The E-Sylum v11#15, April 13, 2008

[esylum at binhost.com]

Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 11, Number 15, April 13, 2008:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM APRIL 13, 2008

Among our recent subscribers are Tony Hine, Steve Hayden and 
Kim Ghobrial. We now have 1,144 subscribers.

This week we open with word on the latest Asylum issue and 
three new books - one on a Baltimore numismatic treasure, one 
on Morgan dollar varieties, and one relating to banking and 
obsolete bank notes.  Next, a curator wins a great honor and 
plans a new numismatic book.

In follow-ups from last week, we learn more about the 1847 
Riddell pamphlet on the New Orleans Mint (and who purchased it).  
Queries this week cover many topics, including former Asylum 
editor Carling Gresham, the Royal Mint's new reverse designs, 
getting smoke smell out of books and the Yoachum Silver dollar.

In the news, the Nevada Historical Society acquires a trove of 
Comstock Lode related letters, "Public Enemy" begins filming in 
Oshkosh, a rare medal relating to Lord Nelson appears, and 
politicians in Wales debate the return of banknotes there. 

My numismatic diary this week has a Civil War theme - who were 
the first Union and Confederate casualties in the war, and where 
were they killed?  I had dinner at the location Tuesday night!
  
To learn who got an uncirculated 1804 Half Eagle for Christmas, 
read on. Have a great week, everyone.

Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society


THE ASYLUM JANUARY-MARCH 2008 ISSUE IS ON THE WAY

David Yoon, editor of our print journal writes: "I've sent 
another issue of The Asylum off to the printers. Here's the 
contents list:

* Bill Bugert - The Martin Luther Beistle Book on Half Dollars 
* P. Scott Rubin - A Proposed Concise Library of Sales Needed 
  for All United States Coins since 1793 
* David D. Gladfelter - Book Review: The Coin Collectors, by 
  Pierre Bastien 
* Lou Jordan - Book Review: The Hibernia Coinage of William 
  Wood (1722-1724), by Sydney Martin "


KARL MOULTON SPRING/SUMMER 2008 NUMISMATIC LITERATURE PRICE LIST ISSUED

Numismatic literature dealer Karl Moulton has issued his 
Spring/Summer 2008 fixed price list.  In his introduction Karl 
discusses the rarity of the early "white cover' Stack's auction 
catalogs.  The price list features new inventory including Lyman 
Low sales, early Stack's sales, a long run of The Asylum, the 
John Pittman sales, and many others.  For more information contact 
Karl at numiscats at aol.com or visit www.coincats.com. 


NEW BOOK: 'TREASURE IN THE CELLAR' BY LEN AUGSBURGER

Len Augsburger writes: "My book on the Baltimore gold hoard of 
1934, titled 'Treasure in the Cellar', will be available at the 
Baltimore ANA convention.  The book will be published by the 
Maryland Historical Society and is currently at press.  Further 
details will be announced as the convention nears."

To view an image of the book's cover, see
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2405043207/ 


NEW BOOK: INSIGHTS FOR THE ADVANCED MORGAN DOLLAR COLLECTOR

[Author Michael Fey forwarded a press release for his latest 
book on Morgan Dollar varieties - also known as VAMs, for Van 
Allen-Mallis, authors of the first popular book on the topic. 
-Editor]

Michael S. Fey, Ph.D., President of Rare Coin Investments (RCI) 
and co-author of the Top 100 Morgan Dollar Varieties: The VAM 
Keys announced today that he is now accepting pre-publication 
orders for his new book, A Decade of Top 100 Insights for the 
Advanced Morgan Dollar Collector.  

The suggested retail price of this 192 page book is $29.95 + 
shipping, but those who send a pre-publication payment of $24.95 
will receive both a discount and free shipping.   The 
pre-publication offer expires May 31st, 2008, when books are 
expected to be delivered by the printer.

The book is a compilation of the last 10 years of RCI's Top 100 
Insights and Value Guide quarterly newsletter.  It includes the 
first Fall, 1997 Value Guide with prices for Top 100 Morgan 
dollars as well as a current Value Guide to compare how prices 
of Top 100 coins have changed over the past decade since 
publication of the Top 100 book. 

A Decade of Top 100 Insights offers wisdom, experience and 
knowledge from the world's most recognized experts on the 
subject of Morgan and Peace dollars.  According to Jeff Oxman, 
Founding President of the SSDC, "Peruse the pages of this book, 
and you'll get a glimpse of VAM history unfolding before 
your eyes!"   

Noted author Bill Fivaz states "Michael Fey has put his 
considerable talents to work in assembling all the pertinent 
data to make your quest for those elusive VAMs as easy as can 
be".  Leroy Van Allen advises, "This book is a 'must buy' for 
all silver dollar collectors and dealers".

The book offers digital images of new discoveries, ultra rare 
8TF varieties, attribution guides to 1878-s B1 reverse (long 
nocks), 1888-O Oval O's, 1899-O "micro o" varieties, and Hot 
50 and Top 50 varieties.  Also provided are several Condition 
Census (Top 6 certified coins), population reports and analyses, 
reports on new record prices, and insights into the best Top 
100 varieties in the most optimal grades for both collecting 
and investing.

Through such guest writers as Leroy Van Allen, Jeff Oxman, 
Bill Fivaz, Larry Briggs, Mark Kimpton, M.D., John Roberts, 
David Wang, Ph.D., Lewis Rosenbaum, and Craig Lichenbrock, 
the book provides new information, new perspectives and plenty 
of good advice from experts in their silver dollar specialties  
who share insights into this burgeoning area of collecting.

For further information, please contact Michael S. Fey, Ph.D., 
at  RCI,  P.O. Box C, Ironia, NJ 07845 or call (973) 252-4000; 
FAX (973) 252-0481; E-Mail: Feyms at aol.com, http://www.rcicoins.com

To view an image of the book's cover, see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2401794086/ 


BOOK REVIEW: THE EXCHANGE ARTIST BY JANE KAMENSKY

Anne E. Bentley of the Massachusetts Historical Society 
writes: "I'd like to recommend Jane Kamensky's recently 
published biography of Andrew Dexter, Jr. to your readers.  
It is truly a superb biography and anyone who collects obsolete 
bank notes will really enjoy the story.  Titled 'The Exchange 
Artist: A Tale of High-Flying Speculation & America's First 
Banking Collapse', this is an extremely well-researched and 
written account of one man's manipulation of private banks 
to finance his real estate empire.  

"Kamensky has a definite gift for telling a story and, once 
begun, this book is almost impossible to put down.  Even her 
end-notes are fascinating.  Those readers who live in the 
Boston area may be able to hear her discuss her work at the 
Massachusetts Historical Society - we're working to schedule 
a visit. I'm hoping she'll bring the computer-aided design 
drawings of the Exchange Coffee House that she commissioned 
for her book -- an innovative approach to illustrate a building 
that disappeared ten years after it was erected, and the only 
way for modern readers to understand the scale and scope of 
Dexter's project. A pre-publication interview with Ms. Kamensky 
gives more details on her work."

[Many thanks to Anne for bringing this book to our attention. 
-Editor]

To read the pre-publication interview with Ms. Kamensky, see:
http://my.brandeis.edu/profiles/one-profile?profile_id=960, 


PRINCETON NUMISMATIC CURATOR STAHL RECEIVES GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIP

[The Daily Princetonian published an article about the Guggenheim 
Fellowship awards recently granted to six Princeton faculty members 
including Alan Stahl, the University's curator of numismatics. 
Congratulations! -Editor]

Only 190 recipients were chosen from a pool of 2,600 applicants. 
Princeton tied with the University of California at Berkeley for 
the second-highest number of fellowship recipients, after the 
University of Michigan, which had seven.

The awards are given to scholars, scientists and artists who 
demonstrate "stellar achievement and exceptional promise for 
continued accomplishment," according to a statement from the 
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. The program seeks 
to create a diverse group of recipients, both in demographics 
and fields of study. One needs to look no further than the 
Princeton recipients to see this diversity.

Alan Stahl is University's curator of numismatics, the study of 
currency and its history. Stahl plans to use the fellowship to 
work on a book titled "The Nexus of Wealth and Power in Medieval 
Venice." Among other topics, Stahl's research will explore the 
relationship between capitalism and republican government.

"What I'm looking at is the convergence of these two factors," 
he said. "I am trying to see if there is something significant a
bout the fact that Venice was one of the birth[places] of 
capitalism and the center of republican government."

For him, this project has been a long time in the making. His 
research started about seven years ago, and his database 
includes information on 5,000 people based on 15,000 documents. 
Stahl will return to Venice for six months to continue his 
research.

"[I use] coinage to enlighten history," Stahl said.

To read the complete article, see:
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2008/04/09/20801/


DAN HAMELBERG ON THE RIDDELL NEW ORLEANS MINT PAMPHLETS

[Last week Mike Paradis forwarded photos and information 
about an 1847 John Riddell pamphlet that was recently 
auctioned.  Now we know who bought it - Dan Hamelberg.  
His description of the sale and his prize follows. -Editor]

Dan Hamelberg writes: "I bid on the phone and paid $1,200 
plus a 20% buyers fee.  I believe this was Bloomsbury's first 
U.S. auction.  They are headquartered in England and now have 
offices in New York.  The Riddell piece was the only U.S. 
numismatic literature item in the sale.  

"I looked up the Newman piece in the 1968 April Numismatist, 
and it is indeed a short pamphlet with an 1845 publishing 
date.  The 1847 item is more of a booklet with 10 pages.  
It is contained in plain paper covers and is in generally 
fine condition.  The cover page has a '3' written in pencil 
in the upper left corner.  Looks like this item sold for $3 
some time ago.  Numismatic literature is a great investment!

"The title information reads 'THE BRANCH MINT AT NEW ORLEANS, 
With an account of the process of coinage and fac-simile 
impressions of the coins manufactured.  BY J. L. RIDDELL, M. D., 
Melter and Refiner.  Second Edition.  1847.'  

"The text begins on the first page with an explanation 
(with a large footnote) of how a grant from the city 
provided the land for the mint. Page 2 goes on to describe 
the cost and construction of the mint building along with 
the different mint officers appointed with their pay schedule 
up until the time of this publication.  This information 
matches up with the text in part one of the 1845 issue. The 
basic differences are with the update to 1847 and the large 
footnote regarding the city grant. Also, the year to year 
summary of activity contained in part one of the 1845 issue 
is now a chart on page 8 of the 1847 issue.  At the very 
bottom of page 2 there is a heading 'PROCESS OF COINAGE.'  
Pages 3-7 go into great detail regarding the process of 
coinage at the New Orleans Mint.  The description matches 
exactly the description of the process of coinage in the 
1845 issue with two exceptions.  

"First, the coiner who was responsible for inventing 'an 
ingenious rotating apparatus heated by steam' passed on in 
the two years between issues, and is referred to in the 1847 
issue as 'the late coiner, P. B. Tyler.'  The other difference 
in the description of the process of coinage comes at the end 
of page 7 where Riddell speculates on the future of the New 
Orleans Mint.  The future looks bright with 'native gold' from 
Alabama. The 'acquisition of Texas' will bring an 'abundance 
of silver and gold from the rich mines of San Saba.'  Also, 
'we shall receive most of the produce of the numerous and 
abundantly productive mines of the adjacent Mexican States, 
now in our military possession.'   In addition, 'precious 
metals unquestionably abound in western Arkansas..'  In short, 
Riddell feels confident the New Orleans Mint will succeed.   

"Page 8 has a chart of the year to year coinage figures with 
the information updated to June 30, 1847.  This would suggest 
that the 1847 second edition was published in late 1847.  Page 
9 is headed 'Fac-Simile Impressions of the Silver Coins struck 
at the Branch Mint New Orleans.  Illustrated on page 9 are the 
Silver Dollars, Half Dollars, Quarter Dollars, and Dime. (Obverse 
and Reverse).  Page 10 contains an illustration of the Half Dime 
at the top. (Obverse and Reverse).  Under that comes the heading 
'Fac-Simile Impressions of the Gold Coins struck at the Branch 
Mint New Orleans.'   The Ten, Five, and 2 1/2 dollar gold coins 
are illustrated.  (Obverse and Reverse).
 
"Such is the layout of the 1847 second edition of Riddell's 
work on the New Orleans Mint.  Basically it is a refinement 
of the 1845 issue with updates to 1847.  I have looked thru 
my library and also contacted George Kolbe and Charlie Davis, 
and I could find no references to this work.  It was not in 
the Champa or Ford sales. Unless something shakes out somewhere, 
it appears that Eric Newman has the only copy of the 1845 edition, 
and I would have the only copy of the 1847 edition.  New 
discoveries certainly make this great hobby of numismatic 
literature an adventure.' "

  1847 JOHN RIDDELL PAMPHLET ON THE NEW ORLEANS MINT AUCTIONED
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n14a05.html 


<************************** BOOK BAZARRE **************************>

DAVID F. FANNING NUMISMATIC LITERATURE offer fixed price lists 
on our Web site at <www.fanningbooks.com>. In stock: John Hull, the 
Mint and the Economics of Massachusetts Coinage, by Lou Jordan. 4to., 
hardcover. xx, 348 pages. An important and well-done work. New. 
$43 postpaid. e-mail <dfanning at columbus.rr.com>

KARL MOULTON is interested in purchasing 19th century American 
illustrated auction catalogues.  Please email a description of what 
you have available to numiscats at aol.com

<******************************************************************>


QUERY: ASYLUM EDITOR CARLING GRESHAM

Pete Smith writes: "Today I received the April issue of the 
Numismatist. The typeface shows 'the' in lower case letters 
so it is 'the Numismatist,' formerly 'Numismatist,' formerly 
'The Numismatist,' formerly 'The American Numismatist.' It is 
good to see the ANA making progress backward.
 
"Page 93 lists an 'In Memoriam' entry for Carling Gresham. 
He was at one time editor of our print journal, The Asylum. 
I can't recall hearing anything of him for a few years. I 
wonder if any of our E-Sylum readers can bring us up-to-date 
on Gresham."

[Denis Loring also noticed the item about Gresham.  I haven't 
heard anything of Carling in ages.  Here's a colorful description 
of Carling's character from Joel Orosz' history of the Numismatic 
Bibliomania Society. -Editor]

President Wilson finally acted to shake the Society out of 
the doldrums, and found a figurative dynamo to serve as the 
new editor of The Asylum. Carling Gresham, a Florida dealer 
in numismatic ephemera, and an early enthusiast for the use 
of the personal computer, went to work with a will, and the 
first issue of The Asylum under his editorship was dated Summer, 
1984. A colorful character, Gresham transformed the journal by 
adopting a chatty and informal style. 

He proved adept at inspiring new contributors; both Joel J. 
Orosz and Wayne Homren, for example, first published in The 
Asylum during Gresham's tenure. Carling also managed (with the 
aid of one double issue) to get the journal on a regular 
publishing schedule. His lively editorial comments skewered 
everyone; even co-founder Kolbe was not immune. When George 
moved from Mission Viejo to the higher elevation of Crestline, 
the editor delightedly referred to him as 'Mountain Man Kolbe.' 
The regular appearance of The Asylum sparked a revival in the 
fortunes of the Society, and membership began to grow. The 
second dawn for the NBS, however, was destined to have but 
a short life. 

As much a part of Gresham as his energy and wit was his pride; 
and it was that pride that led him to be quick to utter and 
publish decided opinions. One such opinion, expressed about 
the editor of The Numismatist, caused a storm that ultimately 
cost Gresham his position. In an editorial appearing in the 
Summer, 1985 issue of The Asylum, Carling blasted off a salvo 
at the lack of coverage the NBS had received from hobby 
publications, concentrating his fire particularly on The 
Numismatist, ' Where HRH [His Royal Highness] Harris [N. Neil 
Harris, editor/publisher] won't print anything about NBS!' 

Gresham went on: 'HRH appears to be one of a number of 
employees at ANA Hq. who believe that we, collectors AND 
dealers are working for them NOT the other way around.' 
(Gresham, as can be seen in the passage just quoted, was 
fond of capitalization for the purpose of placing emphasis 
on an idea.) 

To read the complete history of NBS 1980-1997, see:
http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_asylum_history.html


NEVADA HISTORICAL SOCIETY ACQUIRES COMSTOCK LODE LETTERS

[Angela Carter of Holabird-Kagin Americana forwarded the 
following press release. -Editor]

Holabird-Kagin Americana is sponsoring the Nevada Historical 
Society's celebration of the acquisition of the original Grosh 
Brothers Letters. The event will be held at 1650 N. Virginia 
Street in Reno, NV on April 16, 2008 at 6:00pm. Grosh family 
descendents Charles Wegman and Naomi Thompson will be in 
attendance. Fred Holabird was instrumental in the location 
of the letters and in their acquisition by the state. These 
letters have returned home after more than a century and a 
half, and now will be on public display.

For more information, please call the Society at 775-688-1190
Or Fred Holabird at 775-852-8822

[The Grosh brothers were miners working in California and 
what is now  Nevada, and in 1857 they discovered what later 
became known as the Comstock Lode, the greatest find of silver 
in history.  That silver fueled the Mints in Carson City and 
San Francisco for generations. -Editor]

Former Eldorado County Museum director Denis Witcher, who was 
instrumental in finding the letters, said in 1997, "The 
description of life in the camps is just nonpareil. I've 
never read anything like them."

Historian Eliot Lord later wrote, referencing Henry Comstock, 
"The Grosh brothers died on the very threshold of fortune. . 
Their years of patient and intelligent search were therefore 
fruitless, and it was left for a lazy, drunken prospector to 
stumble upon the prize for which the brothers had striven." 

To read the complete article, see:
http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=651193 


OTHER UNIFIED MULTI-COIN DESIGNS

Yossi Dotan writes: "In The E-Sylum of April 6, 2008 you quote 
The Independent's article on the new British circulation coins 
that says 'The coins . are believed to be the first in the world 
designed to form a unified picture when put together.'

"Two earlier examples come to mind of such 'coin jigsaw puzzles': 

"In 1996 China issued four rectangular-shaped silver coins 
marking the Yangtze River Dam Project (KM-966/969, until 
recently Y-595/598). The four reverses together (from left to 
right: KM-968, KM-966, KM-967 and KM-969) form one flowing 
design of the Yangtze River-the four wide parts of the river 
connected by three gorges. (The obverses depict the Bai Di 
city gate, Qu Yuan Ancestral Temple, Zhang Fei Temple, and 
Zhao Jun House, which were either submerged due to the 
construction of the Yangtze dam or relocated prior to the 
flooding. 

"If any reader of The E-Sylum owns these coins, could he 
or she please contact me at yosdotan at bezeqint.net and tell 
me which obverse matches which reverse?).

"The other example relates to a map of Havana and its harbor 
in colonial times that was divided crosswise to form the 
four silver coins issued by Cuba in 1998 (KM-668/671). Put 
together the coins show the complete map: El Morro Fortress 
at left, the city at right, and between them and in the 
foreground the ships in the harbor. 

"Does any reader know the date of the original map?"

[I suspected that other examples of such designs would 
surface.  E-Sylum readers are a knowledgeable bunch.  
-Editor]

  ROYAL MINT UNVEILS NEW CIRCULATING COIN REVERSE DESIGNS
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n14a21.html


CHOPS ON UNITED STATES NOTES
 
In the previous issue of the E-Sylum, Granvyl Hulse wrote 
about the special pen used on U.S. notes to check their 
authenticity and its relationship to chop marks on old 8 
Reales coins.  Howard A. Daniel III writes: "Despite their 
common usage by numismatists, the word 'chopmark' and phrase 
'chop mark' are technically incorrect.  A chop IS a mark so 
'chop mark' is like writing 'chop chop' or 'mark mark'.  
The correct English is to just write 'chop' and drop 'mark.'

"Because there are so many counterfeit $100 'super notes' 
in circulation, merchants and foreign money exchangers in 
Southeast Asia are chopping all they consider authentic.  
The practice is quite common and it's now unusual for me 
to find $100 notes without them in Southeast Asia.

"After I recently retrieved some $20 U.S. notes from an ATM 
in Falls Church, VA, I sat inside my vehicle and checked the 
notes.  I do this with all notes received in change, which 
drives my wife nuts.  On one of the notes, I saw a couple of 
chops.  What were they doing on a $20?

"The chop on the far right of the back appears to be airplane 
crashing into a globe or some type of round object.  The chop 
on the far left of the back appears to be an upside down clenched 
fist inside a circle with 'C Q S' around the top inside edge and 
a 'G' to the lower right of the fist.  There is also 'Benjamin L' 
near this latter chop.  Neither of these chops appear to be from 
Asia and sort of remind me of gang markings or propaganda of 
some kind.  Does anyone have any ideas about these chops?"

To view the image of Howard's "chopped twenty", see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2398767490/ 

Airplane and globe detail:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2397951393/ 

Benjamin L detail:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2398780644/

  GRANVYL HULSE ON CHOP MARKS
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n14a18.html 


COMMENTS ON THE ROYAL MINT'S NEW CIRCULATING COIN REVERSE DESIGNS

Regarding the Royal Mint's new reverse coin designs, Dave Lange 
writes: "The only problem I see with having the component parts 
of the royal arms distributed among the various fractional coins 
is that inflation will eventually leave this assemblage incomplete. 
There has been talk for years of eliminating the UK penny, so 
where will its portion of the design go? Of course, this wouldn't 
be a problem in the USA, where it seems we will be coining cents 
forever, even if each one costs a dollar to produce."

  ROYAL MINT UNVEILS NEW CIRCULATING COIN REVERSE DESIGNS
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n14a21.html


THOUGHTS ON DIGITIZING NUMISMATIC LITERATURE

Mark Tomasko writes: "I was pleased to see the comments about 
the transitory nature of electronic media from Nancy Green and 
others. This is a crucial point which is too often ignored. 
And I was surprised at your statement that 'While digitizing 
books for easier access is great, the institutions should 
NEVER dispose of the original source material, although of 
course many do so anyway.' The logical result of that last 
statement ('...of course many do so anyway') is that digitizing 
books for easier access is NOT great. It is instead a significant 
threat to the survival of many books, and will become even more 
so as cost pressures of storage and space increase. My hope is 
that the '$150,000 digitizing machine' never shows up at the 
ANA library."

[I didn't have time to make further comments last week, but 
this is a good follow-on topic.  I was thinking specifically 
about libraries which deaccessioned their periodical holdings 
after microfilming or digitizing them.  There are ephemera 
dealers making a very big business out of splitting up and 
selling massive archives of old newspapers, and it's a great 
loss to the institutions and our collective memory.  Once 
broken up these sets cannot be reassembled.  Without the 
originals to return to, the information can be lost forever 
if there's a problem with the new media.  -Editor]

Jorg Lueke writes: "I just wanted to share some thoughts 
about digital works.  There's no doubt in my mind that at 
some point in the future everything will be published digitally.  
It's too powerful in terms of storage and search capability 
not to become the norm once technical details and protections 
are worked out.  Certainly books will also stay around, at 
least until someone invents paper that behaves like a computer 
screen.

"In the near term digitizing of out of print and out of 
copyright works will certainly continue as well.  While 
the scanner mentioned in The E-Sylum costs $150,000, for 
1/10th that price a decent amount of automation can be 
purchased.  As I find the time I plan on putting the first 
six volumes of the Numismatist online.  I've also been 
thinking about finding a way to let people share uploads 
of digitized books so that collectively the information 
can be much more quickly converted.

"All of this will be quite good - more knowledge at more 
people's fingertips.  Some things, like my recent purchase 
of the 1898 Numismatique Gazette may lose in value as the 
information becomes available online but for books that are 
in demand the collector base for the tactile word will 
probably keep prices pretty steady."

  DIGITIZING BOOKS HELPS RESEARCHERS DO THEIR HOMEWORK
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n14a13.html


GOOGLE BOOKS AND RECENT COPYRIGHTED NUMISMATIC WORKS

Dave Ginsburg writes: "It looks like almost the entire 
contents of a two-year old book are online!   On Google Books 
I noticed an online copy of the 2006 second edition of 'Gold 
Coins of the New Orleans Mint' by Douglas Winter, Greg Lambousy 
and me.  I haven't tried to download anything from the site, 
but I can't imagine having this much of the book on the 
Internet would be good for sales.  (The book is still in 
stock at the publisher and many booksellers.) I've always 
been pleasantly surprised by how many 19th century books 
are available in digital form, but this is not so pleasant."

[The site has "Buy this book" links to Amazon and other sellers 
including the publisher, Zyrus Press.  All 237 pages of the 
work plus the dust jacket were freely available online when 
I received Dave's note Wednesday.  I asked Uriah Cho of Zyrus 
about it.  She writes: "Google Books is a great way to promote 
books. It puts the books out there, makes the book visible to 
readers, and ultimately boosts sales."  I generally agree and 
wish more publishers would make pages of in-copyright books 
available on the web.  I can also see Dave's concern, as does 
Uriah, and Zyrus will work with the authors and Google Books 
on a mutually agreeable subset for online availability.  
-Editor]

To access the online 'Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint', see:
http://books.google.com/books?id=nFkJTM2Rzc0C


WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY APRIL 8, 2008

Since late last year I've been meeting monthly with a group 
of numismatists in Northern Virginia.  Bill Eckberg hosted 
our meeting at the Jackson 20 restaurant in the new Hotel 
Monaco Alexandria.  In the meeting invitation he wrote: "Any 
numismatist who cannot figure out the significance of the 
name of the restaurant should turn in his slabs and take up 
philately or some other preversion.   All members are urged 
to read the plaque installed at the western end of the building 
front before entering the restaurant. I'll be explaining the 
truth about it and its very significant numismatic connections 
at the table."

After work I hit the highway to plow through rush hour traffic 
toward Alexandria.  After getting through the bottleneck 
entering the Capital Beltway, traffic flowed pretty well.  
Just before 6:30 I slid into a parking spot and fed a couple 
quarters into the meter.  Just down the street I spotted Roger 
Burdette.  We started walking toward the restaurant when Dave 
Schenkman caught up with us.

I remembered Bill's instructions about reading the plaque so 
we looked for it before entering the restaurant.  I grabbed 
my notebook and started scribbling the text so I could share 
it in The E-Sylum.  Not surprisingly, Dave Schenkman was well 
versed in the history and I listened while he and Roger talked.  
Long story short, James Jackson was an ardent secessionist who 
boldly hoisted a Confederate flag atop the hotel he managed, 
the Mansion House.  Union soldiers invaded Alexandria and Col. 
Elmer Ellsworth and eight troops entered the hotel intent on 
taking down the flag.  Jackson shot Ellsworth to death, and 
was in turn killed by Ellsworth's troops.  

It is said that victors always write history, but in this 
case the vanquished have their say.  The plaque, erected by 
the Sons and Daughters of Confederate Soldiers, hails Jackson 
as "the first martyr to the cause of Southern Independence."  

I later found a nice article about the opening of the Jackson 20 
restaurant which tells the story well.  It was published February 
27, 2008 in the Alexandria Gazette Packet.  

  At the corner of Pitt and King Streets ... an old plaque beckons 
  passersby with a headline boasting "The Marshall House." Those 
  who stay to read the rest of the plaque experience a strong 
  dose of Confederate patriotism honoring James William Jackson, 
  a man whom the plaque boldly tells us "the justice of history 
  does not permit his name to be forgotten."

  People are still taking about James W. Jackson. He is 
  considered by some to be "the first martyr in the cause of 
  Southern Independence," which was the subtitle to an 1862 
  biography published in Richmond the year after his death. 
  Never mind that the others consider Jackson to be a cold-blooded 
  killer responsible for the murder of Col. Ephraim Elmer 
  Ellsworth - at least for now - until we learn from the 
  unvanquished plaque author that Jackson is "an example to 
  all" who "laid down his life . in defense of his home and 
  the sacred soil of his native state: Virginia."

At dinner Bill described the numismatic connection for us 
and passed out copies of an article he published in The 
Virginia Numismatist titled "The Marshall House Token and 
the Civil War" (or as he put it, "The War of Yankee Aggression").  
In 1859 the Marshall House issued a trade token (Rulau 103).  
One side features simply the Marshall House name and the 
1859 date.  The other side?  A Liberty Cap design identical 
to that on the Confederate Cent.  Both pieces were engraved 
by diesinker Robert Lovett, Jr.   Bill also passed around 
a lovely example of the Marshall House token.

The restaurant was quite noisy and it was difficult for us 
to hear each other.  But it was a very enjoyable evening.  
Besides myself, Bill Eckberg, Roger Burdette and Dave Schenkman, 
attendees included regulars Tom Kays and Joe Levine and 
first-timer Dick Doty, curator of the National Numismatic 
Collection at the Smithsonian.  

Joe had done his homework on the meeting site and passed 
around a beautiful tintype photograph of Col. Ellsworth in 
an ornate gilt frame. The photo was bright, sharp and clear. 
Text on the reverse identified the photo as COLONEL/. ELMER 
E. ELLSWORTH/ ASSASINATED AT ALEXAN-/ RIA, MAY 24, 1861." 

In keeping with the Civil War theme, Tom passed around display 
boxes filled with nice examples of what he called "the contents 
of a typical cash register in the Civil War" - Civil War tokens, 
cents and other circulating coins.   Since I've greatly scaled 
back my Civil War collection I brought pictures - I passed 
around a copy of the American Numismatic Rarities Lake Michigan 
& Springdale Collections sale of June 21-23 2006.  Beginning 
at lot 812 is my consignment of U.S. Encased Postage Stamps, 
Postage Stamp Envelopes, cardboard scrip and counterstamped 
coins.  

I also passed around my uncirculated Dolley Madison First 
Spouse $5 gold coin (since I felt compelled to have an actual 
coin to show).  I asked Dick Doty about the recent legislation 
that directed the U.S. Mint to transfer examples of all new 
coins to the national collection, and he said that coincidentally, 
the latest Mint shipment had just arrived that morning.  Dick 
also told us about progress on the second edition of his 
"America's Money, America's Story" book which will be published 
by Whitman.

Roger Burdette shared copies of a draft of a paper he's been 
working on for some time: "Anna Williams: The Girl on the Silver 
Dollar?"  Roger's been working to ferret out the truth in the 
old story about Anna W. Williams being the model for George 
Morgan's 1878 U.S. silver dollar design.  Another topic was 
Monday's Press Release about the discontinuation of the PCI 
grading service name and the creation of Dominion Grading 
in Virginia Beach, VA.

I also had with me the Civil War album from my numismatic 
ephemera collection.  Here's a partial list of the contents, 
with links to a couple images:

* Pliny E. Chase, Catalogue of Tokens Circulating During 
  the Rebellion of 1861, published in 1863

* Manuscript titled 'Dix Civil War Tokens of 1863'

* Varieties of Dix Civil War Tokens of the Year 1863 by D.C. Wismer

* 1957 manuscript by Thomas E. Mowery on Civil War Tokens

* D.C. Wismer price list of Necessity Coins of the United States

* Circular to Collectors dated April 2, 1874 by J. Colvin 
  Randall and John W. Haseltine offering their Confederate Cent   
  in gold, silver, nickel and copper
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2403458432/ 

* Undated newspaper clipping is a reprinting from an unknown 
  newspaper of a Washington Post article on the Confederate Half  
  Dollar and Cent.
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2403458466/ 

* "The Currency Question on the Pacific Coast During the 
  Civil War", an offprint from the Mississippi Valley Historical 
  Review June 1929

* October 1, 1893 Special List No. 8 by Ed Frossard of 
  Unique Collection of Essays & Proofs of United States 
  Fractional Currency 

* Fixed price list of U.S. Fractional Currency R.W. Mercer 
  of Cincinnati, OH 

* Fixed price list by Lyman Low of Paper Money of the 
  Confederate States

* D.W. Valentine Classification and Check List of Fractional  
  Currency of the United States 1924

I also brought along my "Million Dollar Bill" and we joked 
about paying the check with it.  I believe it was Roger who 
suggested using my Dolley Madison $5 coin for the tip.  We 
paid the check with Federal Reserve Notes - I forgot to ask 
if the establishment accepted Confederate currency.  The 
event ended all too soon, and we went our separate ways.   
I can't wait til next month!


AMERICAN INVENTIVENESS SORTS CENTS

[Dick Johnson writes: "I came across an article on the 
inventor of Cent Sorter.  I found this a charming story, 
and I interviewed the inventor for more than an hour and 
wrote the story below."

It is an interesting story - I doubt I would have come up 
with such an efficient solution to the problem.  Thanks, 
Dick!  -Editor]
 
There is a 39-year old coin collector in Kalamazoo Michigan 
who thought there must be a better way to sort copper cents 
from copper-coated zinc cents, to separate those dated 1982 
and before from those dated 1982 and after made of a 
different composition.
 
He did just that. He invented a machine to sort cents with 
extreme accuracy and do this at the rate of 18,000 an hour!
 
By reading the tiny figures in the dates?  No.
 
By detecting the slight difference in weight? No.
 
By the different surface characteristics? No.
 
The answer was so simple it was pure inspiration, and 
his new invention was born.  He found the answer in modern 
metal detectors. They can detect pre 1982 dates from later 
cents while still under ground. "Why then, can't they do 
this in a machine rapidly?" he thought.
 
"Are you the inventor of this machine?" I asked of Andrew 
Redlon who operates as Ryedale Coin of Kalamazoo. "Yes, but" 
and he went on to explain he was more of an adaptor. He 
took a "discriminator" from a metal detector and applied 
it to an integrated component. His real invention, he claims, 
was the feeding mechanism. He put all three together in a 
machine he designed.
 
His two degrees in CAD CAM design, earned as a heating 
and cooling technician, aided him immensely. While he 
is an amateur machinist he had friends in a tool shop 
make some of the prototype parts. He got the idea in 
January 2006. By fall 2006 he had a workable machine, 
his own Coin Sorter and it worked exactly as he planned!  
 
Not only does it sort the two different cents into two 
hoppers, it can do this at an amazing speed of 300 coins 
a minute, 18,000 an hour!  What's more, it can be easily 
altered to sort out different coins. For example it can 
sort Canadian nickels, the pure nickel from the later 
compositions which still circulate side-by-side. This is 
done by changing the "reference coin" (also called the 
"standard") by which all coins fed into the machine are 
compared.
 
Having invented the better mousetrap, customers for his 
machine have come in droves. He builds his own machines 
and has modified his machine three times. He now has four 
different models and already has sold hundreds. But instead 
of building more machines he would much rather sort his own 
coins. He has, he admits, a ton of pre 1982 cents.
 
Astounded, I asked "How big is a ton of cents?"  "It would 
fill a 55-gallon drum," he states, "two foot wide by 40 
inches tall. About the size of a small end table."  Many of 
the people who have his machine have this many, even several 
tons, he relates.
 
His customers include a lot of professional men, people 
who are hedging on the rise in copper value. They had 
learned that copper cents are the least costly form to 
acquire and hold copper.  It cost about three-tenths of 
a cent to sort out copper cents.
 
Andy is full of statistics. An average $25 box of cents 
will yield 8 to 12 wheat cents. A $50 bag double that. 
Even at four-tenths of one percent it is cost effective 
to sort cents on his machine. It differs, he adds, by region. 
Areas of active economy, like the Southwest, have more recent 
cents in circulation. Areas with a stagnant economy have 
much higher percentage. "Here in Michigan it can be as high 
as seven times the national average." Older coins continue 
to circulate. 
 
How soon will we run out? I asked. "Well since 1959," he 
states "270 billion cents have been issued. It would take 
1,000 of my machines running 24 hours a day 2 1/2 years to 
sort that many."
 
"How do you separate the Wheaties (pre 1959 coins) from 
those dated before 1982?"  "Easy," he said, "change the 
reference coin and run them through the machine again."
 
Andy credits his grandparents with his interest in coins. He 
saw their cent collection when visiting and they allowed him 
to play with the pennies as a youth. The handful they gave 
him initiated his collecting interest. And this led to his 
invention of the Coin Sorter.


COIN MELTS AND THEIR AFTERMATH

[The May 2008 issue of COINage magazine has an interesting 
article by Tom DeLorey titled "Melts and Their Aftermath: 
How Coin 'Deaths' Affect Market Value".  He discusses the 
various times in U.S. economic history when high specie 
values have led to the melting of coins.  He notes that the 
first great melting of U.S. coin occurred in 1834 when the 
country's gold coins became overvalued in specie terms vs 
face value.  Here are a few excerpts. -Editor]

"It is safe to say that more than 99 percent of the pre-1834 
U.S. Gold coins no longer exist, there being very few collectors 
at the time to preserve them ... How individual pre-melt 
coins survived was mere chance.  While working as an 
authenticator-grader at the American Numismatic Association 
Certification Service (ANACS), I saw an uncirculated 1804 
Half Eagle ($5 gold piece) wrapped in a piece of brittle paper, 
that apparently had been sent to England as a present.  Written 
on the paper was a message that read something to the effect 
of 'To Freddie. An American Guinea. Christmas 1805.'

[In the late 1970s/1980 boom when coin shops had people 
lined up around the block to sell their coins and gold, a 
dealer could buy $500,000 to $1 million in bullion each day. 
-Editor]

"My colleague says his firm would air-freight its silver 
purchases to Switzerland every night because the refineries 
there were not as backed up and could pay for the silver in 
a more timely manner."

"I do not know if some day in the near future we will be 
posting "2x" or "3X" buy prices for cents and nickels in 
the coin shop where I work, but I would not rule it out."


QUERY: GETTING SMOKE SMELL OUT OF BOOKS

E-Sylum subscriber Kim Ghobrial writes: "I have some coin 
books which I loaned out to a person who smokes.  They were 
new and he never read any of them, but now they stink of 
cigarette smoke.  How does one get the smell out of the books?"

[I found one old query on smelly books, but no answers.  I 
suggested baking soda and a good old-fashioned airing-out 
in the sunshine.  -Editor]

Kim adds: "Unfortunately, living in Oregon, we get mostly 
rain and cold, so sunshine is kind of out of the question.  
Currently have them in the garage on their sides (like if 
you put them onto a bookshelf, but opened up).  I did start 
with baking soda in a container that has a opening at the 
top and put that and the books into a Ziploc storage bag, 
which did pull out some of the smell, as I sniffed the baking 
soda in the container and it smelled of cigarettes.  So, I 
might be going back to that, or fresh ground coffee."

[Any other suggestions, readers?  -Editor]

  SMELLY BOOKS
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v06n32a22.html 

  HOW NOT TO STORE BOOKS IN MIAMI
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v04n31a13.html


QUERY: CERAMIC COPIES OF MEDALS

Dick Hanscom writes: "Does any one know anything about ceramic 
copies of medals?  I have scans of the Alaska Yukon Pacific 
Exposition, 1909, large award medal in blue and white ceramic, 
obverse only; and both sides of the 2.5 inch Alaska statehood 
medal by Medallic Art Co., possibly brown or gray and white.  
They are marked 'MB' on the back.  Can anyone shed any light 
on these?  Thanks very much."

To view images of Dick's ceramic medals. See:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2399109742/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2399109762/ 


QUERY: YOACHUM SILVER DOLLAR: APRIL FOOL?

Last week we discussed my 2008 April Fool's piece.  Whenever 
the subject of the Yoachum Silver dollar comes up, numismatists 
never quite know if someone's pulling their leg or trying to 
pull the wool over their eyes.  The enigmatic coin has been 
referenced a number of times in the literature but only 
illustrated relatively recently.  Many suspect the examples 
currently floating around the market are fantasies created 
in the 1960s.

In a recent posting on the Coin Talk bulletin boards, James 
F. Morris published an article about Yaochum Dollar and a 
specimen in his collection:

"By a very strange twist of fate: now over 20 years ago, I 
acquired a Yoachum Silver Dollar - 1822. It is one of the 
eight (8) discovered by Don Webb and Bob Jones in November 
1982 in southwest Missouri. One of the Webb/Jones specimens 
appears in the Official Publication of The Missouri Numismatic 
Society,   'Missouri Journal of Numismatics', Vol.9, July 
1964, pgs. 5,6. To my knowledge this is the first published 
photo of the coin. 

"In W. C. Jameson's book, 'Buried Treasures of the Ozarks', 
1990, reports numerous lost silver (and gold) mines throughout 
the Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma Ozark uplift region. On 
pgs. 89 thru 100 - The Mystery of the Yoachum Silver Dollar 
is featured. My good friend Mr. J. R. Blunk (pg. 99) recounts 
his remarkable discovery of the original dies discovered by 
him on March 11, 1983."

The article states that Walter Breen and Q. David Bowers 
examined the dies and coin at the February 1988 Long Beach 
show, although I checked with Dave and he has no recollection 
of the event.

Morris writes: "The only other Yoachum Silver Dollar that 
I'm aware of surfaced at the Hartzog Sept. 1984 sale, lot 
453., consigned by the son of Mr. William Bradley from Rockford, 
Ill. (now deceased), and purchased by Mr. Paul Bosco for $400.  
The notarized statement indicates the specimen was given to 
him by his grandmother around 1922. She was an Indian descent 
of either the Shawnee or Cherokee lineage. The Bosco specimen 
was re-sold, Bosco, Nov.2000 sale, lot 905. Purchase price 
$700. to an undisclosed bidder. Un-authenticated. Although 
I haven't examined the coin, it appears to be a good candidate 
for authentication."
 
"Several days later (after the Expo.) we met with Mr. Charles 
Fletcher, President of A-Mark Minting Corporation located in 
L.A. Ca. to contract the custom minting of the 1822 Limited 
Edition Trial Re-strikes from the original dies.  Production 
was scheduled for the morning of March 15th, 1988. The making 
of the coins were pretty straight forward; but very time 
consuming and potentially dangerous for the dies. There were 
many things to consider. I think we were very lucky to get 142 
coins minted before a small fissure developed at the back of 
one die. In hindsight, perhaps it would have been wiser to have 
to have a duplicate die made; but another cookie-cutter silver 
coin does not lend itself well to authenticity, uniqueness, 
value or history..

"The Laser cut edges were contracted to Mr. Hugh Mosbacher, 
President of Mercury Marking Devices, L. A. Ca. Each coin 
was individually marked C J. R. BLUNK & ASSOC.  INC. TRIAL 
RESTRIKE NO. 001/142 THRU 142/142.  Each coin has been hand 
stamped 'copy' to comply with U. S. Federal Trade Commission 
requirements."

To read the complete article, see:
http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=35515

[I checked with Token and Medal Society Editor and former 
President Dave Schenkman.  He writes: "I vaguely recalled 
the piece, so I dug out Hartzog's catalog. Although it is 
difficult to draw conclusions from pictures, I wouldn't buy 
a piece like the one pictured in Hartzog for any price. The 
die work is unlike anything from the 19th century that I've 
ever seen; although not identical, it reminds me of a group 
of fantasy coal scrip tokens that were 'created' in the early 
1980s; I wrote an article titled 'Caveat Emptor' about them 
and pictured a bunch of different ones in the October 1982 
issue of the TAMS Journal. The timing of the coal fantasies 
appearing on the market and the eight Yoachum pieces being 
'discovered' in November 1982 is also interesting. Coincidence? 
Perhaps, but I doubt it.

"Interestingly, while the one pictured in Hartzog's catalog 
(which sold for $370) appears to have raised letters, on the 
one Morris posted the lettering appears to be incuse.

"Hartzog offered his piece 'AS IS, no return.' He also states 
that ANACS was unable to provide an opinion, and that Bruce 
Smith (a well known researcher of Missouri numismatics) was 
of the opinion that the piece was a modern fantasy."

[Have any E-Sylum readers seen one of the Webb/Jones specimens?  
Or know anything about the discovery or whereabouts of Yoachum 
dollar dies?  What about the A-Mark restrikes?  Below is a 
reference I found on the web mentioning the dollars. -Editor]

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mostone/stories/orcutt.htm   


"PUBLIC ENEMIES" HAS ARRIVED IN OSHKOSH
 
Following up on earlier discussions about the filming of 
the new movie "Public Enemies", Jeff Reichenberger writes: 
"For three weeks leading up to today, Main Street in Oshkosh, 
WI has been transformed back in time to 1930. Pre-production 
crews have put on an apt display of construction, including 
changing all the signage from plastic and neon to painted 
wood. Some of the buildings had entire facelifts. One corner 
of Main Street had a complete fake building constructed of 
wood and scaffold. Another long-time local music store has 
been changed into a Walgreen Drugs. Off to the side, waiting 
in the wings, is a newly built trolley car, and the STAR of 
the movie - the First National Bank building - towers above 
it all and watches as it is prepared to be robbed.
 
"Main Street was officially closed yesterday, and will remain 
closed for 10 days. This weekend we are told that the final 
step is to lay down a false cobblestone road. Giant rolls of 
the stuff will be laid out across approximately 2 blocks 
covering the intersection of Main Street and Washington Avenue. 
I've attached a photo from when the FNB was being built in 1927. 
In the foreground you can see that the streets were indeed 
cobblestone.
 
"I was told by the current owner of the FNB building that 
the filming will be shot mainly around the Main Street entrance. 
He mentioned that they would not film the vault rooms, since 
they didn't fit the scene, the main reason being that the vault 
is in the lower level, below the streets. 

"In the research for my little article regarding the history 
of the bank I state that, 'the vaults were said to be the 
finest, most secure public depository in existence, and that 
locating them in the lower level was a new and state-of-the-art 
concept to foil potential criminals.' Apparently it also foiled 
the movie makers. The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern reported, 
'The weights and dimensions of the vaults construction is 
almost bewildering. The door to the main vault weighs 30 tons.' 
I was given a tour by one of the banks owners, Jim Robl. It 
is an impressive thing to see the round, 8 foot diameter, 3 
foot thick vault door. It looks just like the ones you see 
in the movies! I was surprised they were not going to use it. 
 
"If anyone is interested in a blow by blow description of all 
that is going on with the movie, it will be well chronicled 
in the Oshkosh Northwestern. Go to: thenorthwestern.com -
local news.

"The movie is scheduled to be released in 2009. So look for 
Johnny Depp to burst from the First National Bank building 
in a mad shootout - you just might get a glimpse of the coin 
sculptures behind a spray of machine gun bullets."

[Jeff provided a photo of the First National Bank building 
as it was being constructed in Oshkosh in 1927.  Here's a 
link to the photo, and to a couple he supplied earlier of 
the interesting bas-relief coin medallion decorations on 
the building.  Jeff has written a very complete and interesting 
article on the history of the bank and its numismatic 
connections which has been submitted to Coin World's Paper 
Money Values Magazine.  -Editor]

First National Bank, Oshkosh, WI (Construction 1927)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2404984635/ 

First National Bank front view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2334141838/ 

Walking Liberty Half Obverse
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/2333315127/ 


MOVIE REVIEW BY LARRY GAYE: THE COUNTERFEITERS

Larry Gaye writes: 'Movies with numismatic themes are always 
targets for us purists.  I saw 'The Counterfeiters' last week.  
It is an excellent movie about Operation Bernhard, the Nazi 
plot to destabilize the British Pound and later the US Dollar 
by counterfeiting Pounds and Dollars using mostly Jewish 
'experts.' 

'I have several Bernhard notes as well as a real five pounder 
in my collection and own the book written about them.  The 
key to the movie is that it provided faces and feelings to the 
story.  It is well worth the trip to the theatre to see the 
movie.  Are there numismatic errors?  Of course but the trip 
is worth the ticket price.  Go see it!'

[We've been following the making and release of this film for 
a while, but Larry's the first E-Sylum reader to report seeing 
it.  Since it's in German with English subtitles, it's more 
likely to be found in big city art houses than suburban 
multiplexes.  I'm glad to hear it's worth making the effort 
to find it.  -Editor]

  OPERATION BERNHARD FILM RELEASE: THE COUNTERFEITERS
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v10n40a16.html

  FILM REVIEW: THE COUNTERFEITERS
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n07a29.html

  NEW YORK TIMES MOVIE REVIEW: THE COUNTERFEITERS
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n08a41.html 

  MOVIE REVIEWS: THE COUNTERFEITERS
  http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n09a29.html 
 

RARE TRAFALGAR SURVIVOR'S MEDAL SOUGHT BY NELSON MUSEUM

[My first week in London was spent a stone's throw from 
Trafalgar Square, where a towering column honors England's 
greatest naval hero, Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.  This week 
a newspaper article describes a numismatic connection to Nelson, 
a rare medal that showed up on eBay and is now being sought by 
the Nelson Museum. -Editor]

It had languished in an attic until being put up for internet 
auction in the hope of fetching a few hundred pounds.

But an unassuming looking medal turned out to be an extraordinarily 
rare piece of Nelson history worth tens of thousands and now 
a Norfolk museum is hoping to bring it home.

The Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) earned by Yarmouth hero 
James Sharman, the man credited with carrying the fatally 
ounded Nelson below deck during the battle of Trafalgar, has 
surfaced - one of only three earned by the survivor.

Sharman is a particularly important figure to the museum as 
he is one of only a few men whose heroic endeavours on HMS 
Victory were recorded specifically.

Not only did he apparently tend to the dying Nelson but he 
was so well regarded that he was chosen as the first 'keeper 
of the pillar' by the Vice Admiral's best friend, Capt Masterman 
Hardy, when the Nelson memorial was built in Yarmouth.

He was also the inspiration for the Charles Dickens character 
Ham Peggotty in David Copperfield, forever immortalising a 
Trafalgar survivor in one of the most famous pieces of English 
literature.

To read the complete article, see:
http://tinyurl.com/6mt5gz 

For more information on the Nelson Museum, see:
http://www.nelson-museum.co.uk 


WOULD WALES WELCOME A WELSH BANKNOTE?

[A Welsh publication article discusses a movement to 
reintroduce banknotes in Wales. -Editor]

THE reintroduction of Welsh banknotes would provide a national 
morale boost and help kick-start the expansion of a home-grown 
financial sector, according to a Plaid Cymru parliamentary 
candidate.

Steffan Lewis, who will be standing in Islwyn at the next 
general election, says bringing back Welsh notes after a gap 
of 100 years would provide a further reason for pride after 
the rugby Grand Slam and Cardiff City's success in reaching 
the FA Cup final.

The last Welsh banknotes were withdrawn in 1908 when the 
North & South Wales Bank was taken over by Midland Bank 
(now HSBC).

Yet Scotland still has its own notes issued by three separate 
banks, while in Northern Ireland four banks, including some 
with headquarters in the Republic of Ireland, put out their 
own paper currency.

The Bank Charter Act 1844 prohibited the issuing of new 
banknotes in England and Wales and further legislated that 
any bank subject to takeover would lose its note-issuing 
right. In 1908 the North & South Wales Bank was acquired by 
Midland Bank, and its banknotes were consequently withdrawn 
from circulation.

To read the complete article, see:
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/politics-news/2008/04/08/would-wales-wel
come-a-welsh-banknote-91466-20732789/


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RECREATES THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LIBRARY

[This week the Library of Congress celebrates an 
astounding feat - the recreation of Thomas Jefferson's 
library. -Editor]

In Thomas Jefferson's day, the books he lovingly collected 
were almost as famous as he was.

Leather-bound tomes on topics as varied as whist, beekeeping 
and philosophy were gathered from across Europe and colonial 
America, then brought to Monticello to help fulfill Jefferson's 
vow to amass the whole of human knowledge. They eventually 
became the foundation for the Library of Congress, although 
two-thirds were lost in a fire in 1851.

For the past decade, a small group of rare book experts has 
sought to re-create Jefferson's library, scouring antiquarian 
book collections on two continents to acquire thousands of 
volumes. The entire collection of more than 6,000 volumes -- 
some originals and some replacements -- will go on display 
tomorrow at the Library of Congress, looking much as it would 
have 200 years ago.

Re-creating such a famous library is a book collector's dream, 
Dimunation said, and it has not been easy. The search took 
Dimunation and his staff near and far, from their own stacks 
to the basements of French booksellers as they hunted down 
the same editions and obscure pamphlets from the early 1800s.

They have found books in France, the Netherlands, Italy and 
England. Books came from private collections and universities.

The library has replicated not only Jefferson's collection 
but also the manner in which he displayed it. He arranged his 
bookshelves in a conch shell pattern, so that a person could 
walk into the middle and be surrounded by books.

Even Jefferson's system of organizing the books reflected 
an enlightened thought process, Dimunation said. Every book 
fell into one of three categories: memory, reason or imagination. 
An updated version of that system is used by the Library of 
Congress.

"You are seeing the library pretty much how Thomas Jefferson 
would have seen it," Dimunation said.

To read the complete article, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/10/AR2008041004
241.html


FEATURED WEB SITE: PROVENANCE GALLERY OF 1794 LARGE CENTS BY AL BOKA  

This week's featured web site is the Provenance Gallery 
of 1794 Large Cents by Al Boka, companion to the book of 
the same name.  

"This book evolved as an extension of an exhibit at the 
2004 Early American Coppers Club convention in San Diego. 
The exhibit featured all 58 collectible varieties of 1794 
Large Cents chosen by their intriguing, singular pedigrees 
rather than their condition...pedigrees extending to Mickley, 
Maris, Frossard, Hays, Zug, Prosky, Hines, Gilbert, Steigerwalt, 
Clapp, and many other noted collectors of the past."

http://www.1794largecents.com/
http://www.1794largecents.com/1794/collection.htm


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 
at this address:
http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_member_app.html 

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 the U.S., $20 for First Class mail, and 
$25 elsewhere.  For those without web access, write to:

David M. Sundman, Secretary/Treasurer
Numismatic Bibliomania Society, 
P. O. Box 82 Littleton, NH 03561

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