The E-Sylum v16#11 March 17, 2013

Sun Mar 17 17:15:51 PDT 2013

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The E-Sylum

  An electronic publication of
  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

Volume 16, Number 11, March 17, 2013
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM MARCH 17, 2013
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LAKE BOOKS' 114TH MAIL-BID SALE AVAILABLE
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KOLBE & FANNING EPHEMERA SALE TWO CLOSES MARCH 21, 2013
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NEW BOOK: OFF-CENTER AND MULTI-DENOMINATIONAL CLASHED DIES
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BOOK REVIEW: ALMANAC OF UNITED STATES COINS
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VOCABULARY WORD: TÊTE-BÊCHE
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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MARCH 17, 2013
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MORE ON THE PEACE DOLLAR DRAWING BY PETER MAX
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QUERY: CATALOG OF POST-1892 MEDALS OF THE U.S MINT?
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QUERY: JAI A LAI MEDAL INFORMATION SOUGHT
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MORE DISCUSSION ON THE FIRST 1794 DOLLAR
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THE FABULOUS ERIC NEWMAN COLLECTION, PART 2
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HARVEY STACK ON TRAVELING WITH JOHN FORD, JR.
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WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: MARCH 17, 2013
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AN INTERVIEW WITH SILVER DOLLAR AUTHOR WAYNE MILLER
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THE PERISCOPIC SPECTACLED TOKENS OF HENRY HIGGINS
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DICK JOHNSON ON CHINESE MEDAL COUNTERFEITING
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CHINESE COIN FOUND ON KENYAN ISLAND
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NEW FIVE EURO NOTE LAUNCHED
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HOW GROUCHO'S GRANDSON SAVED ‘YOU BET YOUR LIFE’
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SURGERY SAVES CENT-SWALLOWING DOG
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FEATURED WEB PAGE: ST. PATRICK COPPERS 
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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 17, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
New subscribers this week include 
Aaron Packard and
Juli Steele.
Welcome aboard!
We have 1,629 email subscribers, plus 218 followers on Facebook.

This week we open with updates from literature dealers Fred Lake and David Fanning, word of a new book by Kevin Flynn and a review of Whitman's Almanac of United States Coins.

Other topics this week include the term tête-bêche, the Peter Max Peace Dollar print, post-1892 medals of the U.S. Mint, silver dollar book author Wayne Miller, the Mansion House counterstamps, and the Holy Grail of American Numismatic Literature.

To learn more about St. Patrick coppers, off-center and multi-denominational clashed dies, the medal made from milk, a mysterious Jai a Lai medal, the 1878 Quarter Eagle pattern, the periscopic spectacled tokens of Henry Higgins, and lunch with Groucho, Jack, Elliot and Marcel, read on.   Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

LAKE BOOKS' 114TH MAIL-BID SALE AVAILABLE

Fred Lake forwarded this announcement of his upcoming numismatic literature sale, which closes April 23.
-Editor

The catalog of Lake Books' 114th mail-bid sale of numismatic literature is now available for viewing on their web site at 

www.lakebooks.com/current.html
. 

The 471-lot auction features selections from the libraries of T. L. Shuck and Michael Kalpich and includes reference material that represent a full range of the numismatic experience. A complete set of the John J. Ford, Jr. auctions, Walter Breen's Encyclopedia, Elvira Clain-Stefanelli's nearly 2,000 item bibliography, Hawkins' work on British metallic tickets, a nice third edition "Redbook" are a few representative selections.

The sale closes on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 5:00 PM (EDT) and bids may be placed via regular US Mail, email, fax, or telephone until that time. Remember to place your bids early as tie bids are won by the earliest bid received.

Good Luck with your bidding,   Fred
Lake Books
6822 22nd Ave N
St. Petersburg, FL 33710
727-343-8055   fax: 727-381-6822

KOLBE & FANNING EPHEMERA SALE TWO CLOSES MARCH 21, 2013

David Fanning forwarded this reminder of the upcoming closing date of the second Kolbe & Fanning numismatic ephemera sale.
-Editor

Kolbe & Fanning wish to remind our customers that our second sale of numismatic ephemera closes on Thursday, March 21. The second in a series of occasional internet sales featuring numismatic ephemera acquired over several decades by the firm’s founder, George Kolbe, the sale includes a diverse offering of numismatic memorabilia, letters, circulars, photos, promotional materials and other miscellanea. 

A few of the highlights include: 

—Rare Fixed Price Lists Issued by Rand Zander (lot 140)
 —Scarce Coin Catalogues Published by Leonard Forrer (lot 141)
 —Alex Farkas de Gyulafehérvár’s Rare Arts in Transylvanian Coins (lot 177)
 —Schulman’s Important June 1926 Sale of Portuguese and Brazilian Coins (lot 184) 
 —Seaby’s Catalogue 248 on the Tudors and Stuarts (lot 191)
 —Rare Wartime Issues of Spink’s Numismatic Circular List (lot 192)
 —Many U.S. sale catalogues, monographs, and ephemeral items.

The usual mail-bid terms of sale apply; no printed catalogue has been issued. The sale features 100 lots and has been posted on the firm’s website at

www.numislit.com
.
Download the sale today and don’t delay in bidding! Bids will be accepted by phone at (614) 414-0855, by fax at (614) 414-0860, or by email at df at numislit.com.

NEW BOOK: OFF-CENTER AND MULTI-DENOMINATIONAL CLASHED DIES

Kevin Flynn forwarded this information on his new book on off-center and multi-denominational clashed dies.
-Editor

The Off-Center and Multi-Denominational Clashed Dies book by Kevin Flynn is now available.  The book is 8 ½ by 11, 112 pages, and tons of photographs.  Softcover $29.95.

The off-center and multi-denominational clashed dies are two of the rarest types of die varieties created at the United States Mint.  There are only 6 verified off-center and only 6 verified multi-denominational clashed dies for all 19th century coinage.  Of the 41 books the Flynn has written, this was one of the more difficult and time consuming, as it required the mind-boggling task of trying to figure out how they occurred.  

The first part of the book explores clashed dies in general.  This type of die variety is normally created when the working dies are in the coining presses.  A clashed die normally occurs when the obverse and reverse dies in the coining press strike each other without a planchet between them.  This was especially common on some series such as the Three cent nickel.  It was originally accepted by most that the outline of the design elements were left on the opposing working dies from the edges of the design elements.  This theory was proved invalid.  The remnants of the clashing is a result of the fields being compressed.  A complete analysis was done to prove this theory valid.

Off-center clashed dies required the working dies to be off-center in relationship to each other when they clashed together.  In all U.S. coin series, there are only 6 validated off-center clashes known; 3 on Indian cents, 2 on Two cent coinage, and 1 on Morgan Dollars.  The main question for this type of variety is whether they were created in the coining press or during some other period in the die making process.  There are several coins that were believed to be off-center clashed dies, but do not have the physical diagnostics to classify them as such.  For example, there have been over 40 Morgan Dollar die varieties classified as off-center denticle clashing.  For the 19 Morgan Dollars examined for this book, all but one of these has been refuted as an off-center clashed die.  

Multi-denominational clashed dies occur when working dies of two different denominations strike each other without a planchet between.  In all U.S. coin series there are only 6 known off-denominational clashes known; four of which occurred in 1857.  One of the primary questions for this type of variety is whether they were intentionally made or simply the result of an accident.  Another issue is how they could have occurred.

Retail for the softcover is $29.95. To order, send a check or money order to Kevin Flynn, P.O. Box 396, Lumberton, NJ 08048.  Please include $5 for media shipping or $10 for first class shipping.

Archives International Auctions, Part XIV

Auction Update - Archives International Live
Save the Date
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 
in Fort Lee, New Jersey

ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL AUCTIONS, PART XIV 

Rare U.S. & Worldwide Banknotes, Scripophily and Security Printing Ephemera 
Including Additional Selections from the Hamtramck Collection,
another offering from the American Bank Note Commemoratives Inventory as well as Properties of Banknotes, Coins and Scripophily 
from various consignors.

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 in Fort Lee, New Jersey 

Included will be over 1000 lots of Rare Worldwide Banknotes, Coins and Scripophily.  Please view our website for auction updates

1580 Lemoine Avenue, Suite #7 
Fort Lee, NJ 07024 
Phone: 201-944-4800 
Email: 

info at archivesinternational.com

WWW.ARCHIVESINTERNATIONAL.COM

BOOK REVIEW: ALMANAC OF UNITED STATES COINS

In his March 12, 2013 Coin Collector's Blog, Scott Barman reviews the new Whitman Almanac of United States Coins.  Here's an excerpt, but be sure to read the complete review online.
-Editor

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines almanac as “a usually annual publication containing statistical, tabular, and general information.” Almanacs have been around for a while in various forms from the earliest times of writing to today. Early almanacs were simply calendars of coming events and records of past events. They included holidays, phases of the moon, and significant dates that related to the weather for the farming community.

Although there have been many almanacs that bridged into the modern era, none had been as famous as Poor Richard’s Almanack written by Benjamin Franklin under the pseudonym Richard Saunders. Franklin published Poor Richard’s Alamanck from 1733-1758. Amongst the surviving almanacs include The Old Farmer’s Almanac that has been published continuously since 1792, the Farmer’s Almanac that has been published continuously since 1818, and The World Almanac and Book of Facts published since 1868. These are the almanacs that all others are judged against.

Having grown up with The World Almanac, reading the Central Intelligence Agency’s The World Fact Book, and being a begrudging fan of the Coin World Almanac, I was interested when Whitman Publishing sent out a notice that they just released the First Edition of the Almanac of United States Coins.

Although I read the description, I did not read it carefully because when I opened the package sent to me by Whitman, I found a skinny trade paperback-sized book. I reread the Whitman press release and it said the book was 192 pages. Initially, I felt disappointed in my hopes that there would be a competitor on the market to the Coin World Almanac since competition makes everyone better. So I can get over my initial reaction, I put the book down for a while to overcome my initial reaction to give the book a fair review.

Scott had the same confusion Steve Bishop  and I did over the "Almanac" title.  In an earlier E-Sylum article Dennis Tucker of Whitman Publications explained the intended purpose of the book.
-Editor

To read the complete article, see:

An almanac that isn’t

(coinsblog.ws/2013/03/an-almanac-that-isnt.html)

To read an earlier E-Sylum article, see:

BOOK REVIEW: ALMANAC OF UNITED STATES COINS, 1ST EDITION

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n06a04.html)

VOCABULARY WORD: TÊTE-BÊCHE

Last week I asked about the meaning of the term "Tete-Beche,"  which I had seen in an auction catalog description.
-Editor

Francois Velde writes:

Tête-bêche is a French expression which describes the position of two people lying, one's feet facing the other's head.  It's a corruption of bêchevet, which means "double bedhead" (a bed with bedhead at each end).

Martin Purdy writes:

Looks like it's a philatelic term.  It would be pronounced like "tet besh".

Martin referenced this Wikipedia entry.

In philately, tête-bêche (French for "head-to-tail", lit. "head-to-head") is a joined pair of stamps in which one is upside-down in relation to the other, produced intentionally or accidentally. Like any pair of stamps, a pair of tête-bêches can be a vertical or a horizontal pair.

To read the complete article, see:

Tête-bêche

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%AAte-b%C3%AAche)

David Gladfelter forwarded this definition from R. Scott Carlton, The International Encyclopædic Dictionary of Numismatics (Iola, Krause Publications, 1996), p280:

“Anti-counterfeiting device on paper money which consists of a design that appears twice, each occurrence being upside-down relative to each other. Its purpose is to make counterfeiting of that note more detectable, even to the average citizen not well-versed in determining the authenticity of paper money.”

He adds:

An example is shown of the Brazilian 100 cruzeiros note, Pick 198. Literally, the term means “head-spade.”

The Stacks-Bowers cataloguer is using the term to apply to a pair of notes, one note printed upside-down relative to the other, rather than to the design of a single note. 

With the diacriticals added, the term is tête-bêche.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

QUERY: WHAT DOES TETE-BECHE MEAN?

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n10a27.html)

THE BOOK BAZARRE
OVER 500 NUMISMATIC TITLES:  
Wizard Coin Supply has over 300 numismatic titles in stock, 
competitively discounted, and available for immediate shipment.  
See our selection at 
www.WizardCoinSupply.com .

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MARCH 17, 2013

 Another Tom Thumb Medal 
Fred Michaelson writes:

This is my Tom Thumb medalet dated 1846, without the "15 lbs. weight".

Thanks!  I didn’t realize there were so many varieties of these.
-Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

P.T. BARNUM'S TOM THUMB TOKENS

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n10a15.html)

 Bureaucracy and the Distinguished Warfare Medal 
Dave Ginsburg writes:

As a proud possessor of the Air Force Combat Readiness Medal (which means that I sat in a chair in a "hole in the ground" in central Missouri for a specified amount of time about 30 years ago), I would be among the first to be embarrassed to wear a medal that implied that I could have been shot at when I hadn't been.

Unfortunately, there's a solid bureaucratic reason for medals of this sort to exist: medals give an officer "points" toward promotion and the higher precedence the medal, the more points involved.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Distinguished Warfare Medal was created in order to give drone pilots a better chance of becoming the squadron commander of a drone squardron at some point in their future; which, of course, could lead to eagles and/or stars on one's shoulders.

For that matter, you may recall a few years ago there was a bunfight about which awards "real" pilots would continue to be eligible for when assigned to a drone squadron.

While this may be the first time that such a medal has been given precedence over the Purple Heart, it isn't the first time a medal was awarded for bureaucratic reasons.  I well recall the first time I was told that Army officers received Bronze Stars as campaign medals during the Vietnam War, that is, it was a routine award upon arrival in the country - without a "V" device, of course.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

MORE ON THE DISTINGUISHED WARFARE MEDAL

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n10a17.html)

 More on Frank Lapa's Replicas 
Bill Rosenblum writes:

Another thought on the Frank Lapa gold wire money coins:  The 1973 ANA in Boston was the first that I attended and a local coin dealer in Denver had given me a gold wire piece to try to sell for him. I can't remember the price he wanted but the first person I showed it to was Ira Rezak who immediately told me, "it's a Lapa!". If I remember correctly, which is possible but perhaps not probable, Ira told me it was from a ruler who did not issue gold wire coins. Interestingly the guy who has the coin called me two or three weeks ago and the first thing he said, was "do you know of Frank Lapa"?

Jeffrey Zarit of Wylie, Texas writes:

There was mention of Frank Lapa passing away. Does anyone have any details?
I knew him personally as well as his former partner, Ray Yablan, whom he killed while I was living in the Chicago area more than 35 years ago.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

MORE ON FRANK LAPA'S REPLICAS

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n10a12.html)

 July 1994 Numismatic Circular Found 
Last week Adrienne Mayor asked if anyone had a copy of  the Numismatic Circular of July 1994, which the American Numismatic Society is missing.
Bob Van Arsdell writes:

I have a complete run of NCIRC.   I also have a spare copy of the July 1994 issue, which I could send to the ANS library.   There are many photos in the article.

I put Bob in touch with Adrienne about copying the article.  Many thanks to Bob for his assistance. He will also forward his  duplicate issue to the ANS to fill their hole. Bravo!  E-Sylum readers are the best.
-Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MARCH 10, 2013: Query: July 1994 Numismatic Circular

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n10a09.html)

 Neils and Aage Bohr 
Ken Berger writes:

It wasn't exactly clear in the article and some readers may be confused. The Nobel Prize medal auctioned by Rasmussen was awarded to Aage Bohr, the son of Neils Bohr who was also awarded the Nobel Prize but in 1922.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

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