The E-Sylum v11#19, May 11, 2008 [NEW FORMAT]

Sun May 11 20:13:05 PDT 2008

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    The E-Sylum

  The
  Numismatic
  Bibliomania
  Society

Volume , Number 19, May 11, 2008
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM MAY 11, 2008
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THE E-SYLUM GOES GLAM: NEW FORMAT INCLUDES COLOR AND IMAGES
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BALLOTS MAILED FOR GREATEST AMERICAN NUMISMATIC LITERATURE SURVEY 
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SALE ON NUMISMATIC TITLES AT DAVID BROWN BOOK COMPANY
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NEW BOOK: CANADIAN MUNICIPAL TRADE TOKENS”, FIRTH EDITION BY SERGE PELLETIER
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BOOK REVIEW: GUIDE TO VINTAGE COIN FOLDERS AND ALBUMS BY THOMAS MOLL
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BOOK REVIEWS: MEXICAN NUMISMATICS – A GUIDEBOOK OF ITS LITERATURE
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HAVING FUN WITH THE COLLINS 1794 DOLLAR MANUSCRIPT
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THE BOOK BAZARRE<#a09>
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HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY (AFTER THE FACT)!
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DANIEL CARR ON COMPUTER SCULPTING PROGRAMS
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DICK JOHNSON'S COMMENTS ON COMPUTER SCULPTING PROGRAMS
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EDITORIAL CRITIQUES WASHINGTON, D.C. QUARTER DESIGNS
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ANA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HELPS BUST COLUMBUS COIN THIEF
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ON PLATINUM COINS
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QUERY: MUSEUM'S MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN COINAGE PROJECT
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CONCENTRATION CAMP MONEY AUTHOR STEVE FELLERS SPEAKS
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CURRENCY SHORTAGE IN THE ALASKA BUSH 
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THE PAPAL BENEMERENTI MEDAL
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FALLON CENTENNIAL 'COIN' MINTING AT THE NEVADA STATE MUSEUM
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THE ABERNATHY BOYS' GREAT CROSS-COUNTRY ADVENTURE
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COUNTERFEIT-FUELED INFLATION IN SOMALIA SPARKS RIOTING
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$100 MILLION GIFT PUTS SCHWARTZMAN NAME ON NEW YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILDING
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VOCABULARY WORD: QUINCUNX
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BRAIN TEASER: WHAT DO THESE WORDS HAVE IN COMMON?
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ONTARIO BAKERY SUCCEEDS WITH HONOR PAYMENT SYSTEM
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ON TOSSING ANCIENT COINS
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FEATURED WEB SITE: TEN THOUSAND CENTS COLLABORATIVE ART PROJECT
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM MAY 11, 2008

Among our recent subscribers are Peyton Smith, Emily Sewell and Amanda DeWees of Whitman Publications, Robert Ronus, Dave Welsh, Dick Dunn, Robert Kanterman and Larry Schuffman. Welcome aboard!  We now have 1,140 subscribers.

This week we open with news of what I hope will be a welcome change in the format of The E-Sylum newsletter.  In other NBS news, ballots for the greatest American numismatic literature survey have been distributed.  Book announcements and reviews this week include Canadian municipal trade tokens, a guidebook of Mexican Numismatic Literature and the Guide to Vintage Coin Folders and Albums.  [And speaking of coin folders, the June issue of COINage has a nice article about David Lange and the collecting of coin boards, folders and albums, written by Dom Yanchunas.]

In responses from last week's issue, Daniel Carr and Dick Johnson review computer sculpting programs for coin and medal designers, Tim Shuck discusses platinum coins, and Larry Gaye discusses Byzantine coins used for tossing at soccer matches.

In the news, an editorial writer blasts the design choices for Washington D.C's quarter, under-banked inhabitances of the Alaskan bush resort to cash substitutes, and counterfeit-fueled inflation in Somalia sparks rioting.

To learn how many people it takes to create a one-hundred dollar bill, read on. Have a great week, everyone.

Wayne Homren
 Numismatic Bibliomania Society

THE E-SYLUM GOES GLAM: NEW FORMAT INCLUDES COLOR AND IMAGES

Four months away from our tenth anniversary, The E-Sylum is getting a facelift.  It's not Botox but HTML.  Hypertext markup language (or HTML) is the stuff behind the scenes that tells your computer how to display web pages.  Beginning this week The E-Sylum will be published in both plain-text format and HTML, which allows for a much more appealing design incorporating links, color, images, and other formatting features.  

This week only you will receive TWO separate copies of your E-Sylum: the first one in the text format you're used to, and the second one in the new HTML format.  It may appear in your Junk folder; if so, add us to your "safe senders" list.  You may also have to tell your mail reader to download the images in the message. But these should be one-time configuration changes on your part, and barring any major problems, you'll receive The E-Sylum in glorious color from now on.  Users of Blackberries and other small devices which don’t display HTML should continue to see a plain text version.

Many thanks to the Numismatic Bibliomania Society board for their financial support in hiring a design firm (Grove Marketing, Inc.) which has been working with us on a redesign of our web site as well as The E-Sylum.  NBS also purchased some new services from Capalon Internet Solutions, the folks who run Binhost.com which hosts our mailing list.  We're excited about the improvements and hope you find the new format both useful and enjoyable.

BALLOTS MAILED FOR GREATEST AMERICAN NUMISMATIC LITERATURE SURVEY 

Len Augsburger writes: "The ballots for the Numismatic Bibliomania Society survey of the greatest American numismatic literature (announced in the Fall 2007 issue of The Asylum) have been mailed to the membership.  President John Adams has taken the lead by completing and returning the first ballot.  I'll issue updates in this space over the next few weeks as ballots are submitted."

Alan Weinberg writes: "The list neglects to list Joe Levine's Presidential Coin and Antique Company's auction catalogs from approximately 1970 to date (which I'd rate in the top 25), DeWitt/Sullivan American Political Badges and Medalets which lists and pictures many hundreds of tokens and medals (which I'd rate in the top 30) and Frent/Schlesinger which pictures its share of tokens and medals (which I'd rate in the top 75).

"The Frent/Schlesinger reference is a massive two-volume set that is titled 'Running for President'. And yes, the co-author Schlesinger is THE Arthur Schlesinger, Harvard Professor and noted advisor to JFK.

"These are expensive books - Sullivan ($200) and F/S ($200 or so) - and are more widely known among political ephemera collectors- but have considerable plates and listings of tokens and medals - in the case of Sullivan (DeWitt is an earlier less complete version of Sullivan) literally multi-hundreds of rare tokens and medals are pictured, described in detail, etc.

"But Joe Levine's PCAC catalogues, which go back to the early 70's, have had extensive sales of great tokens and medals with plates and historical descriptions. How his auction sales catalogues escaped the list sent out is a mystery. The PCAC catalogues have a prominent place in my library. They are much more prominent in the numismatic hobby than perhaps 1/3rd of the references listed."

["Top 100" projects such as this always stir controversy, but that's part of the appeal and fun of them.  I'm sure many worthy publications didn't make the first cut, but let us have your thoughts.  I'm a bit perplexed myself on how I'll cast my votes for despite my long association with American Numismatic Literature, there are quite a number of items on the list (particularly auction catalogs) that I do not have in my library and would have a difficult time evaluating. -Editor]

SALE ON NUMISMATIC TITLES AT DAVID BROWN BOOK COMPANY

Ian Stevens of the David Brown Book Company writes: "E-Sylum readers may be interested in a number of numismatic titles we're currently offering at a discount."   

A number of titles on Greek, Roman, British, Scottish, and U.S. numismatics are included. Two examples are: 'Sylloge of Coins in the British Isles 55: Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg Part IV. English, Irish and Scottish Coins, 1066-1485' (list price $108.00, now $29.98, and 'Imprimatur: The Art of the Bank Note' (list price $90, now $39.98).  For more information, see the firm's web site:

www.oxboxbooks.com

NEW BOOK: CANADIAN MUNICIPAL TRADE TOKENS”, FIRTH EDITION BY SERGE PELLETIER

[Author Serge Pelletier forwarded this following press release about his newest book. -Editor]

The fifth edition of “A Compendium of Canadian Municipal Trade Tokens” by Serge Pelletier, is now available from the publisher.

“For the most part, prices are strong with some rather spectacular increases in the collector pieces with low mintage.  There is also a renewed interest in varieties and silver pieces” said Ray Desjardins, the editor, whose work concentrates mainly on determining the market values.  

“We have also noticed an increase in popularity of Canadian municipal trade tokens with overseas collectors.  Initially attracted by the bimetallic pieces, more and more of them now collect all circulating issues.  All this bodes well for the hobby” concluded Desjardins.

The 160-page publication is half-letter size, spiral bound, with a card cover and a transparent plastic protector.  It list the more than 1,700 Canadian municipal trade tokens know to date, in all metal (except pure gold and platinum) and provides reference number, denomination, year, succinct description of obverse and reverse, metal, mintage and value for each.

The tokens are presented by province and territory, the municipalities in alphabetical order within, and the tokens are listed chronologically.

Its built-in checklist makes it a must for any Canadian municipal trade token collector.

It is available for $14.95 from the publisher, Eligi Consultants Inc., which can reached at: Box 11447, Station H, Nepean, ON  K2H 7V1 CANADA, tel: +1-613-823-3844, fax: +1-613-825-3092, Email: info at eligi.ca.  S&H is extra.  Canadian resident must add the applicable taxes.  

Formerly known as “Canadian Trade Dollars”, Canadian municipal trade tokens are community “coins” sponsored by a local non-profit organization and given legal monetary value in a specific area, for a limited time, by the appropriate local authority.  They are used as money in normal commercial transaction during the period of validity.  These tokens have been issued, however, for commemorative and fund raising purposes since 1958.

BOOK REVIEW: GUIDE TO VINTAGE COIN FOLDERS AND ALBUMS BY THOMAS MOLL

[David Lange submitted this review of the print-on-demand book "Guide to Vintage Coin Folders and Albums" by Thomas Moll. -Editor]

I learned of this book by sheer chance, with Dennis Tucker of Whitman announcing his discovery of it on a popular coin message forum. Perhaps it is meaningful that the only response to this posting was my own, but I was determined to get a copy of the book nonetheless. Certainly the reason that this book, published last year, went unnoticed until now is that it comes from the print-on-demand service, Lulu.com. A person has to be looking for a particular title to find it there, and it never occurred to me that anyone else was studying this subject besides me. 

I’ve never heard of Thomas Mall, which is unusual, given my many writings about coin albums, folders and boards; we folks have a way of finding one another. I suspect that Mr. Moll does not follow mainstream numismatics or our paths would have crossed at some point. A search of his other Lulu titles reveals that his main interest seems to be German-American genealogy in Pennsylvania, as he has written a four-volume series on this subject. There is no biographical information to be found within this particular book.

Now that I have a copy of his coin album book in hand, here’s the scoop: This is a perfect-bound volume measuring 6” x 9” and including 117 pages in all. It has a number of black-and-white illustrations of so-so quality, but these have been selected and placed quite usefully. Following a brief overview of the subject, including Moll’s introduction to coin collecting as a child, Part I features a listing of available brands and titles. These are arranged not by publishers, but rather alphabetically by country. For example, under the heading of Australia Moll briefly describes the four companies that produced coin folders and albums for this nation and includes a roster of the titles each one offered. A price range is given for whichever entries he has acquired for his own collection, while the ones that have eluded him are marked simply as “not seen.”

There are several omissions of both brands and titles (prominent among the USA publishers not mentioned at all are Harris, Shore Line and Hobbies Unlimited). On the other hand, I learned from this book of several Whitman titles never even suspected by me. These include the eight folders Whitman produced for Ireland having green covers in place of the usual blue (Moll confirmed six of these in his own collection) and a line of Whitman folders for Jersey and Guernsey that the company announced but neither Moll nor I have seen.

Part II is quite unusual in its theme: The author lists all the options for storing coins in folders and albums not made for those specific issues. For example, if one wants to house of collection of Luxembourg one-franc pieces from the years 1952-87, the author advises using Whitman folder No. 9042, which is titled simply NICKELS. This almost borders on the surreal for me, as my interest in coin folders and albums is solely in their appeal as collectable items, whereas Moll’s focus seems to be on their utility in storing and displaying coins. This section occupies 20 pages by itself and includes some very obscure country references (Zambian collectors—never fear! There are folder options for you).

Part III brings Moll’s book to a conclusion with a complete roster of Dansco folders by catalog number and Whitman folders and albums by catalog number. This can be quite useful as a checklist of available titles. Though I published most of this information in a series of articles in The Asylum some years ago, it is not generally available at this time with the exception of Moll’s book.

Per the author’s own mission statement, this book does not address folders produced before the 1950s nor after the mid-1980s, his focus being on what he considers to be (and I concur) the heyday of folder and album production—the 1950s and ‘60s. One weakness of this book is that it does not address the various editions of each publisher’s coin folders and albums (to date there are ten distinctive editions of the Whitman blue folders alone), nor does it provide any specific chronology. For example, a nearly complete listing is given of the Whitman line, yet there is no way to know when a particular title was introduced and, in many cases, discontinued. It is implied that most of the world and obsolete USA titles date from decades ago, but there is nothing here to help the serious collector. Given that the author’s focus seems to be more on the usefulness of folders and albums in housing coins than on their rarity and value as collectable objects, this is perhaps excusable.

While this book will be a helpful reference to anyone not already familiar with the subject, it will have no impact on my plans to push ahead with a comprehensive history and catalog of coin folders and albums in two separate volumes. This is an area of numismatics that deserves a fuller treatment, but Moll’s book fills a useful void in the interim. Priced at just $14.95 plus shipping, the curious reader is risking little to add this fun title to his library.

BOOK REVIEWS: MEXICAN NUMISMATICS – A GUIDEBOOK OF ITS LITERATURE

[Two E-Sylum readers have submitted reviews of the new book "Numismática Mexicana – Una Guía de su Literatura" (Mexican Numismatics – A Guidebook of its Literature) by Christopher Martin Bolton Morgan.  First up: Adrián González Salinas. -Editor]

Numismática Mexicana – Una Guía de su Literatura
(Mexican Numismatics – A Guidebook of its Literature)
Author: Christopher Martin Bolton Morgan

First Edition, Mexico, D.F. 2008
Black Card Cover with Gold Stamped Titles
(1), 108 pages, no illustrations.
Language: Spanish
Length: 23.1 cms
Width: 18.8 cms
Thickness: 0.7 cms
Weight: 234 grams

After reading the book “Mexican Numismatics – A Guidebook of its Literature” cover to cover and I consider that this book fills a great hollow within Mexican Numismatics.

The content of the book follows a strict classification by epoch or period in Mexican History since Aztecs (Pre-Columbian), Spanish Kings through Republic, Empires and Modern Coins (including the Revolutionary Period).

The periods can be summarized as follows: Introduction, Pre-Columbian Epoch (…-1535) : 13 | Charles & Johanna Kings (1536-1556) :29 1 Cobs Coinage (1556-1732) : 54, Pillars & Busts (1732-1810) : 35 | Insurgency/Independence/Counter-Stamps (1810-1822) : 61 | First Empire (Iturbide, 1822-1823) : 8 | Republican Period (1823-1864, 1867-1897) : 46 | Second Empire (Maximilian, 1864-1867) : 24 | Modern Coinage (1905-To Date) : 30 | Coins and Bills of Mexican Revolution (1913-1917) : 56 | Banknotes : 57 | Medals & Proclamations : 72 | Tokens of Mexico and Copper Coinage : 60 | History of Mexican Mints & Banks : 145 | Dictionaries/ Encyclopedias/References : 7 | Economic/Monetary/Political Mexican History : 58 |  Books and Catalogues for the Aficionado: 53 | Notable Auction Catalogues : 49 | Numismatic Collections/Expositions/ Exhibitions : 17 | General Works : 41

In summary, the book contains 915 Mexican Numismatic references mainly from books, magazines, numismatic societies & associations publications from Mexico, USA, Canada among others. Examples of these publications are: The Numismatist, The Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, The Centinel, Plus Ultra, Plus Ultra Newsletter, El Boletín (Numismático), Monedas (Puebla), The Coin Collector’s Journal, The Canadian Antiquarian & Numismatic Journal, The American Journal of Numismatics, International Bank Note Society Journal, ANS’ Museum Notes, Numisma (Spain), USMexNA’s Journal of Mexican Numismatics, Calcoin News, Memorias de la Academia Mexicana de Estudios Numismáticos, Philippine Numismatic Monographs, Numismatic Circular, Journal of International Numismatics, Numismatic International Bulletin, Gaceta Numismática (Spain), Barrilla, The Whitman Numismatic Journal, World Coin News, The Asylum, COINage, Money Trend, TNA News, Mexican Revolution Reporter, Berliner Blätter, The British Numismatic Journal, Acta Numismática, TAMS Journal, The Medal Collector, Coin & Medals News, The Canadian Numismatic Journal, LANSA, Numismatické Listy, Coins Magazine, Numismática (Peru), The Hispanic American Historical Review.

This guidebook follows the format of Elvira Clain-Stefanelli’s book “Select Numismatic Bibliography” (1965) which only contains 33 Mexican publications. The Index details an astounding 127 different authors!  

In some cases, this guidebook contains biographical information about some famous authors; this valuable information is not easy to obtain. Also, the guidebook details the editions of the books when applies and, personal comments about rarity, availability and anecdotes of specific books. Again, this information is very rich to the reader.

In the introduction, Mr. Bolton recognizes that he omitted other publications but I think that he included the main core of all Mexican numismatic references.  I am completely certain that Mr. Bolton invested a lot of time to complete this guidebook.

Finally, I'd like to congratulate Mr. Bolton for his extraordinary effort to publish a great, great book about books.

[Dennis Tucker of Whitman Publications also submitted a review. -Editor]

Christopher Bolton’s Numismatica Mexicana: Una Guia de su Literatura (“Mexican Numismatics: A Guide to its Literature”; copyright 2008) is an impressive and very useful work of scholarship. Bolton opens the book with Aaron Feldman’s famous quote: “Compra el libro antes de la moneda”—good advice for anyone interested in Mexico’s nearly 500 years of coinage. A guide such as this one, which documents more than 900 resources, is valuable for both newcomer and seasoned numismatist.

Bolton admits in his introduction that, Feldman notwithstanding, his passion for books started some 10 years after he bought his first Mexican coins. Guide books and catalogs expanded his outlook beyond coinage of the 20th century, to earlier eras, as well as to paper money, tokens, and medals. 

After being bitten by the bibliophile bug, Bolton’s passion was “incurable”—his rule became to buy at least one book for every five coins. He writes, “The 915 references cited in this bibliography represent, in my opinion, a good start to organizing the available written material [on Mexican numismatics].”

Numismatica Mexicana is perfectbound with an attractive faux-leather softcover, with the title and author’s name stamped in gold foil—reminiscent of Whitman’s line of “black books” from the 1960s. Two versions are available: octavo (7-1/2 x 9-1/8 inches) and quarto (8-3/8 x 10-3/4 inches). The former is printed on both sides of each leaf, the latter on recto only (“to allow collectors to make notes or add any additional references I may have omitted,” says the author).

What Bolton has compiled is more than just an alphabetical listing of books and articles. He categorizes the 900-plus works by numismatic epoch from pre-Conquest to the modern day, each book according to its main focus (or to the first epoch it covers). Dictionaries, auction catalogs, political histories, and similar references are categorized in their own sections, by content. 

Bolton does not simply list authors, titles, and places and dates of publication — for many of the works, he provides a summary and analysis of their substance. This kind of annotated bibliography offers valuable information for the researcher. 

For example, recently in The E-Sylum editor Wayne Homren posed the question, “So what are ‘Arras Tokens’?” In Numismatica Mexicana Bolton lists several articles on arras, and synopsizes their contents (i.e., “A list of 12 arras, but without substantial information about their origins”; “Five more arras, but only one is illustrated”; “Interesting article about the ‘coins’ used in Mexican weddings, with a list of 13 arras”). 

Other helpful notes include whether the work is illustrated, if it has an English translation, and if it was republished elsewhere in whole or in part. Also, most sections conclude with an “Also see,” directing the reader to related works in other sections. (For example, researchers in the “Carlos y Juana, 1536–1556” section are also referred to the auction catalog section, No. 828, The Paul Karon Collection of 8 Escudos and Other Classic Latin American Coinage.) The book concludes with a five-page index of authors linked to their works within the bibliography.

Sections include: pre-Columbian to the Conquest; Charles and Joanna, 1536–1556; cob coinage, 1556–1732; Pillar and Bust coinage, 1732–1810; insurgency, independence, and countermarks, 1810–1822; First Empire (Iturbide), 1822–1833; Republic, 1823–1864 and 1867–1897; Second Empire (Maximilian), 1864–1867; modern money, 1905 to date; coins and bills of the Revolution, 1913–1917; paper money; proclamation and oath medals; fichas, tlacos, pilones, and monedas de cobra; history of the Casas de Moneda and Banca Mexicana; dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works; economic, monetary, and political histories of Mexico; books and catalogs for the aficionado; catalogs of significant auctions; numismatic collections, expositions, and exhibitions; and general works.

I should note that Numismatica Mexicana is written in Spanish, and my citations in this review are translations of Bolton’s text. English-language books and articles are listed by their English titles, which in most cases offers sufficient guidance to monolingual readers. On top of that, if you have a few years of high-school or college Spanish, and a working knowledge of “coin Spanish,” you’ll find the prose easy to follow.

With careful organization, thoughtful analysis, and considerable scope, Christopher Bolton has done the numismatic community a great service in this highly recommended book.

I would, however, offer several professional opinions on how to improve the book for its next edition. One minor complaint concerns the binding: the spine has no copy! When the book is sitting spine-out on a shelf, you don’t know its title or author’s name. It should be possible to fit at least the title on both formats (definitely on the thicker-spined quarto). 

Another observation: there are occasional stray marks, about the size and shape of a hyphen, scattered about two or three on every other page, sometimes within the text. This “chatter” can be distracting. It’s hard to tell if the marks are from the printing process (not likely, since the books were published digitally), or perhaps artifacts from the Quark (or other) software used for layout; either way, the glitches are probably easily fixed. 

On a nitpicky note, what Bolton calls an “introduction” is technically a preface—its purpose is not to introduce the subject matter of the book, but to explain the book’s mechanics (why and how it was written), which it does engagingly and very well. 

>From a typographical perspective, the book exhibits the occasional technical errors and inconsistencies often seen in self-published (and sometimes in commercially published!) works; in this case, they’re minor and don’t affect the reader’s experience. 

More serious (but not major flaws at all) are some navigation-related weaknesses in the design: the layout would benefit from navigational aids such as running heads or feet that indicate the section (and possibly the book numbers covered on that page); and the verso folios (page numbers on left-hand pages) should be set flush outside, not flush inside, so they’re easier to read while flipping through the book. (The latter applies only to the octavo format; in the quarto, the folios are centered at page bottom.) 

Again, these comments are meant to improve the first edition, not condemn it. This is a book that deserves to be published again and again in future editions, as its talented author continues to add to it, to the benefit of numismatists everywhere.

Author Christopher Bolton adds: "The cost of the book (Quarto sized) is USD $45.00 plus USD $25.00 express shipping (five days) to the US and Canada. However if Asylum or E-Sylum members request the book I will ship out copies at USD $55.00. 

Orders in Mexico will cost USD $50.00 two day shipping included. Other countries would have to be quoted on an individual basis.

Copies may be ordered vía my E-mail: cbolton at prodigy.net.mx and I can accept payment by international money order, Paypal or cheque (US or Pound Sterling funds)."

[Many thanks to our reviewers for their efforts and to the author for providing copies.  Congratulations on what sounds like a very welcome work. -Editor]

NEW BOOK: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICAN NUMISMATICS BY CHRISTOPHER BOLTON

HAVING FUN WITH THE COLLINS 1794 DOLLAR MANUSCRIPT

[W. David Perkins of Centennial, CO submitted the following item relating to the Jack Collins manuscript on 1794 dollars. -Editor]

I enjoyed your review in last week's E-Sylum of the Jack Collins and Walter Breen manuscript for "1794: The History and Genealogy of the First United States Dollar."  

At this time I cannot find the file with my correspondence with Jack Collins (three moves will cause this problem…), but as I recall I first contacted Jack in the late 1980s or early 1990s.  I had acquired a "special" copy of the September 18, 1968 Lester Merkin Public Auction Sale catalog from the late Art Rubino, a numismatic (and other) literature dealer from Santa Fe, NM.  Art had set up at a Denver coin show, and in a box of catalogs (under a table in his booth) was a copy of this sale with "Mr. Ostheimer" at the top of the cover, and "My Estimate / Realized" in the bottom right corner.  

When I opened it I found a three page auction settlement from Merkin to the Ostheimers laid in.   As it turns out (from the auction settlement statement) the 1794 silver dollar in this sale was not consigned by the Ostheimers.  All but two of the over 100 early dollars had been consigned to this sale were the property of the Ostheimers.  [For more information on this discovery and sale catalog, see The Asylum, Volume 25, No. 2 Spring 2007, pages 16-19.  The cover page of the Ostheimer's copy of the sale catalog is also illustrated on the cover of this Spring 2007 issue.]

I was aware of the book on 1794 Dollars that Jack Collins was working on, I believe from Q. David Bowers having mentioned this off and on in the Bowers & Merena Rare Coin Review.  I wrote Jack Collins to let him know the 1794 Dollar was not the Ostheimers.  As it turns out, Jack already knew this (I was impressed!).  Over the years we corresponded on occasion about other 1794 Dollars.

I was able to meet Jack for the first time at the 1995 Anaheim ANA Convention.  This was the first chance I had to see and study a copy of his manuscript.  

I added notes of 1794 Dollar appearances sporadically to my copy over the years.  One day J.P. Martin called me from ICG and said he had a 1794 Dollar that he thought may have been repaired on the obverse, and would I be able to stop by and take a look at it and give him my opinion.  J.P. described the specimen over the phone.  I told him I could stop by the next day over the lunch hour (ICG was conveniently located only a couple hundred yards from my office).  

J.P. was not aware of the Collins manuscript nor that I had a copy of it at the time of his call.  Nor did I tell him…  That night I did my homework and marked three pages as possible matches based on the description J.P. had given me.  When I arrived J.P. gave me the coin to look at.  I had the Collins manuscript on my lap and under the table, and sure enough it was the one of the specimens I had thought it might be.  

I told J.P. that I thought he was right, and described where and what I thought had been done.  He was impressed, as was Keith Love and the others in the room.  I then showed him the "Before and After" pictures of this specimen in the manuscript and we all had a good laugh!  In reality, it was me who was impressed with J.P. in that he caught this repair as it was done pretty well.  

I also purchased a copy of the new Collins manuscript book from George Kolbe at the NBS Meeting during the 2007 ANA Convention.

BOOK REVIEW: 1794: THE FIRST UNITED STATES DOLLAR BY JACK COLLINS

THE BOOK BAZARRE

DAVID SKLOW – FINE NUMISMATIC BOOKS now accepting consignments
for our October 4th mail bid auction. numismaticbooks at aol.com
(719) 302-5686, visit our web site www.finenumismaticbooks.com

DAVID F. FANNING NUMISMATIC LITERATURE offers fixed price lists on 
our Web site at . In stock: Stack’s Ford XV 
Sale, hardcover. Near fine with PRL. Currency of the American 
Revolution and early Confederation. $150 postpaid. 
e-mail dfanning at columbus.rr.com>

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY (AFTER THE FACT)!

[Dick Johnson submitted the following item relating to today's U.S. holiday, Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day, Moms! -Editor]

Senator Rockefeller is way too late, since he just introduced legislation to issue a Mother's Day Centennial coin.  The centennial date was today (May 11, 2008). It would be like trying to sell month-old newspapers.

Doesn't he realize it takes six months for the Mint to create and strike such a coin?  Not to mention that the Mint is already overwhelmed with new issues from a new-coin-and-medal happy issuing Congress.

Heads up, private medal-issuing industry!  If Congress keeps up this pace the U.S. Mint is going to have to sub-contract some of the medal issues to private medal makers in America.

Here's the news story:

http://wvgazette.com/News/200805080178

DANIEL CARR ON COMPUTER SCULPTING PROGRAMS

In response to Dick Johnson's article last week about computers and sculpting, Daniel Carr submitted the following comments on computer sculpting programs. -Editor]

In some ways I find it a bit odd that many mint's artists are still called "Sculptors/Engravers" when, in this day and age, most coins and medals are created by sculpting a model (the "sculptor" part), but the engraving is no longer done by hand, but by machine (a reducing lathe or similar).
And these engraving machines are often run by someone other than the sculpting artist.

I agree that computerized engraving is the way things are headed.
I noted in particular one paragraph from the article:

The advantages of computer engraving, as noted by Jim Licaretz, are its speed and versatility. As such it is ideal for simple images, as graphic designs, most trademarks or logos, and images of buildings. Where it falls short are very complex or highly detailed designs, but most notably, with portraits!

There are several reasons why many major mints have not successfully utilized computerized engraving for portraits, most notably:

1. Most of the programs were not written or constructed in such a way that allows real-time sculpting to be performed when a very large quantity of data is involved. It takes less than one-one-thousandth of an inch (
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