The E-Sylum v15#12 March 18, 2012

Sun Mar 18 18:34:28 PDT 2012

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The E-Sylum

  An electronic publication of
  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

Volume , Number 12, March 18, 2012
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM MARCH 18, 2012
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THE NUMISMATIC BOOKIE HIGHLIGHTS THE ASYLUM
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KOLBE & FANNING LAUNCH FACEBOOK PAGE 
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NEW BOOK: ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF BULGARIAN MEDIEVAL COINAGE
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BOOK REVIEW: ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO INVESTING IN PRECIOUS METALS
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ARE DOG LICENSE TAGS PARANUMISMATIC?
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QUERY: HUNT BOOKS ON WWII PHILIPPINE EMERGENCY CURRENCY
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QUIZ ANSWERS: WHO ARE THESE 1930S NUMISMATISTS?
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HARVEY STACK REMEMBERS: THE STACK'S STOREFRONT LOCATIONS
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QUERY: EAGLE ENGRAVING & STAMPING INFORMATION SOUGHT
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A COUNTERFEIT SUSAN B. ANTHONY DOLLAR
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WAYNE'S NOT-SO-NUMISMATIC DIARY: MARCH 18, 2012
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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MARCH 18, 2012
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MORE ON MATTHEW HINCMAN'S TOKENS
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QUIZ ANSWER: MANSHIP'S KULTUR IN BELGIUM MEDAL
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CARPATHIA MEDALS FOR TITANIC RESCUES OFFERED
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MORE ON BRONX COIN CLUB MEDALS
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ON BRASS, BRONZE, AND GOLDENE 
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MORE ON HANK SPANGENBERGER 
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MORE ON THE STOLEN LIBYAN COIN HOARD
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SOME SWEDES ADVOCATE ELIMINATING CASH
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COUNTERFEITERS TARGET GIRL SCOUTS
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BANK OF ENGLAND HALTS SALE OF BANKNOTE TISSUES
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BOOKS AS ART: THE BEINECKE RARE BOOK LIBRARY 
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BREWSTER KAHLE'S ARK FULL OF BOOKS
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FEATURED WEB PAGE: BIRTH OR BABY COINS AND SETS
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Click here to read this issue on the web

To comment or submit articles, reply to 
whomren at gmail.com

WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM MARCH 18, 2012

New members this week include 
Jay Knipe, 
L. Melamed, 
John Lorenzo and
Marc Mayhugh.
Welcome aboard!
We have 1,523 email subscribers, plus 173 followers on Facebook.

This week we open with an excerpt from Joel Orosz' latest Numismatic Bookie column and a note from Kolbe & Fanning.  Next up are a new book announcement, and a  review of a new book from David Ganz.

Other topics include WWII Philippine emergency currency, an early Victor David Brenner medal, counterfeit Susan B. Anthony dollars, and the tokens of artist Matthew Hincman.

To learn more about Stack's storefront locations over the years, Leopold  the Hogmouth, the Queen of the Island of California,  the copper coprophagist,  Admiral Vernon's paludamentum and Brewster Kahle's Ark full of books, read on.
Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren 
(whomren at gmail.com)
 Numismatic Bibliomania Society

THE NUMISMATIC BOOKIE HIGHLIGHTS THE ASYLUM

In his "Numismatic Bookie" column in the March 26, 2012 issue of Coin World, Joel Orosz takes a look at our print publication, The Asylum.
Here's an excerpt.
-Editor

Typing “The Asylum” into an Internet search engine will provide many different results. One link, however, excites the numismatic literature lover, for The Asylum is also the official journal of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.

As the wry name implies, it is a refuge for coin literature nuts. How nuts? Consider the “coprophagist” controversy. In the Fall-Winter 1980 issue, Walter Breen contributed “A Review of the Half Cent Literature,” which, editor Jack Collins noted, did not discuss any literature created after 1966. In the next issue, Roger Cohen, the author of American Half Cents: The Little Half Sisters, charged that Breen’s article did cover half cent literature published after 1966, but not his book, which he accused Breen of ignoring. Cohen then blasted Collins as “a liar and a bigot,” and concluded: “The editor belongs to the depths. He should be there also as a coprophagist.” (I would define “coprophagist,” but Coin World is a family-friendly publication.) Breen responded that he had edited his article in 1972, before Cohen’s book was published. Collins’ response was more concise: “In my opinion, American Half Cents is what a coprophagist would wrap his lunch in.”

Usually, The Asylum’s fireworks do not require consulting a dictionary. When in 1994 Charles Davis referred to a column written by the American Numismatic Association’s president as “one of the more nauseating articles we have read recently,” the antipathy was unmistakable.

The Asylum has just completed its 29th volume, under the talented editorship of David Yoon. How talented? John W. Adams once described an Adm. Vernon medal in which the admiral was wearing a toga. Yoon corrected “toga” to “paludamentum.”

The Asylum is one of the best bargains in numismatics, with a yearly NBS membership for $15 (www.coinbooks.org).

To read the complete article, see:

Literary barroom brawling: Wild times in The Asylum

(www.coinworld.com/articles/literary-barroom-brawling/)

KOLBE & FANNING LAUNCH FACEBOOK PAGE 

David Fanning forwarded this note about the new Kolbe & Fanning Facebook page.
-Editor

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers are encouraging anyone interested in numismatic literature to follow them on Facebook. The firm's Facebook page carries announcements and news regarding their activities, as well as photos, quizzes (with prizes!) and other fun tidbits. The following link should take you directly to their page: 

www.facebook.com/pages/Kolbe-Fanning-Numismatic-Booksellers/152204408141576?ref=mf
. Or simply search for "Kolbe & Fanning" on Facebook.

NEW BOOK: ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF BULGARIAN MEDIEVAL COINAGE

Coins Weekly published this note in their March 15 issue about a new book on Medieval Bulgarian Coinage.
-Editor

Vladimir Ovtcharov has published a new book on “Archaeometric analysis of Bulgarian Medieval coinage” as volume X in the series “Coinage and Coin Circulation on the Balkans” (CCCB).

Vladimir Ovtcharov, Coinage and Coin Circulation on the Balkans, Archaeometric analysis of Bulgarian Medieval coinage vol 10, 2011, 88 pages, color montages and catalog. ISBN: 9789548761871. 15 Euro.

Contents:

Average metal contents of Bulgarian coinage

Archeometric analysis of Bulgarian Medieval silver and copper coinage

Silver coinage

Copper coinage

Major trace elements

Additional analysis of Serbian and Tatar silver coins

Rulers from the period of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom

Catalogue of the main coin mintages

Bilingual: English / Bulgarian

If you are interested in the book, please contact directly the author (

vl.ovtcharov at yahoo.com
).

To read the complete article, see:

New book on Bulgarian Medieval Coinage

(www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/4?&id=1085)

BOOK REVIEW: ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO INVESTING IN PRECIOUS METALS

The Essential Guide to Investing in Precious Metals by David L. Ganz is aimed at a general audience interested in adding gold, silver and other precious metals to an investment portfolio.  While it's not directly numismatic, there are several parts collectors can relate to.

It's illustrated with plenty of charts and tables, but there's plenty of eye candy as well - gold, silver and platinum coins and bullion pieces, and the $7.59 million 1933 Double Eagle.

I'll stick to the numismatic parts.  The chapter on the History of Buying U.S. Gold Bullion Coins discusses the collections of Harold Bareford, Lou Eliasberg and John Pittman.    Many of the gold coins purchased by these gentlemen, even rarities, were at relatively small markups over the price of gold at the time.   On p100 is a nice chart of several of John Pittman's purchases, most of which were at under $70 per ounce.  Many of these coins ultimately sold for a hundred times Pittman's initial investment. 

The table also shows Pittman's compound interest rate on these purchases, which interestingly was only in the 9-12% range.   The investment performance of these coins is less impressive when viewed in that light, yet it's a powerful statement on the wonders of compound interest.  An 1858 $20 gold piece Pittman purchased in 1949 at $60 grew at a compound rate of 12% annually - realizing a comparatively astounding $14,300 when Pittman's collection was sold in 1997-1999.

One aspect of the book took me aback a bit, though.  There is a two-page ad for AMPEX at the beginning.   There is also a two-page ad for Krause Publications at the back, nothing unusual.   Throughout the book, references to prices are based on values from AMPEX, and the web site, www.AMPEX.com is referenced repeatedly.   Again, not unusual.  But in Chapter 14 "Where to Buy Gold and Precious Metals" Ganz writes: "Since AMPEX (www.AMPEX.com) is one of the largest and most successful Internet retailers, I have constructed the tables of comparison using AMPEX as compared to other coin dealers, whether over-the-counter of telemarketers."   The remainder of the chapter consists of six tables with titles such as "Comparison of Convenience of AMPEX to Other Dealers" and "Comparison of Pricing of AMPEX to Other Dealers".

Did I mention that AMPEX and www.AMPEX.com is on the cover of the book, bigger than the author's name?  That should have been my first clue.   A more accurate title would be "The AMPEX Guide to Investing In Precious Metals."

But other than that jarring promotional stuff, the text is actually very usable and readable, another thorough effort from David Ganz.   While not written with numismatists in mind it nevertheless presents a fair and favorable view of the numismatic hobby in the context of precious metal investment.

For more information or to order, see:

www.krausebooks.com/product/the-essential-guide-to-investing-in-precious-metals/new

ARE DOG LICENSE TAGS PARANUMISMATIC?

In an earlier E-Sylum article we discussed dog license tags and whether they should be considered exonumia.  I also asked, "How do our paranumismatists on the other side of the pond classify such items? Are they considered paranumismatic?"

Pete Smith and Peter Irion of the Token and Medal Society forwarded this note from Bob Lyall, who saw my question reprinted in my TAMS Journal column.  Thanks 
-Editor

Bob Lyall writes:

We Brits (plus several American stalwarts) have had an annual token congress for some 30+ years now with an auction, a bourse and lots of talks, both short and not so short, but to the best of my memory, never has a talk ever broached the subject of dog licence discs.  This may well be because dogs have not been subject to licensing for many years in Britain, I seem to recall my mother had to license the 2 dogs she had when I was a boy, 50+ years ago, but never recall seeing any relevant disc, I think she had a paper certificate.

But, in my little book on Malta tokens I include dog license disks and illustrate 4 whilst listing details for some 20 years between 1941 and 1975 - subsequently I have found a few more, one as early as 1924.  In the West Indies there were (are?) license discs for dogs in St Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, the Caymans, Jamaica and I have a rabies inoculation disc from Turks and Caicos and another from Belize (one time British Honduras).  I've never searched them out particularly, so there are probably lots to be found.  

In addition, there were license discs for the likes of porters in St Kitts and shoe blacks and ferrymen in Malta.  None of these themes have ever, to my knowledge, been a part of paranumismatic interests, but in contrast, in various African countries and in New Guinea (Pacific island north of Australia) hut tax tokens were an annual "thing" in the first 30 years of the 20th century, Rhodesian ones are probably the commonest and these are catalogued by Hern with Southern African tokens (all be it at values I think are extraordinary, but who am I to adjudge South African token values).  New Guinea ones were catalogued by Bill Mira together with coins and tokens.

So, beauty is in the eye of the beholder surely - if you want to include tax / license discs with your token collection, then just do it!  I sit on the fence and have a few but not a comprehensive collection so you can sling mud at me from both directions!!

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

ARE DOG LICENSE TAGS EXONUMIA?

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n02a09.html)

QUERY: HUNT BOOKS ON WWII PHILIPPINE EMERGENCY CURRENCY

Ken Berger (
kjberger at juno.com
) forwarded this request - can anyone answer his question?
-Editor

I am presently performing research on the various counterstamps which appear on Philippine guerrilla notes in general, and on the 1941 One Peso Cebu note in particular. I am attempting to compile a detailed list of the municipalities which used counterstamps. With respect to the 1941 One Peso Cebu note, I am also compiling a list of the dates the counterstamps were used and a geographical distribution. 

An author who wrote about Philippine guerrilla notes and lightly touched upon the counterstamps is John M. Hunt. He self-published in the Philippines a number of books/monographs on Philippine guerrilla notes, including "World War II Emergency Currency for Mountain Province" and "Caveat Emptor." Does anybody know of any other books/monographs he published and, if so, where they may be obtained?

 BRONX COIN CLUB MEDALS WANTED
 Contact William Marquis at 
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To join, print the application and return it with your check
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