The E-Sylum v16#14 April 7, 2013

Sun Apr 7 19:07:54 PDT 2013

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The E-Sylum

  An electronic publication of
  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

Volume 16, Number 14, April 7, 2013
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM APRIL 7, 2013
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KOLBE & FANNING BUY OR BID SALE ENDS APRIL 25
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NEW BOOK: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT GREEK NUMISMATICS
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NEW BOOK: THE ARISTOCRAT: THE STORY OF THE 1793 SHELDON 15
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NEW BOOK: QUICKFINDER FOR VARIETIES OF U.S HALF CENTS, 2ND EDITION
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NEW BOOK: CARTWHEEL - A SEQUEL TO DOUBLE EAGLE
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BOOK REVIEW: JOURNAL OF NUMISMATIC RESEARCH, SPRING 2013
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BOOK REVIEW: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF U.S. SILVER DOLLARS 1794 – 1804
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THOUGHTS ON CLUB MEMBERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION
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QUERY: JOHN WORK GARRETT SENATORIAL RACE INFO SOUGHT
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THE UNIQUE COIN HOLDER 
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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 7, 2013
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MORE ON POLITICS AND NUMISMATICS
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KARL GOETZ ORIGINAL DIES AND HUBS OFFERED BY HERITAGE
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QUERY: COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION TREASURY DEPARTMENT EXHIBITS INFO SOUGHT
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THE U.S. MINT'S LASER FROSTING TECHNIQUES
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ARE WATCHFOBS NUMISMATIC?
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ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS HIGLEY COPPERS
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IRELAND'S NEW 10 EURO JAMES JOYCE COIN
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1934 ARTHUR HENDERSON NOBEL PRIZE MEDAL STOLEN
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THE MAY 27, 2013 RAPP COIN AUCTION
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DAWSON LEWIS, MEDIEVAL MONEYER OF PIERRE, SD
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ROSARIO SHIPWRECK SITE YIELDS SILVER COINS AND GOLD BARS
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HOW MUCH GOLD IS THERE IN THE WORLD?
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KING OFFA'S PENNY
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WON PARK, MASTER OF MONEY ORIGAMI
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FEATURED WEB PAGE: DAMNATIO MEMORIAE
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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 APRIL 7, 2013

New subscribers this week include 
Bagrat Sahakyan and
Jason Sohigian.
Welcome aboard!
We have 1,640 email subscribers, plus 222 followers on Facebook.

This week we open with word of the second Buy of Bid sale from numismatic literature dealers Kolbe & Fanning, FOUR new books and two reviews.  Next up are thoughts on our recent survey and club membership in general, and an interesting item relating to numismatist John Work Garrett.

Other topics this week include the Unique Coin Holder, Karl Goetz medal dies, the 1964-D Peace dollar, the U.S. Treasury's exhibits at the Columbian Exposition, Higley coppers, damnatio memoriae, and the medieval moneyer of Pierre, South Dakota.

To learn more about watchfobs, coins of the Holy Roman Empire,
four-fingered Roman coiners, King Offa's penny, and why striking coins is like eating potato chips, read on.   Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

KOLBE & FANNING BUY OR BID SALE ENDS APRIL 25

David Fanning forwarded this announcement of Kolbe & Fanning's second Buy or Bid sale.  Thanks!
-Editor

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers have announced their second annual “Buy or Bid Sale,” which will close on Thursday, April 25. The sale is designed to sell hundreds of lots cheaply, giving collectors an opportunity to add to their libraries at inexpensive prices.

The sale is online only: there will be no printed catalogue. The PDF catalogue is available now for downloading from the Kolbe & Fanning website at 
www.numislit.com.

As the name of the sale suggests, customers may bid on items they wish to acquire or buy them outright at the published price. The Terms of Sale will give full instructions on how to participate: please read it carefully.

The sale includes over 500 works on ancient, medieval and modern coins, as well as general works, periodicals and sale catalogues. “Buy” prices have been kept low to promote sales. To further encourage participation, the firm is offering free postage to addresses in the U.S. for bidders spending at least $500; there will also be no packing and processing fee for this sale. Again, please read the Terms of Sale before participating.

If you have any questions about the sale, please write to David Fanning at 

df at numislit.com. He can also be reached at (614) 414-0855.

Thank you in advance for your participation. Download the sale today: 

www.numislit.com.

To read the complete article, see:

()

NEW BOOK: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT GREEK NUMISMATICS

Bill Daehn forwarded this announcement of  the upcoming publication of his new book, Annotated Bibliography of Ancient Greek Numismatics. Congratulations!
-Editor

CNG takes pleasure in announcing this upcoming publication. Advance orders are now being accepted. Delivery is expect in early May. This book is being printed in a limited edition of 250 copies only. It is essential for all dealer’s libraries as well as numismatic scholars and serious collectors of Greek coins.

Daehn's book is the standard bibliography on all aspects of Greek coinage. It is a significant expansion of the first edition of his book, as it includes works in all languages, not just English.

Daehn, William E., Annotated Bibliography of Ancient Greek Numismatics. 2013. Lancaster, PA. 600 numbered pp. Hardbound. (GR). (GR351) $175.00

 In 2001, William E. Daehn published Ancient Greek Numismatics – A Guide to Reading and Research. A Bibliography of Works Written in English with Summaries of Their Contents. This book has remained an important research tool for the numismatist of Ancient Greek numismatics, since the author included content summaries with each bibliographic reference. Its major drawback, however, has been that the book was limited to citing only English language works, at the exclusion of the rich literature on the subject in non-English. Recognizing the need to include non-English language works into the bibliography, he has been doing so since 2001. The result is the Annotated Bibliography of Ancient Greek Numismatics.

The arrangement of this book is fairly straightforward. Beginning with general references, it then proceeds to works on special aspects of Greek numismatics, and then specific geographic areas. This latter section follows the arrangement traditionally used by catalogers of Greek coinage, moving clockwise around the Mediterranean. Each section or subsection is alphabetical by author, and chronological when an individual author has written two or more works on the same subject. Critical reviews are noted where necessary, and reprints of the same article, as well as the publication country of foreign journals, are noted where applicable. Like Clain-Stefanelli, each entry has been assigned an index number, and a concordance to Clain-Stefanelli is also included. Indexes specifically of authors, reviewers, and collectors and collections, as well as indexes of cities, districts, kingdoms, and tribes, are located at the end of the book.

The most important feature of this book (as well as that of the previous one) is the inclusion of a brief synopsis of the entry’s contents and main conclusions, which allows the researcher and the collector to efficiently conduct their research and supplementary reading. Many of the entries are by the author; those from elsewhere are referenced to their appropriate source.

For more information or to order: 

http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=230396

NEW BOOK: THE ARISTOCRAT: THE STORY OF THE 1793 SHELDON 15

Jim Neiswinter submitted this announcement of his new book on the 1793 S-15 Large Cent.  Congratulations!  The book is 118 pages and was edited by David Yoon.  It will be released May 2, 2013 at the Early American Coppers convention in Columbus, OH.  Look for ordering details in the upcoming issue of the EAC's club publication, Penny Wise.
-Editor

The Aristocrat:
The Story of the 1793 Sheldon 15

This is a rather specialized book. It is
about just one of the more than 300
known varieties of early United States
cents, which were coined between 1793
and 1814. It is the second-rarest “collectible”
variety in the series, with only
twelve known. 

When coin collecting
took off in this country in 1857, the cents
of 1793 were considered the most important
of the entire series. This particular
variety was designated “Sheldon 15” by
Dr. William Sheldon in his classic work
Early American Cents in 1949. In his 1958
revision of this work, Penny Whimsy, he
referred to this variety as “The Aristocrat”
because of its rarity and importance.

I acquired my S15 from Kagin’s sale of
the Philip Van Cleave collection in 1986.
This cent was the discovery coin for the
variety, discovered by Sylvester S. Crosby
around 1868. Crosby, famous for his epic
work on colonial coins, The Early Coins
of America, published in 1873, also had a
significant interest in the cents of 1793.
He wrote the descriptions of the varieties
of the 1793 cents that were photographed
for Joseph N. T. Levick’s plate
of 1793 cents that was published in the
April 1869 issue of the American Journal
of Numismatics. 

Both the obverse and
the reverse of my S15 are pictured on
Levick’s plate. In 1897 Crosby published
a monograph on the topic, The United
States Coinage of 1793—Cents and Half
Cents. This book is so complete that only
one new variety of 1793 has been discovered
since its publication, and this only
occurred eighty years later.

My motivation for this book began
with the pedigree information that was
written in the description of lot 5017 in
the Kagin catalogue. Most of it came
from Dorothy Paschal, a previous owner
and “very good friend” of Dr. Sheldon. I
found that the majority of this information
was incorrect. 

This got me started on
trying to find out about the true provenance
of this cent. It then escalated into
finding the auction appearances of all
S15’s. I started collecting every catalogue
I could find that had an S15. The Dan
Holmes sale in 2009 was the twenty-ninth
appearance of this variety since its
first in 1880.

I think I have written the type of
book that I have always wanted to read.
It includes the history, folklore, and stories
on this rare variety of 1793 cent, and
just as Crosby did in 1897, I am publishing
it in an edition of 200 copies
(However, unlike Crosby's book, it will cost more than $2.00).

I'm looking forward to reading Jim's book.  I love one-coin books!   You can't get more specialized than that.  And it sounds like there is plenty to interest numismatic bibliophiles as well as collectors.
-Editor

NEW BOOK: QUICKFINDER FOR VARIETIES OF U.S HALF CENTS, 2ND EDITION

Greg Heim forwarded this announcement of the new edition of his book on U.S. Half Cent varieties.
-Editor

The second edition of "A Quickfinder For Attributing Varieties of Business Strike United States Half Cents:  1793-1857" is now in stock!

Shipping for all prepaid orders, and all orders thereafter will commence the week of April 8, 2013.

The booklet is in color. It contains 44, streamlined pages in a 5.5 X 8.5 format printed on quality white paper stock, and it is spiral bound so it will lie flat. 

My "Quickfinder" method enables those with limited experience to attribute varieties and die marriages of early type easier and more efficiently.

Copies are $15.00 + $2.50 shipping and handling. If you wish to pay by Paypal, and/or you are interested in purchasing multiple copies, please send me an e-mail at 

gregheim at njcoinbuyer.com. Please make all checks payable to GREGORY S. HEIM, LLC., PO Box 277, South Plainfield, NJ 07080-0277.

NEW BOOK: CARTWHEEL - A SEQUEL TO DOUBLE EAGLE

Fiction author Sneed B. Collard III has written a book revolving around the enigmatic 1964-D Peace dollar.  The following is an excerpt from an Opinion piece in the April 15, 2013 issue of Coin World.
-Editor

Even after the success of my mystery-thriller, Double Eagle (Peachtree, 2009), I knew I would never write a sequel. Double Eagle follows two 13-year-old boys, Mike and Kyle, as they search for a hoard of Confederate 1861 gold $20 pieces in a Civil War fort in southern Alabama. At the end of the book, the boys part ways, each with one of the coins in his pocket. Although readers demanded a sequel, the improbability of repeating such a numismatic adventure kept me from a second book — until another irresistible premise crossed my desk.

I thank Daniel Carr for fueling my interest in the 1964-D Peace dollar. Until he minted his controversial fantasy version of the coin, I’d never unearthed its history. Once I learned that the Denver Mint had produced more than a quarter million 1964-D silver dollars and then melted them down again, however, I knew that I had to reunite Mike and Kyle.

Although the two central characters remain the same, Double Eagle and Cartwheel travel much different storylines. In Cartwheel, Mike and Kyle look for a coin that really did — and probably still does — exist, instead of a coin that I made up. I also raised the stakes for the two boys. Now, the boys have to find the coin to extract themselves from a disastrous situation. Finally, the book spans much greater geographical and historical territory — territory I naturally had to research in depth.

Research, in fact, has always been one of my favorite aspects of writing both fiction and nonfiction. To research Cartwheel, I traveled to the Denver Mint to get a personalized tour of the facility. I met with Dan Carr to see the amazing coin press he restored. I also corresponded with Michael Lanz, who actually helped mint the Peace dollars in May, 1965. All of this helped feed my own interests in numismatics — interests I’ve nurtured since poring through my parents’ beer stein full of Walking Liberty half dollars and Winged Liberty Head dimes as a child.

To read the complete article, see:

Using the 1964-D Peace dollar to mint a new thriller novel

(www.coinworld.com/Articles/ViewArticle/using-the-1964-d-peace-dollar-to-mint-a-new-t)

 THE BOOK BAZARRE
Pictures From a Distant Country: Seeing America Through Old Paper Money. Join the Smithsonian’s Richard Doty in his engaging exploration of obsolete paper money—a beautiful gift for a collector, and a welcome addition to your own library. Hardcover, 296 pages, richly illustrated in full color. $24.95 at

Whitman.com or call 800-546-2995.

BOOK REVIEW: JOURNAL OF NUMISMATIC RESEARCH, SPRING 2013

With permission, republished below is  Len Augsburger's review of the latest issue of Roger Burdette's  Journal of Numismatic Research from the April 2013 issue of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club's electronic newsletter, The E-Gobrecht.
-Editor

This month we review the
latest edition of Roger
Burdette's Journal of Numismatic
Research. The
current issue, Spring 2013,
is dedicated to Franklin
Peale's technical contributions to the U.S. Mint. By
way of background, Peale was employed by the Mint
from 1833 to 1854, and served as chief coiner from
1839 until the end of his employment. 

Peale's first assignment
at the Mint was to survey the European Mints
for technological advances, and for this he was dispatched
on a two-year journey to the Old World. U.S.
Mint Director Samuel Moore was particularly interested
in the process of separating gold and silver, and in improving
the assay of silver deposits. Peale delivered on
this and much more. Burdette does a deep dive into a
dozen areas and discusses how Peale introduced any
number of improvements into the Mint during this period.

The combination of Moore and Peale was powerful.
Moore had spearheaded the construction of the
Second Mint "for which the necessary appropriations
were obtained chiefly by his own influence and exertions,
and which was begun and completed under his
immediate superintendence," according to his obituary.
Moving from the "old and contracted" building on Seventh
Street in Philadelphia to the "spacious and elegant
marble edifice" at Chestnut and Juniper Streets was not
just a move ahead for the Mint, but a visceral construction
demonstrating American capability to the rest of
the world. Philadelphians were proud, and images of
the second Mint exploded in the literature, whereas images
of the first have only recently been clawed out of
the archives. Moore had done his part, and now it was
up to Peale to bring real technology into a real building.

Peale returned to the Mint in 1835, and met
more than a little resistance, including from our own
Christian Gobrecht, who is said to have been displeased
with a method of reproducing dies introduced by Peale.
Peale stood his ground, and is most notably credited by
Burdette with the introduction of the toggle press. The
collector mindshare surrounding Peale is more typically
focused on the steam-powered press, which Peale did
indeed introduce, but Burdette finds the toggle technology
more remarkable. To be sure, the introduction of
steam power simply wasn't applied directly to an existing
screw press. A new type of press was needed to
properly harness the power of steam, and Burdette sets
the record straight.

Peale went on to make advances in all operations
of the Mint - as Roger explains it, he reworked the
entire process from refining, to rolling, to cutting, to
striking and even counting and weighing. For the first
time, this entire story can be found in one place. I expected
Roger to clean out the National Archives (I was
aware that Peale had written a lengthy report on his
European tour, but had never gotten around to calling
for the document) but he does this and much more. Peripheral
resources, especially related to technology and
manufacturing, are integrated in Burdette's analysis to
full effect.

I have to admit, when I first heard about this
work, I was hoping it would include the semi-lurid details
about Peale's termination at the Mint in 1854. A
report at the time had Peale building whoopee cushions
in order to embarrass lady visitors. Be warned, this is a
serious book and readers searching for such hijinx are
referred elsewhere, most notably to the Richard Sears
McCulloh pamphlet, the proceedings of the late director
of the mint, in relation to the official misconduct of
Franklin Peale, Esq., chief coiner, and other abuses in
the mint (1853). In the meantime, those interested in
the coining technology surrounding Liberty Seated
coinage will have trouble doing any better than this
book. I grade this book an MS69, withholding the
MS70 grade only because I have just received an advance
copy of Burdette's latest book From Mine to
Mint, which is even better and will be reviewed in a future
column.

This work is available exclusively from Wizard
Coin Supply and may be ordered at

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