The E-Sylum v16#19 May 12, 2013

[The E-Sylum]

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


Volume 16, Number 19, May 12, 2013
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM MAY 12, 2013
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KOLBE & FANNING ANNOUNCE SALE OF KREINDLER LIBRARY
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ANS LIBRARY DUPLICATE SALE
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NEW BOOK:  U.S. COIN DIGEST 2014
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NEW BOOK: PANIC SCRIP OF 1893, 1907 AND 1914
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REVIEW: COIN COLLECTING MAGAZINE
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ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL JUNE 4TH, 2013 AUCTION
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STACK FAMILY INGOT DONATIONS TO THE NATIONAL NUMISMATIC COLLECTION
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MORE ON JOHN C. LIGHTHOUSE
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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MAY 12, 2013
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SCOVILL SUBJECT OF MUSEUM ORAL HISTORY PROJECT 
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SOME  ROOSTER COUNTERSTAMPS
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THE PLACE OF FAKES IN NUMISMATICS
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HARVEY STACK ON THE DAVIS-GRAVES COLLECTION, PART III
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MAGICAL NUMISMATICS: THE SILVER SHILLING
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MOVIE REVIEW: WHO’S MINDING THE MINT?
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LOOPY LEW'S PENMANSHIP PROGRESS
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MORSE CODE ON MONEY	
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KEN POTTER ON DIES AND MINTING
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BUDGET CUTS IMPACT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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THE DIAMOND SUTRA
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MORE ON THE SEDE VACANTE COINS
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ROBOTS IN NUMISMATICS
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THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT'S NEW TRIANGULAR COIN
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ORANIA:  SOUTH AFRICAN ENCLAVE HAS LOCAL CURRENCY
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BOB EVANS ON THE LATEST S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA ARTICLE
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THE DAVID FORE COLLECTION PART TWO
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GERMAN CHILDREN USING INFLATION MONEY AS BUILDING BLOCKS
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FEATURED WEB PAGE: THE NUMISMATIC MALL
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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 MAY 12, 2013






We have no new subscribers this week.
We currently have 1,649 email subscribers, plus 232 followers on Facebook.


This week we open with notes from literature dealers Kolbe-Fanning and ANS Librarian Elizabeth Hahn, followed by information on a couple new books.
Other topics include the J. C. Lighthouse, Davis-Graves and David Fore collections, and the Scovill company. 


To learn more about Herbert Kreindler, Harvey Stack's ingot collection, rooster counterstamps, Orania's local currency, and robots and 3D printing in numismatics, read on.   Have a great week, everyone!


Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum




	
KOLBE & FANNING ANNOUNCE SALE OF KREINDLER LIBRARY


David Fanning forward this announcement about the January 2014 Kolbe & Fanning numismatic literature sale.
-Editor



Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers are extremely pleased to announce that they will be offering at public auction the outstanding and comprehensive library on ancient numismatics formed over decades by New York coin dealer Herbert Kreindler. Highlights from the library, featuring many extraordinary works, will be sold in conjunction with the New York International Numismatic Convention on Saturday, January 11, 2014 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The sale will be held in association with Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH, of Osnabrück, Germany, and will be followed, several days later, by an eLive online auction featuring the remainder of the library.


The Kreindler library is well-known for its extensive nature, including original editions of virtually all of the key works on ancient Greek and Roman coins. Works on the coins of the Holy Land are well represented, and the collection of classic auction catalogues must rank as one of the finest offered in recent years. The library is replete with rare and desirable volumes, many of which are finely bound. Among the highlights of the library are complete original sets of all of the major European numismatic periodicals featuring content relevant to the scope of the library. Among them are excellent sets of the Numismatic Chronicle, Numismatische Zeitschrift, Revue numismatique, Rivista Italiana, Zeitschrift für Numismatik, and others.


Herb Kreindler has been a professional numismatist since the early 1970s and has long recognized the importance of a numismatic library to anyone seriously pursuing the subject as either avocation or vocation. His library reflects years of careful and patient effort, and its offering at public auction promises to be a most exciting bibliophilic event.


Parties interested in viewing the library before it is prepared for shipment should contact Herb Kreindler at (631) 427-0732. Books will also be available for viewing at Kolbe & Fanning’s offices in Gahanna, Ohio once cataloguing is completed later in the year, and also in the days before the sale in New York City.


Kolbe & Fanning can be reached at 

df at numislit.com and by phone at +1 (614) 414-0855. The firm’s website can be reached at 

www.numislit.com.



	
ANS LIBRARY DUPLICATE SALE


American Numismatic Society librarian  Elizabeth Hahn sends this notice of a sale of library duplicates.
-Editor









ANS Library duplicate items for sale (new items added!) New items have been added to the list of duplicate items from the ANS library that are available for purchase. Prices do not include shipping fees, which can be available upon request. Please remember that all proceeds will benefit the library budget! 


The full list is available online:

numismatics.org/Library/LibraryDuplicates



Additional titles are also available at the American Numismatic Society Amazon Store:

www.amazon.com/shops/American_Numismatic_Society




	
NEW BOOK:  U.S. COIN DIGEST 2014


Krause Publications has released a new edition of its  U.S. Coin Digest.  Here's the announcement.
-Editor



 
U.S. Coin Digest is the most complete and comprehensive color guide to all circulating and non-circulating U.S. coins, from early American Token Coinage to modern commemorative issues of the 21st century. This color reference is perfect for the beginner or the expert and remains the #1 tool for U.S. coin dealers and researchers. 


Fully illustrated with pricing in 11 grades of condition, the 12th edition of U.S. Coin Digest is an ideal product for anyone looking for a handy, portable price guide. The book's concealed wire-o binding allows the book to open and lay flat on a table, creating the perfect "hands-free" tool for researching and pricing. 




High-quality images make for easy and accurate identification to all U.S. coin issues

Features thousands of accurate and completely vetted coin prices by editor David C. Harper and pricing analyst Harry Miller, both highly respected authorities in the field

Hard cover, concealed wire-o binding allows book to open and lay flat on a table, creating the perfect "hands-free" tool for researching and pricing



For more information visit

www.sellcoinbooks.com/us-coin/2014-u-s-coin-digest
.
	


	
NEW BOOK: PANIC SCRIP OF 1893, 1907 AND 1914


Consider this advance notice.   While yet not available for purchase, don't panic! - the new book on U.S. Panic Scrip is now available for preorders at Amazon.com. 
-Editor




Schena writes:


I was updating my Amazon wish list for numismatic titles and found this.
I know that I particularly enjoy Neil Shafer's work (his works on Philippine guerrilla currency pretty much got me into collecting those and still do even though I am now a Mid-Atlantic specialist), so I am quite excited to see this coming out soon.



To preorder at Amazon.com, see:

http://www.amazon.com/Panic-Scrip-1893-1907-1914/dp/0786475773/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367852981&sr=1-9





THE BOOK BAZARRE 
Buy the latest edition of must-have
coin reference books .
Click to shop.




	
REVIEW: COIN COLLECTING MAGAZINE


Philip Mernick submitted this review of the new all-digital publication Coin Collecting Magazine.  Thanks!
-Editor



The new Coin Collecting Magazine is published, for download (no paper copy published) by the UK’s Warners Group who also publish the traditional style Stamp & Coin Mart. A single copy costs £2.99 or 4 issues for £9.99. It is available for e-readers PCs or MACs. 


I initially had difficulty accessing the magazine and finished up paying for it twice because the log on site took your money but didn’t say how to find the purchased copy. When I did, eventually, work it out, I used the “New Reader” option of Microsoft Silverlight and obtained a colourful and stable copy that was easily magnified and paged through, with images that loaded quickly. 


The first issue contains 62 pages with a fairly wide range of subjects (see below). Some of the authors, such as Tony Holmes, Brett Hammond, Richard Kelleher are well known within the UK coin scene but maybe not beyond. The articles were all interesting and well researched although possibly written some years ago, the article on Lincoln cents mentioning a future date of 2009. 


It is competing with Token Publishing’s long established Coin News which offers a digital only option of £12 for 12 monthly issues as an alternative to its £38 per year for 12 paper issues plus free digital. I personally prefer to take my time browsing the paper pages in my favourite chair than looking at a computer screen but wouldn’t make a big deal out of it.


Contents of issue 1:


News

Auction results

the Coins of Constantine

The English Civil war

The Lincoln cent

Soviet silver examined

Coins of the Roman Empire

Collector Q&A

Bar Kokhba revolt

Edward I coins

Italy’s Euro error

Banknotes of Uruguay

New Coin issues

English shillings explained

Canada’s controversial coin

Henry III’s gold florin



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

ALL-DIGITAL COIN COLLECTING MAGAZINE DEBUTS

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n18a04.html)



	
ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL JUNE 4TH, 2013 AUCTION


E-Sylum advertiser Bob Schwartz forwarded this press release for his upcoming  Archives International Auction.   I'm looking forward to reading the catalog.
-Editor




International Auctions and Dr. Robert Schwartz are proud to present,
 

Rare U.S. & Worldwide Banknotes, Coins, Scripophily and Security Printing Ephemera


Including Additional Selections from the Hamtramck Collection; The Somerset Collection as well as distinguished Properties of Banknotes, Coins and Scripophily from various consignors.


June 4th, 2013 at our offices in Fort Lee, New Jersey 


Included will be over 1,000 lots of Rare Worldwide Banknotes, Coins, Scripophily and security printing ephemera.  Please view our website for auction updates


Highlights include dozens of amazing banknote, Scripophily & Coins: 


An outstanding group of high grade Encased U.S. Postage from a 200 year old estate 

Dozens of rare and desirable worldwide and U.S. banknotes that have been off the market for up to 40 years from the Hamtramck Collection

Additional selections from American Banknote Commemoratives Inventory including many modern rarities never offered previously at auction

Numerous Scripophily rarities from railroads to mining to internet and foreign material

An original John “Law” signed letter from 1720



PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE A CATALOG FOR THIS EXCEPTIONAL AUCTION OR ARE CONSIDERING CONSIGNING UPCOMING AUCTIONS. 


You may also bid through our website at Archives International Live.


Archives International Auctions, LLC
1580 Lemoine Avenue, Suite #7
Fort Lee, NJ 07024  
Phone: 201-944-4800
Email:   info at archivesinternational.com



WWW.ARCHIVESINTERNATIONAL.COM





 THE BOOK BAZARRE
 As Featured in the Wall Street Journal (4/13/2013):  
Pictures From a Distant Country: Seeing America Through Old Paper Money is Richard Doty’s engaging exploration of obsolete paper money—a beautiful gift for any American history buff. Hardcover, 296 pages, richly illustrated in full color. $24.95 at 

Whitman.com or call 800-546-2995.




	
STACK FAMILY INGOT DONATIONS TO THE NATIONAL NUMISMATIC COLLECTION



Last week Nick Graver suggested to me:

I bet readers would appreciate a description of the Ingot collection Harvey Stack gave to the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian.



I contacted NNC Curator Dick Doty, who put me in touch with Collection manager Robyn Einhorn, who kindly forwarded the following list, image and disclaimer.


NOTE:  THE SMITHSONIAN and its National Museum of American History has not VERIFIED THE AUTHENTICITY OF OBJECTS in question and makes no representations about their authenticity but does make the collection available to independent researchers.




National Numismatic Collection (NNC), 
National Museum of American History, 
Smithsonian Institution.










  Catalog
  Number
  Material
  Assayer
  Year
  Country


  86.0985.01
  mixed
  bar 5.03 gold/ 15.27 silver      
  Blake&
  Co. 
   
   


  86.0985.02
  mixed
  bar 6.31 gold/ 16.52 silver       
  L.
  Kuh
   
   


  86.0985.03
  silver bar 15.0
   
   
   


  86.0985.04
  silver ingot 8.10
  Bethune
  &Brooks 
   
   


  86.0985.05
  silver bar 4.54
  Comstock
  Lode?
   
   


  86.0985.06
  silver ingot 4.21
  Thorne
  Mining Co.
   
   


  86.0985.07
  silver bar 5.48
  Eagle
  Mining Co.
   
   


  86.0985.08
  mixed
  bar 17.91 gold/28.62 silver       
  Hentsch
  & Berton
   
   


  86.0985.09
  gold bar 6.27                                           
  Hentsch
  & Berton
   
   


  86.0985.10
  gold bar 39.92
  Bell
   
   


  1977.0419.01
  gold ½ ingot 156.41g
  Mexico
  City Mint
  1741
   


  1977.0419.02
  gold
  rectangular tablet                   
  Mexico
  City Mint
  1744
  Mexico


  1977.0419.03
  gold ingot 358.100g
  Mexico
  City Mint
  1744
  Mexico


  1977.0419.04
  gold ingot 358.100g
  Mexico
  City Mint
  1746
  Mexico


  1977.0419.05
  gold tablet 133.42g
  Mexico
  City Mint
  1746
  Mexico


  1977.0419.06
  gold tablet 133.42g
  Mexico
  City Mint
  1746
  Mexico


  1977.0419.07
  gold tablet 86.315g
  Mexico
  City Mint
   
  Mexico


  NU*80.24.1
  gold ingot
  206.50                       
  Eagle
  Minning Company
   
   


  NU*80.251.1
  gold bar 135.378g
  Star
  Mining Company
   
   


  NU*80.27.1
  oval gold bar 31.350g
  The
  Far East
   
   


  NU*80.27.2
  rectangular
  gold bar 31.081g
  The
  Far East
   
   


  NU*80.27.3
  oval
  silver bar 37.290g
  The
  Far East
   
   


  NU*80.28.1
  silver bar
  104.008g        
  Thorne
  Mining and Refining Company
   
   


  NU*80.28.2
  silver bar 6.39g      
  Eagle
  Mining Company
   
   


  NU*80.28.3
  silver bar 6.84
  Nevada
  Silver Company 
  ca. 1955
   


  NU*80.29.1
  gold bar 50.064g
  Engelhard 
   
   


  NU*80.29.2
  gold bar 58.321g 
  Samuel
  Montagu & Company
   
  England


  NU*77.83.01
  electrum
  ingot ½ stater (Milesian standard)  
   
  possibly
  9th century BC
  Ancient
  Greek/Asian Minor


  NU*78.74
  gold ingot 20.00
  Conrad
  Wiegard
  1867
   


  NU*79.17.01
  silver bar
  “Santa
  Casa de Misericord a” Department of gold in Sao Paulo, Brazil
  1932
  Brasil


  NU*79.48.01
  silver bar 7.68
  San
  Francisco Assaying and Refining 
  19th
  Century
   


  NU*79.92.01
  gold
  bar short truncated pyramid               
   
  6-May-01
   


  NU*64479
  silver ingot
  7.77                                 
  Nevada
  Silver Company
  1876
   


  NU*62082
  silver ingot 90.96
  Nowgorod
  ca.1430
  Russia



  
  
  
  
  






Interesting collection.  Thanks to Harvey, Nick, Dick, and Robyn for their assistance.
-Editor



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

THE HARVEY STACK INGOT COLLECTION

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n15a21.html)



	
MORE ON JOHN C. LIGHTHOUSE



Marc Ricard writes:


My great-great-grandfather was J.C. Lighthouse. A portion of his collection was auctioned many years ago, and a portion remains in private hands. Our family can verify the true scope of his massive collection.



Ken Berger notes:


In the John C. Lighthouse article, the date of the San Francisco earthquake should read 1906, not 1905.




Sorry I missed that one.  We'll correct our archived version of the article.
W. David Perkins of
Centennial, CO submitted these notes on some coins formerly in the collection of  John C. Lighthouse.  Thanks!
-Editor



In last week’s issue of The E-Sylum under “John C. Lighthouse” you asked the question, “Would any of our readers know the current whereabouts of Lighthouse-pedigreed coins?”


I can shed a little light on the location of some Lighthouse-pedigree coins, in particular six early silver dollars dated 1795-1801.  


Milferd H. Bolender, dealer and author of The United States Early Silver Dollars from 1794 to 1803 (1950) sold his personal reference collection of silver dollars in his 183rd Sale, February 23, 1952.  Bolender was very careful to note pedigrees for the majority of the early dollar Lots offered.  And great pedigrees they had, including Stickney, Parmelee, Earle, Haseltine, Mougey, Newcomer, Col. Green, Jenks and many others.  Lighthouse was another.


Bolender was likely a buyer in J. C. Morgenthau & Co.’s sale of the J. C. Lighthouse Collection, February 18-19, 1936.  Bolender was actively forming his reference collection at this time.  (If anyone has a copy of the 1930 Morgenthau & Co. Lighthouse Sale with buyer’s names please let me know at wdperki at attglobal.net).  Regardless, Bolender has six early dollars in his personal collection that were listed as having come from the Lighthouse Collection.  In Bolender’s February 1952 sale catalog I note six lots pedigreed to Lighthouse, as follows:


Lot 17.  1795 B-14 Draped Bust, Small Eagle Dollar (DB SE), Very nearly uncirculated.  Both obverse and reverse of this coin are the plate photos in the Bolender book.  This specimen was purchased by Kenneth P. Austin of Salisbury, MD in this sale.  Bolender purchased the Austin early dollar collection privately and sold the collection including this specimen to the Ostheimers.  This specimen was next offered at public auction as Lot 814 in Superior Stamp and Coin’s 1975 A.N.A. Sale, August 19-23, 1975.  The obverse and reverse were plated in this sale catalog.   


Lot 41.  1798 B-4 Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle (DB HE) Knob Nine Dollar. Ex. fine.  Reverse of this coin was plated in the Bolender book.  This was purchased by W. G. Baldenhofer in this sale and was later sold privately by Baldenhofer to Bolender.  Bolender sold the Baldenhofer early dollar collection to the Ostheimers, including this specimen.  1798 B-4 is a rare die marriage (R-5), and a decent specimen in Extremely Fine or higher grades is very difficult to locate.  


Lot 53.  1798 B-11a, DB HE Dollar, Very fine.  No plate photos for this specimen.


Lot 106.  1799 B-10b, DB HE Dollar.  Fine. Like Lot 41 above, this specimen was purchased by W. G. Baldenhofer in this sale and was later sold privately by Baldenhofer to Bolender.  Bolender sold the Baldenhofer early dollar collection to the Ostheimers, including this specimen.   No plate photos for this specimen.


Lot 149.  1800 B-14a, DB HE Dollar.  Very fine.  Like Lots 41 & 106 above, this specimen was purchased by W. G. Baldenhofer in this sale and was later sold privately by Baldenhofer to Bolender.  Bolender sold the Baldenhofer early dollar collection to the Ostheimers, including this specimen.   No plate photos for this specimen.


Lot 165.  1801 B-2, DB HE Dollar.  Extremely fine.  No plate photos for this specimen.


In summary, at least a couple of the early dollar specimens can be traced in the future to the Lighthouse Collection by plate photos and public auction sale plate photos, with additional pedigree information available on some specimens.  The original auction flip from the 1975 A.N.A. Sale: 814 was retained for the 1795 B-14 DB SE Dollar.







To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

JOHN C. LIGHTHOUSE

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n18a14.html)



	
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MAY 12, 2013


 The Drakkar Viking Ship on American Coinage 
O. T. Thompson, who signs himself as "the LAST Viking in North Carolina!" writes:


Regarding your article in the May 5, 2013 E-Sylum on 'Ships on American Coinage', SHAME on Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for delegating the great Viking ship to ONLY an 'Honorable Mention'!


     The Drakkar was THE basis for ALL ships these authors thought were 'significant'!  It pioneered the way for America's discovery nearly five-hundred years BEFORE Columbus and can NOT be ignored!  SHAME!



Howard A Daniel III adds:


My source for information about ships/boats on coins is Yossi Dotan's two volumes, Watercraft on World Coins.  



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

SHIPS ON AMERICAN COINAGE

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n18a22.html)


To read the earlier E-Sylum articles on Yossi Dotan's books, see:

REVIEW: WATERCRAFT ON WORLD COINS, VOLUME I BY YOSSI DOTAN

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v10n45a05.html)


NEW BOOK: WATERCRAFT ON WORLD COINS, VOL. II: AMERICA AND ASIA, 1800-2008

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n22a06.html)


 Dueling Porpoises 
Last week I quoted the April 2013 PAN eNews:


PAN president Tom Uram will be making the trip to Schaumburg IL for the Central States Show. His trip is duel purposed. He is taking material to promote PAN and will also be entering an exhibit, Morse code on Money.



Leon Saryan writes:


Who is Uram going to shoot at?




That should be "dual" purposed, not "duel".  Sorry I didn't catch that.
-Editor



Leon adds:


I hope he's not after me, as my exhibit in the same category placed higher than his!  



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

MORSE CODE IN NUMISMATICS AND THE MAY 2013 PAN SHOW

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n18a19.html)


 Spink Titles Not New 
Numismatic literature dealer Charlie Davis writes:


Those "new" Spink titles are from 2004!!  I have had them in stock for 9 years.










These titles were highlighted in the latest Spink Insider.  The web site identified them with a New Product icon: .
But for a firm founded in 1666, 2004 is only yesterday.
-Editor



To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:

NEW BOOK: COINAGE IN THE ROMAN WORLD

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n18a02.html)


NEW BOOK: COINAGE IN THE GREEK WORLD

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n18a03.html)


 More on eBay and Cuba Embargo 
Alan V. Weinberg writes:


Simply splendid issue of The E-Sylum. I was riveted by the J.C. Lighthouse and Harvey Stack accounts.


Regarding Orlando Pina's letter to eBay on the Cuban numismatics embargo issue,  
I just learned from the PCGS Coin Forum that the US. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council is Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe,  who is the wife of John Donahoe, CEO of eBay.
 

That sure puts a new light on this eBay policy embargoing all things Cuban numismatics and from where this silly all-compassing policy originates. "Using an axe to kill a fly on the forehead" indeed! 
Notwithstanding that, there are millions of people of Cuban descent in the U.S. and a U.S. Senator and how many Congress members?



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

MORE ON EBAY'S BAN OF CUBAN COINS AND BANKNOTES

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n18a11.html)


 Minting vs. Printing 
Tom Sheehan writes:


Now with 3D printers has anyone copied a coin?  How fast could someone print $1,000.00 in dollar coins?  I understand that an operational gun has been made with a 3D printer.




Well, it's never quite as simple as one would hope.  Certainly personal 3D printers are unable to do this today, and I'm not sure commercial grade printers could do this today, either.  There are at least two considerations - material and resolution.   The most commonly printed materials are forms of plastics, although metals and even human tissue has been printed.  I'm not sure if any coinage metals have been printed.  A bigger problem I think, would be the resolution of the image.  I doubt any printer today could handle the details produced by the strike of a die.  But stay tuned - advances in technology come fast these days.  We could see 20,000 years of progress in the next 100 if change continues to accelerate at the current pace.   What do readers think?
-Editor



 Separating Damp Banknotes 
Joe Boling writes:


I hope somebody told the owner of the Tennessee safe hoard that he does not need to dry out and try to separate his mass of damp notes. The BEP will do it for free, and likely salvage more value than the owner would be able to recover.




Good point!
-Editor



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

TENNESSEE FAMILY FINDS COINS AND SILVER IN HIDDEN SAFE

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n18a26.html)



	
SCOVILL SUBJECT OF MUSEUM ORAL HISTORY PROJECT 


Dick Johnson submitted this item on an oral history project about Scovill Manufacturing, source of many numismatic items avidly collected today.  Thanks!
-Editor



 
The motif of an 1837 medal by Scovill Manufacturing -- found in the floor 
tiles of a shopping center built on the site of the old Scovill plant in 
Waterbury Connecticut -- is the symbol of a project to preserve an oral 
history by some former employees.


The Mattatuck Museum of Waterbury, in conjunction with the last remaining 
division of the old Scovill Manuacturing Company, now located in 
Clarksville, Georgia, are sponsoring a three-day project to record taped 
interviews of former employees, family members and anyone with special 
knowledge of Scovill.


On Wednesday, May 15, a panel of three experts on Scovill will talk on 
their eminences of the company. This program begins at 5:30 pm at the 
Mattatuck Museum, 144 Main Street Waterbury. E-Sylum readers in the area 
are welcome to attend. Admission is free.
	

Scovill is well known in the numismatic field for their production of 
virtually all of America's Hard Times and Jackson tokens, plus a large 
percentage of Civil War tokens. It produced blanks for minor coins for the U.S. 
Mint over a 40-year period until the Mint built a new plant in 1901. The 
firm also issued transportation tokens, sales tax tokens as it continued 
to make numismatic items into the 20 century.


The firm also supplied blanks for foreign government coins beginning in 1875 for 
Venezuela. This led the following year to to striking these coins intact. It 
minted 22 different coins for ten different countries. Collectors began 
calling Scovill the "Waterbury Mint" but there is no record the company 
used, or sanctioned, this term.


For 150 years Scovill dominated the brass industry, metalworking in New 
England and small metal products manufactured in America throughout its 
history. It is noted most for is manufacturing of metal buttons -- an early 
product of its founders right up to its demise for the most part in the 
1980s -- and its military products during four American wars.


 
At its height it consumed a third of all the copper produced in America, 
combining this with zinc to make brass. It produced so many products in this 
metal it earned the name "Brass City" for Waterbury where its many plants 
were located..


Scovill's most noted creation is the production of 23,757 Columbian 
Exposition Award Medals. The U.S. Mint was commissioned to make these medals 
but exposition officials wanted raised lettering for the recipient's name on 
the reverse. 
 

After creating the dies the Mint learned it could not create 
the raised lettering. It commissioned Scovill, who solved the problem with 
insert dies, requiring a small staff of engravers, clerks and pressmen 18 
months to strike the full number required.


Scovill also created its own Centennial Medal with the same raised lettering 
for recipients' names in 1902.


The Oral History project is being conducted under the direction of Cathy 
Sigmon, current Scovill Archivist. Dick Johnson was project manager.



What a great project!   Congratulations to Scovill for their careful stewardship of their company's important history.
-Editor











	
SOME  ROOSTER COUNTERSTAMPS


Fred Michaelson submitted these notes and images about rooster counterstamps which sheds some light on the "chicken" stamp mentioned earlier.  Thanks!
-Editor









I was looking at a coin I have with a star on the obverse and a rooster on the reverse.  The rooster is kind of weak, probably because the star was done after the rooster and it compromised the integrity of the fowl.  


I knew I'd recently seen something about a rooster stamp, but I couldn't remember where.  I did a search of The E-sylum archive and came up with three things:  Gene Brandenburg's "chicken" coin from March 3 of this year, which has the same stamp as mine; a report that Frank Rooster was among six new subscribers in the April 26, 2009 issue.  (He's a bird who tells it like it is.); and from the October 9, 2003 issue, a report that in Amesbury, Mass., a rooster was killed and inside his crop were found 13 nickel cents and 2 2-cent pieces.  It was remarked that this was the first known instance in which the numismatic fever attacked a lower animal.


I combed through some of my books, but all I could find were references to a rooster stamp in Russell Rulau's book and in Gregory Brunk's book.  The consensus is that the stamp was done in Massachusetts, but why and by whom are unknown.  


 
The rooster from Lewiston, Maine is a different stamp.  The rooster on the Sumatran 4-Keping coin (with the G.G.Wilkins counterstamp) is not a stamp; it's part of the coin, but since we're discussing coins and roosters I thought I'd throw that in.
All these words and all I've really said is that the stamp looks to be from Massachusetts.  


To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:

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