The E-Sylum v14#32 August 7, 2011

[esylum at binhost.com]

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The E-Sylum
  
  An electronic publication of
  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society


Volume , Number 32, August 7, 2011
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM AUGUST 7, 2011
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KOLBE & FANNING 122TH SALE CLOSES SEPTEMBER 15, 2011
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KOLBE & FANNING WEB SITE UPDATED
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: INTERNET BOOK AUCTION
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: HOW MANY DIFFERENT MINT BUILDINGS?”
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: DICK JOHNSON ON ELECTROTYPES
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: SEPTEMBER 11
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: JOHN J. FORD
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: ALAN WEINBERG ON THE STACK’S JOHN J. FORD SALES
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM OF SANDHAM
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: SWOGER SUES OVER NUMISMATIC RESEARCH USE
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: SHELDON’S PHOTO PROJECT
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: WHATEVER BECAME OF DON TAXAY?
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: BREEN AND ASTROLOGY
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: THE CASTINE HOARD
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: APRIL FOOL
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN U.S. NUMISMATICS
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: JOHN DANNREUTHER ON HARRY BASS
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: THE HISTORY OF COIN PRESSES
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E-SYLUM'S BEST: THE JANVIER DIE-ENGRAVING PANTOGRAPH
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FEATURED WEB PAGE: THE E-SYLUM
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Click here to read this issue on the web





WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM AUGUST 7, 2011





I've been off enjoying a vacation with my family, but with the help of Joel Orosz and Dick Johnson this issue of The E-Sylum is ready.  Because I've been offline most of the week, we're trying something new in lieu of the usual format - a best-of issue.  


Joel has combed through our archives and selected a set of articles that exemplify the best of what The E-Sylum offers.   Dick Johnson selected a couple of his own favorite submissions, too.  Thanks!    I did make time to include the latest numismatic literature dealer announcements,  so we’ll open the issue with two updates from Kolbe & Fanning.


Meanwhile, keep those emails coming - they'll overflow my inbox, but I'll start picking up the pieces this week and will do my best to get many of your comments and observations into the next issue.
Have a great week, everyone!


Wayne Homren
 Numismatic Bibliomania Society




KOLBE & FANNING 122TH SALE CLOSES SEPTEMBER 15, 2011




George Kolbe forwarded this announcement of the next Kolbe & Fanning numismatic literature sale.
-Editor




Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers are pleased to announce that over 1400 lots of rare and desirable numismatic literature are featured in their Mail Bid Sale 122, closing on September 15, 2011. Particularly rich in rare and desirable works on American numismatics, the 112-page, 1401-lot catalogue also includes an extensive selection of interesting and elusive works on ancient, medieval and modern numismatics.


The sale starts off with a fine 485-lot consignment, the library of a coin dealer specializing in ancient and foreign coins. While it features many of the great multi-volume standard works on ancient coins and a number of classic works on that topic in excellent condition and from famous libraries, it is also quite diverse. Over twenty different consignments make up the balance of the sale. Among them are modern key works on Eastern European numismatics, classic works on Latin American coins, interesting photographic oddments from the Jack Collins archives, and important American numismatic works from the library of noted colonial coin collector, George C. Perkins.


Sale highlights include:



Georges Le Rider’s copies of Svoronos on the coins of the Ptolemies, Babelon on Syria and on Persia, and Newell on Eastern and Western Seleucid mints
 A fine original set of Tolstoï’s Monnaies Byzantines
 Complete sets of BMC Greek, Roman Provincial Coinage, Davenport on crowns and talers, Duruy on Rome and Greece, Hahn’s Moneta Imperia Byzantine, a finely bound set of de Saulcy’s 1836 work on Byzantine coins, a complete set of the Typos monographs, etc.
 Sheridan Downey’s 1993 Overton sale and Downey sales 10–26
 Official copies of Leonard Holland’s 1959 Pennypacker large cent sale documentation
 An original 1957 duplicated typescript contract of the sale of the George Mihailovitch collection of Russian coins and medals between Abe Kosoff and Sol Kaplan
 An attractive original set of the Vidal Quadras y Ramón Collection
 Hirsch’s 1909 Consul Weber Roman sale and a fine copy of the famous 1896 Montagu sale of Roman gold coins
 Spink & Son’s Monthly Numismatic Circular, 1892–1939 complete
 A long run of Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum volumes
 First printings of the 1813 and 1814 U.S. Mint Reports and an 1813 Treasury Department report on the Mint
 A finely bound 1903 Sammlung Bachofen von Echt, featuring Roman coins and medallions
 Walker on Umayyad and Arab-Byzantine coins
 George Perkins’s original plated 1907 Stickney and 1912 Earle Chapman sales
 Spahr’s works on Sicilian coins
 A rare 1980s Narodna Bank Belgrade guide to counterfeit and genuine world paper money
 John E. Wilkison’s leatherbound 1954 King Farouk sale
 A remarkable archive of numismatic Heeren Brothers materials
 Original sets of Dasí and Herrera on eight reales
 Nice runs of Bolender, Elder, Haseltine, Bowers, and Pine Tree auction sale catalogues
 An original 1875 Crosby Early Coins of America with the 1873, title, introduction, and other rare materials bound in
 A complete set of Lester Merkin sales
 A nice run of 85 early Stack’s auction sale catalogues, 1935–1952
 George Perkins’s own copy of the special limited edition of his collection of Connecticut coppers
 A rare first printing Heath counterfeit detector
 A near fine first edition, first printing Yeoman Red Book
 A priced and named 1932 Giovanni P. Morosini sale of Italian and other rare gold coins
 And much more



A printed catalogue may be obtained by sending $10 to: KOLBE & FANNING NUMISMATIC BOOKSELLERS LLC, 141 W JOHNSTOWN ROAD, GAHANNA OH 43230-2700. The catalogue is also accessible free of charge on the Kolbe & Fanning website at www.numislit.com.


The firm’s website has been recently upgraded and modernized and will debut in early August. The site will feature easy payment options and a substantial listing of numismatic literature available for outright sale, which will be augmented on a regular basis.




KOLBE & FANNING WEB SITE UPDATED




George Kolbe forwarded this announcement about the newly updated Kolbe & Fanning web site.
-Editor








After months of planning and work, Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers LLC are pleased to unveil their new and improved website. Numismatic researchers and bibliophiles are invited to visit 

www.numislit.com
 
and review new and enhanced features, including:




An online, illustrated catalogue of rare and desirable numismatic works available for immediate sale, which will be added to regularly

The ability to conduct sophisticated searches for wanted titles or browse particular categories

The ability to place orders online and to pay by credit card or by PayPal (as well as the ability to hold items for payment by check)

Our latest mail-bid or public auction catalogue in PDF format

Press releases and other Kolbe & Fanning announcements

Information on consignments, a glossary of book terms and other material.



The new and improved website is managed by Bibliopolis, perhaps the premier firm providing e-commerce website services to hundreds of antiquarian booksellers in the United States and elsewhere. Among its many renowned clients are Argosy Bookstore, William Reese Company, and the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America.


At the moment, a bit more than 400 titles are available for sale from the site. Kolbe & Fanning intends to add to this list on a regular basis, making available for immediate purchase a wide variety of numismatic titles. Kolbe & Fanning handles numismatic books from all periods and in all languages, spanning the entire field of numismatic literature. Come see what we have to offer. 



David Fanning adds:


If you go to numislit.com and find the old site, your computer is probably using a cached copy and you simply need to reload the page to see the updated site.





E-SYLUM'S BEST: INTERNET BOOK AUCTION



Joel Orosz writes:


Vol 1, No 4, September 24, 1998, “Internet Book Auction”

This reminded me just how venerable The E-Sylum is, for note how the editor felt constrained to explain—back in the cradle age of the Internet—just what e-bay might be!



    Longtime NBS member and colonial coin researcher 
    Dan Freidus has several items of numismatic literature 
    (mostly American) on sale at the ebay internet auction  
    site.  Write to him at freidus at wwnet.com for more  
    information.



There were only five short articles in that issue.  Talk about starting small!
-Editor



To read the complete original E-Sylum article, see:

INTERNET BOOK AUCTION

(coinbooks.org/esylum_v01n04a04.html)



E-SYLUM'S BEST: HOW MANY DIFFERENT MINT BUILDINGS?”



Joel Orosz writes:


Vol 13, No 24, June 13, 2010, “Quiz Answer:  How Many Different Mint Buildings?”

The E-Sylum at its best, aggregating the knowledge from its more than 1000 subscribers in order to answer a deceptively difficult question.








Mark Borckardt writes:


That was a great question, and it is subject to interpretation. Here is my answer, even though the actual buildings were not authorized by the U.S., in a couple cases.


1. First Philadelphia Mint 
2. Second Philadelphia Mint 
3. Third Philadelphia Mint 
4. Fourth Philadelphia Mint 
5. Denver Mint 
6. First San Francisco Mint (beginning in 1854) 
7. Second San Francisco Mint 
8. Third San Francisco Mint 
9. West Point Mint 
10. Charlotte Mint 
11. Dahlonega Mint 
12. New Orleans Mint 
13. Carson City Mint 
14. The Dalles, Oregon 
15. The Denver Mint of Clark, Gruber was intended to be operated as a United States Mint, although the government produced no actual coins at that facility. 
16. The U.S. Assay Office in San Francisco, operated by Augustus Humbert absolutely qualifies 
17. The “Fugio” Mint where the 1787 Fugio cents were produced.


I have attached illustrations of 16 of those 17 listed. The combination of "building facilities" and "authorized" pose the challenge. Does that mean "authorized to build," or "authorized to occupy?"


For example, the San Francisco Assay Office occupied by Augustus Humbert when the US Assay gold coins were produced may have been a previous structure that the government authorized Humbert to occupy, rather than a new building constructed for the purpose.


Also, we could add "Harper's cellar" to the list for the 1792 half dismes, if that is where they were struck. Then there are the Nova Constellatio patterns. Continental dollars (or whatever they are) could also be included.


If the Charlotte Mint burned down before coinage began (and I have never heard of that before) was rebuilt, was it also reauthorized? If not, then it doesn't count as two, only as one. The only southern mint that burned down, to the best of my knowledge, was Dahlonega, but that was long after coinage ended.


Click here to view all of Mark's U.S. Mint building illustrations on our Flickr archive (Many thanks to Mark and also to John Salyer for uploading these): 

www.flickr.com/photos/coinbooks/sets/72157624261506804/










These types of articles are the hardest to edit, but often the most satisfying and productive.
It really is amazing how much knowledge E-Sylum readers have, and it is a pleasure to act as a clearinghouse for settling interesting and difficult questions.
-Editor



To read the complete original E-Sylum article, see:

QUIZ ANSWER: HOW MANY DIFFERENT U.S. MINT BUILDINGS?

(coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n24a12.html)




E-SYLUM'S BEST: DICK JOHNSON ON ELECTROTYPES



Joel Orosz writes:


Vol 11, No 36, September 7, 2008, “Dick Johnson on Electrotypes”

Another wonderful function of The E-Sylum, providing a forum for an expert to provide a plain-English explanation of an abstruse topic.








Jonathan was particularly concerned about the wax coating on this piece. He said "I've shown these to several people, and nobody seems to know what to make of them." This is understandable. Electroforming, the electrolysis process, and even electrotypes are one of the least understood concepts of all numismatics. This is why I have joined with numismatist John Kraljevich in the preparation of a monograph on the subject, Electrogalvanic Casting In Numismatics. This has been mentioned previously in E-Sylum (vol 9, no 44, art 19, October 29, 2006).


This was mentioned prior to the publication of one of the few (and best!) articles on the subject. Red Book guru Kenneth Bressett wrote "The Nature and Use of Electrotype Reproductions" which appeared in the now defunct ANA Journal, spring issue 2007. Well worth obtaining that issue for reading that article alone. 


An electrogalvanic mold is the pattern for casting electrotypes or galvanos. The pattern can be most any composition. The U.S. Mint was using iron in the 1850s; the British Royal Mint was using iron as late as 1886. But the pattern can be plaster, any other metal, or even carved wood (the later has to be specially treated to close all the tiny pores in the wood). A wax pattern is usually cast in plaster before it is used in the electrogalvanic process. 


The pattern must be specially prepared: (1) the surface to be reproduced is coated with bronze power to make it electrically conductive -- this also acts as a release agent to remove the casting afterwards; (2) it is wired, two copper wires are attached to the pattern's surface to carry the electric current to a bus bar above the tank where the electrolysis takes place, these also support the pattern and its galvanic casting while it is in the tank; and (3) the area where no deposition is to take place is coated with wax, this is a stop-off (the British call this a resist). 


The wax on Jonathan's electroform is this resistant material still intact. It covers the entire back, and the portion of the front, the flange, where no metal is to be deposited. If this were not done the metal would deposit on both sides, all around and entomb the desired electroform. 


The wired and prepared pattern is immersed in an electrolyte solution in the tank. This solution is slightly acidic but also contains cyanide. Electrotypers have experimented for decades to replace the deadly cyanide, but found it is best to use in electrolysis. The solution must also contain ions of the metal to be deposited. Most metals can be electroformed. In numismatics it is the same as coinage metals, gold, silver, copper. The process is the same as goldplating, silverplating, copperplating. (Other metals are plated in the jewelry field, or even chromium plating in industry.)


A tank large enough to contain the suspended pattern contains the electrolyte solution. It also must have anodes present. If you are creating a copper electrotype, you must have several pure copper anodes suspended in the solution as well. Separate tanks for each metal. The anodes are sacrificial -- they wear away like a bar of soap -- ions of the copper in the anode pass into the solution and deposit on the pattern's treated surface, this is the cathode, when the electric current is turned on.


The current must be a low voltage direct current and must form a complete circuit. A rectifier converts AC current to DC and is wired to bars from which the anodes are suspended. The current passes into the anodes then into the solution, onto the cathode pattern, up the copper wires to the bus bar and back to the rectifier. Circuit completed. 


It is fun to watch gold or silverplating. It changes the color of the anodic metal in about 15 seconds. But usually it requires about three days to deposit enough metal, say a 1/16th inch, to give the electroform enough strength so it won't malform. This form is also called a galvano. After that time the ensemble of pattern and electroform are removed from the tank. 


They are separated. If any opening is found a screwdriver is inserted between the mold and the cast galvano. It is pried open a little more. The electrotypers' trick of the trade is applied. Compressed air is blown into this opening and the two snap apart. 


Jonathan's electroform is negative. As a negative mold it makes a positive cast.. (Casting always reverses polarity.) His photo shows a hanger. This was not used in the electrolysis process; it was intended to hang on a wall. How much more realistic to have the original two copper wires intact. 


If Jonathan can prove the provenance of this piece back to Pinches, it may have been the original one Pinches used in 1849 to make the first Waterloo Medals. However, once you have one of these medals anyone with electroforming equipment and the required skill could copy it by creating the pattern for casting these medals anew. Unlike foundry casts, however, subsequent electroformed castings do not shrink, they are the exact same size as the original, so size is not a diagnostic. 


Operating a successful electrolysis is not easy. There are a many variables, chemical composition, pH, temperature, placement of the pattern in relation to the anodes, the electric circuit, the ionic balance. It takes considerable skill. That is why you will not find many electroformed copies. 


Possibly Jonathan's pattern could have been made in the United States. It could have been made by one of the New England silverware firms (1850s) or by New York City electrotyper Samuel H. Black as early as 1859. Or by a specialized electroforming firm as early as 1884. We have a list of a dozen American electrotypers and are compiling the known electrotypes they made. 


The most important thing you should remember about electroforming -- it replicates minute detail. In comparison with other methods of making numismatic items: foundry casting reproduces detail down to 1/100 of an inch, die striking reproduces detail down to 1/1000th of an inch, but electroforming reproduces detail down to the width of an atom!



Dick Johnson is a regular fixture in The E-Sylum, providing some content for nearly every issue.  Some of his items are among my favorites as well.   Few people in numismatics today have the depth of knowledge and experience at his level.  It is a pleasure to be able to pass some of his wisdom on to a new generation of numismatists.
-Editor



To read the complete original E-Sylum article, see:

DICK JOHNSON ON ELECTROTYPES

(coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n36a17.html)




 ANNOUNCING KOLBE & FANNING’S SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 SALE


The 112–page, 1401–lot Catalogue Comprises 
A Large, Interesting and Diverse Sale, Featuring


MANY RARE AND DESIRABLE WORKS ON AMERICAN NUMISMATICS
THE IMPORTANT LIBRARY OF AN AMERICAN COIN DEALER
SPECIALIZING IN ANCIENT AND FOREIGN COINS
ALSO, LATIN AMERICAN AND VARIOUS OTHER CLASSIC WORKS


Catalogue Available soon at Our Web Site: www.numislit.com
Printed Catalogues $10.00


KOLBE & FANNING NUMISMATIC BOOKSELLERS
141 W JOHNSTOWN ROAD, GAHANNA OH 43230-2700
(614) 414-0855 • df at numislit.com • 
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