The E-Sylum v9#20, May 14, 2006

[esylum at binhost.com]

Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 9, Number 20, May 14, 2006:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


WAYNE'S WORDS

Among our recent subscribers are Jon Amatp of Heritage Auctions, 
Carl Matthews, Dwight Manley, Thomas Steward, John Murphy, Tim Webb 
and Michael Roschel. Welcome aboard!  We now have 895 subscribers.
Many thanks for Bill Murray who mentioned The E-Sylum in a recent
Coin World article - this may be where some of our new subscribers
Are coming from.

We lead off this week with good wishes for Nancy Green, who 
recently retired as Librarian of the American Numismatic Association. 
One book it will be the duty of someone else to catalog and place 
on the shelf is Roger Burdette's "Renaissance of American Coinage 
1905-1908", which became available over the weekend - I've written 
a review.  Dennis Tucker of Whitman Publishing provides an update 
on the upcoming Cherrypickers' Guide, and in response to a query 
Nancy Oliver & Rich Kelly remind us of how to order their book 
'A Mighty Fortress: The Stories Behind the 2nd San Francisco Mint'.  

Research queries this week include requests for information on 
the Feversham Hoard and Georges Bataille of the Bibliothèque 
Nationale.  Karl Moulton and Dave Bowers provide peeks into their 
upcoming books as they answer the previous query about the Jacob 
Perkins building in Newburyport:  Did Perkins really make coins or 
paper money there?

Dick Johnson chimes in with three great articles this week, all 
related to rising commodity prices and their affect on coinage.

Finally, reports from Spain note that several employees of the 
worldwide collectibles firm Escala have been arrested following 
a police raid on the company’s headquarters related to charges 
of fraud involving stamp investments.  The firm has a number of 
unrelated numismatic divisions, including Bowers and Merena 
Auctions, Spectrum Numismatics and Teletrade in the U.S.  Have 
a great week, everyone.

Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society


LAKE SALE #84 PRICES REALIZED AVALIABLE

Fred Lake writes: "The prices realized list for our sale #84 
which closed on Tuesday, May 9, 2006 is now posted on our web 
site at: http://www.lakebooks.com/archive.html   Scroll down 
to sale #84 (or press the "2006" link) and you will see the two 
choices for downloading the list.
 
The sale was quite active with "Redbooks" and special edition 
catalogs being sought after. Our next sale will be held on 
August 8, 2006 and will feature selections from the library 
of Joseph E. Dinardo."


NANCY GREEN'S RETIREMENT

Howard Daniel writes: "No, I do not want to read about Nancy 
Green retiring as Librarian at the ANA!  She had not gotten my 
approval on her retirement papers before submitting them!  I am 
sure she has trained an excellent staff, but I was just getting 
used to Nancy after years of me training her!  Only kidding - 
she is a great lady and friend and I will miss her on the ANA 
circuit, but I will get to Colorado Springs to bother her every 
once in awhile so she does not get much rest in her retirement.  
Good luck Nancy in your retirement!"

NBS President Pete Smith writes: "I want to extend my best 
wishes to Nancy Green on her second retirement from the ANA. 
I recall meeting her when the ANA convention was in Denver in 
1996. I hope she can return to greet her friends in NBS when 
the convention returns to Denver next August.

Nancy collects library medals. Perhaps now she will have time 
to exhibit them or write an article about them for The Asylum. 
Those are selfish wishes based on what I want. Of course what 
is important is for Nancy now to do what she wants.

In my role as NBS President and her role as ANA Librarian, 
we had a professional relationship dealing with fundraising, 
support of the ANA Library and recruiting speakers for NBS 
meetings. I recall challenging her with a research question 
I had been working on without success for a few years. She 
found the answer for me.

More that a professional associate, I consider her a friend. 
We had lunch or dinner at a couple of the ANA conventions. 
While we talked about literature and ANA politics, we also 
talked about our families, putting kids through college and 
the challenges dealing with aging parents. I hope Nancy will 
keep in touch with her friends and continue her association 
with the NBS."


BURDETTE'S RENAISSANCE OF AMERICAN COINAGE 1905-1908

The latest volume of Roger Burdette's planned trilogy covers 
the early period of America's coinage renaissance, the key years 
when President Theodore Roosevelt embarked on a mission to 
revitalize the nation's coin designs with the help of Augustus 
Saint-Gaudens and other top sculptors of the day.  

The book is illustrated with hundreds of black and white images 
of coins, patterns, models, drawings and sketches.  Absent are 
portraits of some of the coin designers themselves, but Roger 
adds: "There is a bust of Saint-Gaudens on p4 and a photo of Henry 
Hering on p55.  There's a photo of Lodge on p.5 and Bigelow on p323. 
Available photos of Pratt are so awful that I decided not to use 
one. Roosevelt is represented by multiple images on medals and 
plaques. Frank Leach will appear in the 1909-1915 book as will 
George Roberts during his second stint as Mint Director."

The most technically impressive photo may be the computer-generated 
"rollout" image of the entire edge of an extremely high relief 
1907 double eagle, created by the author based on photo provided 
by NGC (p367).  Similar edge photos appear elsewhere in the book. 
Historically, the most impressive photos are the one showing the 
original low-relief model and the one with "E Pluribus Unum" on 
the rock. Roger adds: "The first was thought to not exist and the 
second had never been imagined by numismatists."

"President Roosevelt was justifiably proud of the new eagle and 
double eagle. He and the members of his cabinet purchased coins 
as personal mementoes, as well as semi-official awards of respect 
and admiration for friends and government employees." (p152)

A fact noted in Alison Frankel's new book about the 1933 
Double Eagle, Augustus Saint-Gaudens "treated the experimental 
coins he was sent as mechanical models, nothing more."  It was 
his wife Augusta who recognized not only their beauty, but their 
investment potential.  "She felt that beyond their artistic 
qualities, they would be worth at least $5,000 in the future 
and she has determined to get as many as possible..." (p153)

But the book isn't all about Saint-Gaudens - the fight over the 
"In God We Trust" motto and the groundbreaking incuse designs of 
Bela Lyon Pratt are addressed in depth as well.  It turns out 
that "In all respects Bela Pratt was treated shabbily by the 
president, the mint and his collaborator", Dr. William S. Bigelow.  
Pratt designed the coin; Roosevelt's friend Dr. Bigelow provided 
"technical and political influence" (p342).

Through his research, Roger identified two previously unrecognized 
$10 gold pattern coins, and he notes at least four other patterns 
that remain to be discovered - Mint records indicate that they 
were struck, yet none are known today (p368-369).  Interestingly, 
the book also identifies cardboard trial pieces (actually thick 
paperboard) which "were supposed to be kept by the director's office 
as part of the official record of acceptance", but which cannot now 
be located in the archives.  "The rectangular stock was dampened, 
struck with the dies at sufficient pressure to show the full design, 
then allowed to dry." (p271-272).  

Roger is to be commended not only for his diligent research and 
clear writing, but for his openness in indicating where facts leave 
off and speculation begins - such divisions are difficult if not 
impossible to discern in the writings of earlier researchers.   

For example, Mint records indicate that on December 2, 1907 the 
president requested twenty additional individually-packaged 
high-relief double eagles.  Twelve days later, Roosevelt observed 
the highly-publicized ceremonial departure of the U.S. Atlantic 
Fleet from Norfolk, VA. The total of twenty commanding officers 
might have been a coincidence, but it would not be a far stretch 
of logic to infer a connection.  The book includes a few pages on 
"The Great White Fleet", but the section is prefaced with an 
italicized paragraph noting that the connection is highly 
speculative. "Naval archives contain nothing that confirms this 
connection. The author admits to standing very far out on a thin 
limb." (p154)

David Tripp, author of "Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed and the 
Mystery of the 1933 Double Eagle" contributed the book's foreword.  
I wholeheartedly agree with Tripp's conclusion that "future authors 
of articles and books concerning these episodes will owe an 
incalculable debt to Roger Burdette's book, for his work will become 
the handbook to which future researchers will look first before 
heading off on their own journeys of discovery." (page xv)

Tripp also accurately notes that despite "some frightfully 
distressing destruction of United States Mint records in the 1970s, 
there is still a treasure trove of vital, essential material that 
is readily available, and there is more yet to be discovered." 
(page xvi)  
 
In short, this book is a must for any serious U.S. numismatist's 
library, and is a must-read for any collector of the coinage spawned 
in this era.  We bibliophiles are indebted to Roger both for his 
painstaking research and for underwriting the publishing of the book.  
The relatively small market will likely make this a break-even effort
at best, which is a shame. 

Collectors, dealers, auctioneers and others will also be able to 
leverage the book's information to identify, market and trade coins 
worth sums thousands (or tens of thousands) of times the book's retail 
price, but none of the profits are likely to find their way back to 
the author.  If I were the Emperor Norton of Numismatics, I would 
decree that for the period of five years from first publication, any 
commercial coin description based on a book's original research be 
taxed the sum of $25, with the proceeds going to the book's author. 
That's impossible to implement, of course, but if Walter Breen got 
paid by dealers of his day for his research efforts, maybe today's 
authors should be remunerated as well.

I would like to publicly thank Roger for stopping by my office 
personally on Monday to present to me a copy of the book, which he 
took the time to inscribe to me.  I've savored it all week, and it 
will become a treasured part of my numismatic library.   The book 
debuted to the collecting public Saturday May 13 at the Pennsylvania 
Association of Numismatists coin show in Monroeville, PA.  

Roger graciously agreed to make a presentation to a crowd of young 
numismatists at PAN's highly popular Coins4Kids program, and also 
spent time meeting collectors and selling and signing copies of 
his books.  He donated one copy of each of his two new books, and 
these were awarded to two kids in a random drawing.  They were all
smiles and eagerly watched as Roger inscribed their copies.


FRANKEL'S 1933 DOUBLE EAGLE BOOK REVIEWED BY WALL STREET JOURNAL

The Wall Street Journal published a review by Jason Goodwin of 
Alison Frankel's new book "Double Eagle" on Saturday, May 13:

"Ms. Frankel steers her reader through a world of coin fairs, 
backroom deals, gossip and meticulous scholarship. The result is 
a thriller-like narrative that tacks swiftly back and forth among 
the principal players.

We meet dubious dealers -- "a squat, balding redhead who wore 
thick-rimmed glasses, cheap suits, and a perpetual sneer" -- and 
obsessive collectors. There is the flamboyant coin dealer Jay Parrino, 
"a tough-guy contestant in coin-dealing's long-running pageant of 
self-aggrandizement," and his would-be nemesis, Jack Moore, a former 
truck driver who prods the Secret Service into a double-eagle sting 
operation but then ends up mired in his own legal troubles."

"Above all, Ms. Frankel immerses her reader in the Florentine world 
of dealers and collectors, the interplay of rivalry, passion and 
mutual trust that animates the tiny handful of people -- almost all 
of them men -- for whom a Brasher doubloon or an Indian head nickel 
matters more than anything else in the world."

Ms. Frankel builds her story with a sure touch. At the end, we find 
the double eagle still enveloped in a mist of legal doubts, trailing 
the very image of slippery value that Teddy Roosevelt had been eager 
to banish from U.S. currency when he commissioned it. The 1933 double 
eagle still may not be legal to own. And what, you might ask, is it 
really worth? Seven million dollars -- or 10 years in jail?"

To read the complete review (subscription required) see:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114746584482151643.html


CHERRYPICKER'S GUIDE, FOURTH EDITION, VOLUME TWO

Dennis Tucker of Whitman Publishing writes: "Here's an update 
on the Cherrypickers' Guide, in reply to Steve Pellegrini's 
query in last week's issue.  E-Sylum readers can go to "The 
Whitman Review" (linked off www.whitmanbooks.com) to get to an 
article about the book. From there they can download sample 
pages, including the foreword by Q. David Bowers and a sample 
of the coin-by-coin section."

To go directly to the Cherrypickers' Guide article:
http://www.whitmanbooks.com/Default.aspx?Page=55&HTMLName=ReviewPubColumn_0506 

"Few books have taken the numismatic community by storm like 
the Cherrypickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties. The first edition 
burst onto the scene in 1990, and since then thousands of coin 
collectors have been bitten by the Die Varieties Bug." 

"Since 1990, four editions of the Cherrypickers' Guide have come 
out, to popular acclaim, with thousands of copies sold... By the 
time you read this, Whitman Publishing will be in the final stages 
of typesetting and proofreading the Fourth Edition, Volume Two, 
of the Cherrypickers' Guide, covering U.S. coins from half dimes 
through modern dollars, gold dollars to double eagles, and classic 
commemoratives. 

The book will debut at the American Numismatic Association's 
World's Fair of Money in Denver this August."


PERKINS COIN WORLD ARTICLE ON THE 1795 B-19 DOLLAR

NBS President Pete Smith writes: "The lead article in the May 22, 
2006, issue of Coin World is by our own W. David Perkins. He tells 
of the acquisition of the 1795 B-19 Dollar by specialist Warren 
Miller. In earlier correspondence, I mentioned running into Dave 
in the security line at the Columbus, Ohio, airport. He was returning 
home after brokering the sale of this dollar."


E-SYLUM SUBSCRIBER SAMUEL ERNST WINS CSNS JUNIOR LITERARY AWARD

Congratulations to Samuel Ernst for winning the Central States 
Numismatic Society's Daniel Parker Junior Literary Award for his 
article about the extra leaves Wisconsin quarters.  He writes: 
"Mr. Finner at Central States said I am the youngest person to 
ever get a article published, so I guess that means I'm the 
youngest to ever win an award too."

To read Samuel's article, see:
http://www.centralstates.info/wisc_leaves.html 


WHERE TO BUY "A MIGHTY FORTRESS"

Jeff Reichenberger writes: "I've been trying to locate a copy 
of the book 'A Mighty Fortress: The Stories Behind the 2nd San 
Francisco Mint' by Kelly and Oliver. I can't find it from the 
publisher, the ANA's Money Market, or other book outlets."

Nancy Oliver & Rich Kelly write: "You can purchase a copy for 
$14.95 plus $2.00 postage and handling (California residents, 
please add 8% sales tax).  If you would like us, the co-authors, 
to sign your copy, we would be happy to do so.  Please send 
check or money order to:

O.K. Associates
26746 Contessa St.
Hayward, CA  94545-3150"
 

INFORMATION ON GEORGES BATAILLE SOUGHT

An item published in The Guardian May 11 discusses a new exhibit 
about a short-lived magazine published by Georges Bataille.  It 
caught my eye because of the mention of Bataille's "day job" in 
numismatics:

"Documents' purported academicism was its disguise, just as its 
editor, by day a numismatist at the Cabinet des Médailles in the 
Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, was far more than a mere 
cataloguer of coins and medals. If Bataille is known today to a 
general audience, it is as a pornographer, the author of The Story 
of the Eye, the novel he pseudonymously published in 1928."

"Bataille was a strange, difficult thinker, a dissident and a 
transgressor. And Documents, the small magazine he edited in 1929 
and 1930, which ran for only 15 issues, was stranger still. 
Documents seems an unlikely subject for a major exhibition. But 
if the magazine was influential at the time it was published, it 
is perhaps even more so now."

Can anyone tell us more about Georges Bataille?  Did he publish any numismatic works?

To read the complete article, see:
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1772276,00.html 

To read a related article, see:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1774138,00.html


FEVERSHAM HOARD INFORMATION SOUGHT

Philip Mernick of London writes: "I recently acquired a couple 
of old copies of The Numismatist at a coin club auction (this 
publication is rarely seen in England). Volume 102, Number 2 
of February 1989 has a very interesting article by Joseph R. 
Lasser titled "The Remarkable Feversham Hoard". Can any E-Sylum 
reader give me details of where I might find a detailed write up 
of the hoard contents?"


U.S. NICKEL AS VULNERABLE AS THE CENT
 
Dick Johnson writes: "You have been reading articles here in The 
E-Sylum on the vulnerablity of the U.S. cent in recent issues. 
That was the first shoe to drop. Now for the second: the U.S. 
nickel is as vulnerable as well!
 
An article in an issue of USA Today last week quoted a U.S. Mint 
spokesman with even worse news.  "The Mint estimates it will cost 
1.23 cents per penny and 5.73 cents per nickel this fiscal year, 
which ends Sept. 30. The cost of producing a penny has risen 27% 
in the last year, while nickel manufacturing costs have risen 19%."

I had predicted there would be no cent struck in 2010. My thought 
was that Congress would support the cent through 2009 because they 
have already passed legislation for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial  
-- and the Lincoln Cent Centennial -- when the 2009 cent coin was 
to be struck with four different reverses.

Now we have the problem with the nickel as well.  Get ready to round 
up, folks. Ultimately the dime will be the smallest circulating coin i
n America.  It is only a matter of time.

If you wish to read that USA Today story, click on:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-05-09-penny-usat_x.htm "


BRITISH ROYAL MINT WARNS AGAINST MELTING COPPER COINS
 
Dick Johnson writes: "Rising copper prices influenced the British 
Royal Mint to issue a warning to British citizens not to hoard or 
melt one and two-pence coins for their copper content. Prior to 
1992 these coin denominations were 97 percent copper; after that 
date it is copper plated steel.  The mint wants to keep their 6.33 
billion two-pence coins in circulation. 

To read the story click on: 
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/boom-time-for-uks-penny-pinchers/2006/05/13/1146940772237.html


WILL AMERICA FOLLOW NEW ZEALAND’S COINAGE LEAD?

Dick Johnson writes: "America is NOT the world leader - at 
least not in revitalizing its coinage system. New Zealand is!

New Zealand is the first coin-issuing country in the world to 
completely revamp its coinage system for modern economic times. 
Not by new designs for old denominations, but by eliminating 
obsolete denominations and "remodeling" existing denominations 
by smaller and lighter-weight compositions in addition to new 
designs.

No problems in New Zealand for rising coinage metal prices. 
While other countries around the world face massive melting of 
coins in circulation for their metal content, America included, 
New Zealand is a step ahead of that! Already solved that problem 
by planning ahead.

Sixteen years ago the country abolished one and two-cent coins. 
They eliminated the 5-cent coin in spring 2005. The 10, 20 and 
50-cent coins are being struck now in steel compositions in 
smaller sizes and in modern designs. The $1 and $2 coins are 
unaffected, they will continue to be struck in copper nickel 
composition.

The dime is now the lowest coin in circulation. All prices are 
now quoted in multiples of 10 cents while the cent remains a 
"money of account." Contracts and quantity sales and purchases 
can be quoted in the old cents – or even fractions parts of a 
cent! – but the "transaction price," when the final check is 
written, it is in a multiple of a dime.

I predicted last year that treasury departments around the world 
will look to New Zealand as a case study of revamping and 
modernizing coinage systems (E-Sylum, vol 8, no 14, article 3). 
Here is what I said:

‘New Zealand will become a textbook case for Treasury departments 
of all modern world nations to watch and study. These nations will 
ultimately follow suit in eliminating coin denominations below the 
fractional value of ten. The only question is when? More progressive 
nations will take this action quicker than backward nations.’

Our own American cent and nickel will shortly be obsolete, 
inefficient, unsuitable coins for active circulation in a vibrant 
economic system. Rising metal costs for these coin compositions 
are now forcing these changes on us faster than anticipated. We 
can look to what New Zealand did for their coins to plan our 
future coins.

Don't miss reading this latest article on New Zealand’s coins:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/print/0,1478,3666004a10,00.html "


ANA WEB SITE EXPANDED

Gail Baker, Manager of Market and Brand Development at the American 
Numismatic Association writes: "I always enjoy my Monday morning 
reading! Your readers might be interested in taking another look 
at the ANA website. If they haven't been there lately, they need 
to check it out - especially the virtual museum. We have added quite 
a bit of content and continue to add even more every day.  I hope
to see many of your readers this summer in Denver."

[The ANA's web address is http://www.money.org   First, as 
bibliophiles our readers should know that web visitors can 
perform searches on the online catalog of the ANA's Dwight N. 
Manley Numismatic Library, and review policies and procedures 
for borrowing materials.  One relatively new addition is a list 
of about 35 DVDs available for borrowing, from Lane Brunner's 
"Coin Collecting Basics" to Wendell Wolka's "Dark Side of Antebellum: 
Broken Bank Notes, "Nefarious Purveyors of 'The Queer'"  The library 
page also has a convenient link to the Harry W. Bass Numismatic 
Index of Periodicals (NIP).

The Virtual Museum includes the following exhibits:
  Bebee Paper Money Collection
  ANA Featured Coins
  Una and The Lion: British Gold Coins Exhibit
  Lesher Referendum Dollars
  State Quarter Information
  Money of the World Today
  Faces of Money: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

-Editor]


ANA MEMBERSHIP DAY: AUGUST 20, 2006

As in 1996 when the American Numismatic Association convention 
was last in Denver, CO, the ANA is sponsoring a Member's Day.  
I attended the 1996 affair and wholeheartedly recommend it to 
E-Sylum readers.  The event is an ideal opportunity to get to 
know the ANA staff, see the facilities first-hand, and visit the 
museum and library together with fellow collectors and researchers 
from around the world.

Gail Baker writes: "Information on Membership Day is also on the 
web site -- on the "Numismatic Events" drop-down menu. You can 
also register for the Denver Show AND Membership Appreciation 
day online. The form is on the Denver Convention page (under 
Numismatic Events)."

Here is the web site description of the event:

"The American Numismatic Association invites you to join us 
at the Money Museum and  Library in Colorado Springs on Sunday, 
August 20, 2006, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

For members who are attending the Denver World's Fair of Money® 
August 16-19, ANA will provide transportation from Denver to 
Colorado Springs and back as well as to both the Denver and 
Colorado Springs airports.

A barbeque lunch in Colorado Springs will be provided for 
everyone who pre-registers.

The staff of the ANA Money Museum and Library will be available 
to give guided tours and answer any questions you might have 
about the collections or exhibits."

http://www.money.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NumismaticEvents/MembershipAppreciationDay/ 


DWIGHT MANLEY ON FLORENCE SCHOOK

Dwight Manley writes: "Florence Schook opened the doors to an 
incredible world of history, friendships and personal growth that 
I will forever be thankful.  She was a tireless supporter of young 
numismatists, the true future of our hobby.  Mrs. Schook would 
stay in our dorms in Colorado Springs during summer seminars, eat 
with us, oversee our poker games, sit and enjoy Dan Ratners' piano 
skills, watch Mike Fuljenz and "us teenagers" take on the Colorado 
College Woman's Basketball Team, and countless other experiences 
that she created!
 
I remember our great appreciation for her YN program, when Cliff 
Levy, Keith Love, Dan Ratner, Dan Pressburger, myself, Michael Kohler, 
and many others took 10% of every "poker pot" and donated it to Mrs. 
Shook's YN program.
 
Some 20-25 years later, I kept in regular contact with Mrs. Schook.  
She'd call and give updates, and ask me to help out with her Senior 
Center, which I gladly did.  Her passing really is a big loss for 
all past and future young numismatists!
 
I hope to work with the ANA to create a permanent tribute to her 
incredible legacy."
 

DID PERKINS MINT OR PRINT IN NEWBURYPORT BUILDING?  MAYBE NOT

Karl Moulton writes: "Here's what research I uncovered about 
the Perkins building on Fruit Street in Newburyport.  This 
information, along with other early U.S. Mint engravers, is 
included in my forthcoming book about Henry Voigt.
 
Jacob Perkins operated a large, multi-story engraving facility 
at Market Square in Newburyport prior to 1792.  He had the skills 
and equipment to engrave small metallic objects.  Perkins was 
called to the Philadelphia Mint in June of 1792 by his friend, 
Tristram Dalton, now the new Mint Treasurer, who was also from 
Newburyport.  Perkins brought with him some of his own machines 
for edge lettering and planchet cutting, which could have even 
been adapted for steam use.  That's why we see such things as 
the vine and bars Large Cents and lettered edges on some of 
the coins beginning in 1793 
 
As for the building on Fruit Street that is being considered 
for restoration as a minting facility, from what I have gathered, 
it was the merely Perkins family residence and was not used in 
connection to his business.  The Perkins family was large, with 
nine children.  Whether this situation changed later when Jacob 
later moved to Philadelphia, I can't say with certainty.

However, it is quite possible he took small pocket size items 
home to work on, such as the 1800 Washington funeral die 
(illustration in The Numismatist, August 1959, p.938), the 
portrait being copied from his earlier rendition of President 
Washington as seen on the rejected pattern for the 1793 dollar. 
As far as can be determined, there was no equipment at his 
residence to strike any coins or medals."  

Dave Bowers writes: "As to Jacob Perkins, in my new book (Paper 
Money Issued by Banks in the United States 1782-1866) there will 
be a chapter on him.  There will probably be 100 pages on Perkins, 
90% numismatic.  

The building on Fruit Street, now extant, has nothing to do with 
his making Washington funeral medals or any other coins; it was 
never a mint. Earlier, he was at another address in town. Jacob 
headed off for England after spending some time in Philadelphia 
in the mid-1810s, after which time the factory remained in operation. 
Then in the early 1830s the business was moved to Boston and melded 
into the New England Bank Note Co., recently formed."
 

THE SO-CALLED DOLLAR MARKET FROTHY

Alan V. Weinberg writes: "With respect to Steve Pellegrini's 
anticipation of the publication of the new so-called dollar book: 
Jeff Shevlin, the prospective author and a founder of the so-called 
dollar collecting society, has more than once said publicly that 
the book is yet several years away.
 
Anticipation of the book and the slabbing of many so-called 
dollars, often with MS-65++ grades, has resulted in a tremendous 
speculative bubble in prices. For decades, the so-called dollar 
market was severely depressed. Perhaps one of the most depressed 
and least collected segments of the exonumia market, at least 
partially due to the imaginatively high prices in the 1963 
Hibler-Kappen so-called dollar  book. Then, perhaps 3 years ago, 
so-called dollar slabbing started and you found coin dealers 
offering highly graded so-called dollars at enormous, even 
laughable prices. It is not unusual on eBay to see a starting 
price exceeding $1,500 for a slabbed MS-67 common so-called dollar 
which a few years ago you couldn't sell for $50.
 
"Something new" in the slab market attracted speculators and 
some serious collectors who previously didn't know what a so-called 
dollar was. Paul Cunningham, a prominent Michigan-based dealer in 
so-called dollars, has said the so-called dollar market may well 
turn out to be like baseball cards, a  speculative craze.  I 
heartily agree. The inclusion of so many pieces in the series not 
nearly approximating a dollar size and the arbitrary exclusion of 
several times as many so-called dollars from the series as are 
listed in the series - resulting in enormous claimed values for 
"unlisted" so-called dollars -  makes the entire field completely 
disorganized.
 
Until the book comes out (years away), and it is said the book 
will exclude many now-listed pieces which should never have been 
listed in the first place, look for a big breather in the so-called 
dollar market. Too many pieces, too many high grades, outlandish 
prices, no good basic reference, and too many speculative dealers 
and investors."
 

MORE ON THE GREAT BIG SILVER MELT OF 1980

A subscriber writes: "I think one important element of the disposal 
of 90% silver coins has been omitted.  I was involved in the metals 
game during the later part of the 'Rush' of the early 1980's.  As I 
remember, the savvy people in the metals business at that time 
bought 'physical silver' in almost any recognizable form and 
concurrently sold contracts for an equivalent number of .999 Fine 
ounces for delivery at some time in the future.  

During the interim (the time between the purchase and the contract 
date of delivery), the silver would be sent to a refinery, melted, 
refined, and poured into 'deliverable bars'.  These were bars 
recognized as genuine by the COMEX.  They bore the stamp of one 
of the major refiners, such as Handy & Harman, and were stored in 
bonded COMEX warehouses.
 
As a rule, the more volatile the metals markets are, the more 
useful the futures markets are in helping dealers to avoid price 
risk.  Unfortunately, during the frenzied metals markets of early 
1980, the refinery backlog may have temporarily exceeded some of 
the contract periods.  That may have exposed some of the scrap 
buyers to price risk."


NEW JAPANESE BANKNOTE MISPRINT LEADS TO VENDING MACHINE REJECTION

According to a Reuters account, "Japan's high-tech money-printing 
bureau was left humbled on Tuesday when 39,500 bills were found to 
be misprinted, an error that caused vending machines across the 
country to reject them. 

The 1,000-yen (5 pound) bills, redesigned along with other 
denominations in 2004 with sophisticated security features to 
fight counterfeiting, had been printed with a fault unrecognisable 
to the eye but detectable by some machines, the Bank of Japan said."

"Japan beefed up its anti-counterfeiting drive in 2004 with new 
designs featuring holograms, watermarks and latent images in its 
first major overhaul in 20 years."

To read the complete article, see
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060509/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_economy_japan_misprints 


QUIZ ANSWER: THE OTHER NICKELS IN THE 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL CASE

Howard Spindel writes: "My reference library tells me that the 
three other coins originally present with the five 1913 Liberty 
nickels were three Buffalo nickels - one Judd 1790 pattern, one 
type 1, and one type 2.  1942 was the last time all eight coins 
were together in one holder, owned by Eric P. Newman.

As to where all the Buffalos are now, my library doesn't say.  
As of 1969, two of them were apparently still in Newman's hands."


UNIQUE, SEMI-UNIQUE, QUASI-UNIQUE, WANNABE-UNIQUE AND REALLY, REALLY U-NEEK

Regarding the improper use of the term "unique", Morten Eske 
Mortensen writes: "It seems we have several degrees of "uniqueness," 
most unique, slightly unique, only a little bit unique.   Where 
will it stop?"   In 1993 I began calling attention to this practice
with the  Danish language headline "Unikum - Unikummere 
- unikummest ..." (in English,  "Unique - more unique - even more 
unique ...").

The March 2006 issue of the "Monthly Commentary for Well-Informed 
Circles" has been published in the English language and deals with 
the false description of the 'number of known specimens' recently 
claimed by a major European auction house.
http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/unikummestdel17.htm 
http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/abonnementMaanedensKommentar.htm )

[The article is titled "Unknown by Whom?"  The catalog entry being 
critiqued describes a coin as "in Gold unbekannt", or "unknown in 
gold".  -Editor]

At these links are exposed other previous examples of cheatings 
with false statements of 'unique' in the auction and coin dealer 
business:

http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/gladsaxegymnasium/unikummestdel3.htm 
http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/unikummestdel4.htm
http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/upsdel1.htm 
http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/unikummestdel11.htm
http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/1624sp3H57sasMEM.htm
http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/unikummestdel16.htm
http://home.worldonline.dk/mem/info/unikummestdel18.htm
 

TWO ALMOND DELIGHT PROMOTIONS

Joe Boling writes: "I was one of the friends to whom Gene gave 
a set of the unfolded reprinted notes (printed by American Bank 
Note Company). So there were at least two Almond Delight numismatic 
promotions, because my box, as reported earlier, was for world 
notes, not the ABNC obsoletes."

[Thanks for the reminder about the world note promotion.  If there 
were two promotions, then there would have been at least two types 
of boxes. Mine is the ABNC edition. -Editor]


CANADA FIRST TO ISSUE A "FOREVER" STAMP?

John Regitko, Executive Secretary of the Canadian Numismatic 
Association writes: "With reference to the article in the last 
E-Sylum about the U.S. Postal Service's proposed "forever stamp," 
in Canada we already have such a stamp.
 
A couple of years ago, I purchased a quantity of sheets of stamps 
that people usually order with their own designs to show of their 
kids or dog, except I used the logo of the Canadian Numismatic 
Association. We included a single and block of the stamp in a 
Convention registration kit as well as using some for C.N.A. 
correspondence.
 
Since Canada Post increased the price of stamps recently, I 
called them and asked if the value is embedded in the stamp. 
I was advised that no value is included digitally in the design 
and it has the value of the "current" basic domestic rate. I 
was also told that it cannot be used for foreign mail by simply 
adding the additional amount."


ESCALA OFFICES RAIDED IN PYRAMID SCHEME INVESTIGATION

A couple subscribers forwarded reports from Spain of raids on 
the company formerly known as Greg Manning Auctions.  Although 
the current investigation focuses on the sale of stamps, some 
news accounts claim other collectibles may be involved.  The 
company has numismatic divisions in the U.S., including Bowers 
and Merena Auctions Spectrum Numismatics and Teletrade.  The 
bulk of the parent company's profits came from stamp sales.

"Shares of New York auction house Escala Group Inc. lost more 
than half their value Tuesday after Spanish police raided the 
offices of Escala, its majority owner and another company in 
a probe of alleged fraud involving collectible stamps. 

Spanish police arrested eight people in connection with the 
alleged fraud that could affect as many as 200,000 small 
investors, authorities said Tuesday.

Escala's stock plummeted $19.77, or 62 percent, to close at 
$12.23 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has traded in a 
52-week range of $9 to $35. Escala, which is based in New York, 
was previously known as Greg Manning Auctions until it changed 
its name last year."

"The raids were part of a joint investigation launched by Spain's 
National Court, tax authorities, financial crime prosecutors and 
the National Police over an alleged pyramid-type scheme based on 
overpriced stamps and other collectibles."

"The raids came after Barron's investment magazine extensively 
reported questionable practices at Afinsa, which operates a 
"no-lose" stamp-sales program for investors in Spain and Portugal. 
Many of the investors are retired individuals allocating an 
average of 150 to 300 euros ($190-$380), according to court 
officials."

To read the complete article on Yahoo News, see:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060509/ap_on_bi_ge/spain_stamp_fraud_2 

"In Spain, television broadcasts were full of images of Spanish 
investors virtually besieging Escala's office, demanding more 
information on the allegations of stamp-investing fraud."

"It's going to be one of the biggest financial scandals in Europe," 
says Charles Dupplin, chairman of the art and private client division 
of Hiscox, a London specialty insurer that cut ties with Afinsa last 
year amid media reports questioning its business practices. "It's 
really awful." 

According to Barron's and The Wall Street Journal, experts have 
questioned Afinsa's valuation methods for rare stamps. The stamps 
underpinned investment contracts that guaranteed a return of 6% 
to 10% over a fixed period, with a money-back guarantee when the 
contracts expire. Many of the estimated 350,000 investors, mostly 
in Spain and Portugal, were retirees buying contracts worth a few 
hundred dollars. Critics have dubbed the guaranteed-return program 
a Ponzi scheme that depends on pulling in more participants to 
continue funding the returns."

"Escala also counts among its business units a number of small 
auction houses in the U.S. including Ivy & Manning Philatelic 
Auctions, Greg Manning Galleries, Spectrum Numismatics, Teletrade,  
Nutmeg Stamp Sales and Superior Sports Auctions. In Europe, the 
group includes Spain's Auctentia Subastas (Afinsa Auctions), 
Switzerland's Corinphila Auktionen, and the Koehler group of 
auction companies in Germany. In Asia, its auctions operations 
are conducted through John Bull Stamp Auctions, the oldest 
philatelic auction house in Hong Kong."

"The investigation should have little effect on the broader 
stamp market, says James Kloetzel, editor of Scott's, a Sidney, 
Ohio, publisher of stamp catalogs. 

"As far as I know those [auctions] are all on the up and up," 
he says. "They're selling real stamps to real buyers at real 
prices.  Where the problem came in was the investment area. 
They set values [for the stamps that guaranteed the investment 
contracts] using catalog prices that don't reflect what a 
collector will actually pay." 

To read the complete article in Smart Money, see: 
http://www.smartmoney.com/onedaywonder/index.cfm?story=20060509 

One reader sent a copy of an article from The Financial Times:

"According to one UK-based trader, Escala became a “giant hoover” 
of stamps in international markets, and because it bought in bulk, 
it was able to command huge discounts from smaller dealers. 
Philatelic experts say little of what Escala bought on the market 
could be considered investment grade.

“They bought damaged stamps, worth only 1 per cent of catalogue 
value, or stamps that were not rare, and therefore had no 
investment value,” one philatelic expert said.

Afinsa insists it only deals in investment grade stamps, and 
this is reflected in the value of its transactions with Escala. 
But OCU, a Spanish consumer lobby group which bought a set of 
stamps from Afinsa for €600 last year, was only able to recover 
5 per cent of the purchase price when it tried to sell the 
stamps on the open market."


FEATURED WEB SITE: INFLUENCE AND CHANGE IN COINAGE

This week's featured web site is a virtual exhibit of the 
Fitzwilliam Museum Department of Coins and Medals titled 
"Between East and West: Influence and Change in Coinage."

"Coinages have long been influenced by the movement of peoples, 
by cultural interchanges, and by trade. Innovations in coinages, 
from Ancient Greece to twentieth-century India, reflect these 
influences and exchanges. At times these have led to radical 
changes in the monetary system, but in other cases newcomers 
have seamlessly adopted the established local currency."

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/coins/east-west/ 
 

Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society



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