?

Dick Johnson writes: "I had extensive contact with Don 
Taxay in New York City prior to 1971. He was employed 
for a time by Harmer Rooke, and launched an early series 
of auctions for this firm. One was a book auction in 
which I consigned several hundred books. After that he 
freelanced. He had contacts with a number of banks and 
wanted to build money displays for banks. I gave him 
several hundred dollars as seed money to build a miniature 
display as a sales sample to show bankers with the proviso 
that I could be an investor if the project panned out. 
It didn't.

The rumors about him are never entirely true or entirely 
false. He did travel to India and he did live in Florida. 
My last recollection of him was a full page ad in Coin World 
with an address in Florida offering his services as a 
numismatic consultant. I don't recall what year this was 
(can anyone date that advertisement)?  The last rumor I 
heard was that he had married a wealthy woman and was 
living in Florida."

Only three Americans are listed with the last name Taxay 
in phone directories (two in Pittsburgh and one in Miami) 
and only eight Taxays are listed in the U.S. Social Security 
Death Index (none remotely close to Don). If he is still 
alive, I believe he is outside the country."

George Fuld writes: "I last heard from him about 1976!!  
Some years ago I was told that he resided in India.  I
have heard nothing else about him."

Tom DeLorey writes: "I last saw Taxay in 1977. Not long 
afterwards he disappeared. 

The rumor that I heard most often was that he had gotten 
seriously into transcendental meditation and had moved 
to the Himalayas. However, when I met his nephew in the 
coin shop at Harlan Berk's in the early 1990s, all he 
could add was that the family had no idea what had become 
of him, and would like to know if he is still alive. I may 
still have the nephew's card in my desk, in case anybody 
can offer the family any information I can pass on."

John Kraljevich writes: "The Don Taxay story has somewhat 
puzzled me over the years too. I never knew him, but I've 
certainly asked what happened to him to several people 
who knew him before his disappearance around 1977. The 
story that he moved to India to follow up on his religious 
beliefs seems pretty unanimous.
 
Apparently Don was a Hare Krishna, and one person who 
used to work with him at Harmer Rooke recalled him 
distracting everyone in the office by chanting while he 
worked on coins! Somehow Frank Van Valen (my colleague at 
ANR) singing doo-wop while cataloguing doesn't seem quite 
as bad now.
 
He seems to have been an interesting character, though 
more of a researcher than a numismatist. Breen apparently 
felt that Taxay improperly used some of his material and 
grew jealous of him over the years. Whatever happened, 
Taxay's books continue to be quite useful, though some of 
his conclusions in US Mint and Coinage have been shown to 
be wrong by Craig Sholley and others."

Karl Moulton writes: "In my forthcoming book titled "Henry 
Voigt and Others Involved With America's Early Coinage" I 
comment on Don Taxay and his 1966 book "The U.S. Mint and 
Coinage".  In Chapter 13, called Modern Misinformation,  
I point out a few random errors in the text of Taxay's book, 
which were either miscopied from previous original source 
documents, made up, or embellished from other previously 
unconfirmed publications, including notes by Walter Breen.
 
If one delves into Taxay's presentation of American numismatic 
history, which he himself labeled a "difficult manuscript", 
it becomes obvious that he didn't do enough original research, 
but simply followed the ABC's of misinterpreting the facts.  
This would be Accepting, Believing, and Copying from others 
without first validating their claims.  Unfortunately, this 
has happened frequently throughout American numismatics.  
Please understand that I did not set out to pick apart Taxay's 
book, which is still usable if the reader scrutinizes the 
claims made, but wanted to make note about a few of the 
questionable passages which he and others had written about 
people connected with the United States Mint.  
 
What happened to Taxay?  He became a Rajneeshee.  What is 
that you ask?  A Rajneeshee is a devout follower of the 
Indian cult leader/terrorist Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, whose 
world wide headquarters was/is in Poona, India.  Some 
background is necessary for further understanding (please 
note: most of the following isn't included in my book as 
it doesn't relate to the subject matter of the title).
 
In the mid 1960's, after Breen returned to New York 
from Berkley, he and Taxay became very good friends.  
Breen was cataloguing for Lester Merkin and Taxay was 
then the curator of the Chase Manhattan Money Museum 
(having been previously involved with New Netherlands 
Coin Co. and John Ford).  They were both at that time 
what I would refer to as intellectual hippies.  Over 
the years that followed, Breen related the Indian culture 
and religions to Taxay, who then became obsessed.  
Taxay's family in Chicago was not pleased.  Eventually, 
Taxay made an initial pilgrimage to Poona.  He found 
that was what he was seeking and returned home in the 
early 1970's to get as much money as possible.  You see 
that was the real basis for the commune at Poona.  The 
Bhagwan owned 93 Rolls Royces at one time.  He brought 
all of them with him when he came to the U.S. in 1983 
(imagine the import duty).  Plus, he was the first 
person to have conducted biological warfare on 
American soil, but that's another story in itself.
 
Let's get back to Taxay in Poona (Pune in Indian).  
He left this country when the government was decaying 
rapidly under the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam 
conflict.  His last contact was with Harry Forman when 
he helped catalogue an auction held 12/6/1974.  He then 
sold the rights to "The U.S. Mint & Coinage" for a 
reported $100,000, and left for India via Florida around 
1977 and has not been heard from since.  
 
For several years in the late 1970s (before the Poona 
commune was temporarily shut down) Taxay became a 
brainwashed and untraceable person to western culture 
(similar to Osama Bin Laden today).  He divorced himself 
from all he had known and presumably gave away all of 
his money to the Bhagwan.  When the commune was transferred 
to Oregon for several years, it is unknown if Taxay made 
the trip to the U.S. or remained in India at another 
similar commune (of which there were several). I have 
an inscribed copy of a Taxay book dated 5-30-1980, the 
same date as the Chicago International Coin Fair.  He 
may have returned briefly to visit with certain members 
of his family and then went underground.
 
When the Bhagwan was deported back to India, he tried 
to go elsewhere, but no other countries would allow him 
in, so he re-established the Poona site.  The name of the 
commune was changed to OSHO.  When the Bhagwan died in 
the early 1990's, several of his wealthy followers took 
control and continued to expand the concepts of 
"enlightenment" to others worldwide.  Yes, they have a 
website now.  All they require to join initially is your 
passport and taking an aids test.  Everyone is provided 
with a red, full body robe.  The removal of your wealth 
comes later.
 
What actually happened to Don Taxay, the individual, 
remains unknown, and may never be fully discovered.  
He will probably not return to the western world, even 
if he is still alive.  For those interested in American 
numismatics, we will only have what he presented some 
40 years ago.  If he is alive, it would be appropriate 
if he would make contact with the numismatic fraternity 
once again.
 
My new book will present many different people and 
events of the first United States Mint, based on 
contemporary source documents, personal accounts and 
actual historical facts.  As I state in the cover 
letter of my latest numismatic literature list for 
January 2006, "it will definitely change what you now 
know".  Plans are to have this informative, original 
researched book ready sometime this summer."


ANS MAGAZINE PRINTING ERROR?  

Bob Metzger of Minnesota writes:  This week's mail delivery 
included a number of numismatic treats, including the December 
issue of the Celator, Davissons' Auction 24 "aftersale", and 
the Winter 2005 issue of the ANS Magazine (Volume 4, Number 3).

But the ANS Magazine is an "error" issue. The pages are 
incorrectly cut and incorrectly bound, to the extent that 
the issue is unreadable. Somehow, the sheets were misaligned 
so badly during the binding step that the staples have been 
punched almost in the middle of the rectos.

While it is an interesting error, I'd like to be able to 
read the magazine! Also, I wonder if anyone else received 
an issue like this."

[My copy seems fine. Readers?  Bob wins this week's E-Sylum
Vocabulary Award for "rectos."  -Editor]


FERRANDO'S MONNAIES D'ARLES SOUGHT

Bob Knepper of Anaheim, CA writes: "I am still trying to 
get some (any) information about three undated notes of 
10, 20, and 100 francs, which I own, issued in Arles, 
France.  "Les monnaies d'Arles" by Philippe Ferrando 
(1997) was suggested but I suspect it was a Google search 
and includes ancient coins but nothing modern.  ISBN is 
2951103700.  The ANA library catalog does not list it.  
Amazon lists it but out of print and no reviews.

Does anyone have or know about the book or know where 
it can be borrowed?   I don't want to buy a book and 
find it has nothing applicable.

The notes are not listed in "Billets de Necessite Francais, 
chambres de commerce" by P. Bourg and A. Hanot.

Any other suggestions?  Thank you."


E-SYLUM PRINTING TIPS

Bob Neale writes: "For others who may wish to print 
out all or parts of an E-Sylum issue, but would like 
to fill their pages to the usual margins instead of 
accepting the narrow column format, I suggest the following, 
assuming use of Windows and MS-Word.

Select the desired text and copy it to the clipboard, 
then open it in a new Word document. Select <edit> 
and then <replace> and type ^l (caret and lower case L) 
in the 'find' field, then type a space in the 'replace 
with' field. When you 'select all' the line breaks will 
disappear. Then change the line spacing if desired, 
restore the paragraph breaks, if any (as easily found 
from the capitalized headings), adjust the margins as 
usual, and you're good to go."

[I experimented with Bob's suggestion but was unable 
to get it to work.  Others may have better luck.  I'm 
using Microsoft Outlook 2003, and my incoming E-Sylum 
mailings show up with a note that "Extra line breaks 
in the message were removed.".  By clicking on the message 
I have the option of restoring the line breaks.  So there 
may be an even easier way of doing this depending on your 
mail program - it may be configurable to automatically 
remove the line breaks for you.  -Editor]


DEFINITIONS: PAPER MONEY AND CURRENCY

In a previous issue, Fred Schwan wrote: "One of my 
pet peeves (and it really drives me crazy) is the 
use of the word currency to mean paper money. Currency 
is the money in circulation--both struck and printed."

Kavan Ratnatunga writes: "Money is generic to both 
Coins and Currency.

Although Currency is used to mean coins and notes
many books have been published on Coins and Currency.
The term currency notes is used, but currency coins
I have never seen used.

In any case note-money is now printed on plastic
in many nations like Australia so the term "Paper Money"
is no longer valid term for that class of Money. I use
the words coins and notes to avoid any confusion."

Steve D'Ippolito writes: "Currency" being misused?  How 
about "cash"?  The automated checkouts at Wal-mart and 
Home Depot tell you that "cash is dispensed below the 
scanner"--meaning the paper money only, as the coins 
("change") pop out somewhere else."


FEATURED WEB SITE: HARTZOG'S PAGE ON FAKES

This week's featured web site is recommended by Roger 
deWardt Lane.  He writes: "I was doing research on an 
Abraham Lincoln medal, looking for the Token and Medal 
Society reference, when this site on fakes. came up. 
I found it very interesting."

[This page is from Rich Hartzog's web site.  Rich 
has a wonderful selection of information and links.  
-Editor]

http://www.exonumia.com/fakes.htm
 

Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society


The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. For more information please 
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