The E-Sylum v19n17 April 24, 2016

The E-Sylum esylum at binhost.com
Sun Apr 24 19:21:40 PDT 2016


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


Volume 19, Number 17, April 24, 2016
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM APRIL 24, 2016 
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A VISIT TO KOLBE & FANNING HEADQUARTERS
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GOBRECHT JOURNAL COLLECTIVE VOLUMES AVAILABLE
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ANS BOOK SALE OFFERS CLEARANCE PRICES
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NEW BOOK: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COIN AND MEDAL TECHNOLOGY
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THE BIBLIOTECA NUMISMATICA BLOG
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MCDOWELL APPOINTED COLONIAL NEWSLETTER EDITOR 
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NEWMAN PORTAL SCANS EDWARD COGAN CATALOG SET
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THE MAJOR ERAS OF NUMISMATIC RESEARCH
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GERALD TEBBEN CONTINUES LOOK AT THE RED BOOK
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DO REPRINTS OF ZERBE’S LESHER ARTICLE SURVIVE?
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MORE ON NUMISMATIC BOOK DUST JACKETS
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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 24, 2016<#a13>
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THE EVERMAN COUNTERSTAMP – A NEW FIND
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FACES OF COUNTERFEITERS PAST
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C. W. FRANKLIN
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ALEXANDER INTERVIEWS ROYAL MINT'S ANNE JESSOPP 
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CHANGES TO U.S. PAPER MONEY PORTRAITURE 
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THE 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL WHO WROTE TO THE PRESIDENT
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BURNS NUMISMATIC LIBRARY DONATIONS SOUGHT
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PAN AUCTION CLOSES MAY 6, 2016
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SELECTIONS FROM HERITAGE NEWMAN INTERNET PART 1 SALE
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QUERY: FAZL-TARIN COLUMBIAN EXPO MEDAL INFO SOUGHT
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THE GEORGE W. LA BORDE COLLECTION OF ROMAN AUREI
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A PORTRAIT OF ANTINOUS, IN TWO PARTS
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WOMEN ON BYZANTINE GOLD COINS
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THE CASE OF THE LION COUNTERMARK
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THE 1902 TIENTSIN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT MEDAL
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A HISTORY OF MONEY IN FIVE OBJECTS
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VIEWING COINS ONLINE IN THREE DIMENSIONS
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MONEY OF THE FUTURE: QUANTUM BANKNOTE PROTOTYPE
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CURATING THE DIGITAL AGE
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DO YOU SUFFER FROM LIBRARY ANXIETY?
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THE LIBRARIAN BY GUISEPPE ARCIMBOLDO 
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FEATURED WEB SITE: MINTAGE WORLD
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Click here to read this issue on the web

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




WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM APRIL 24, 2016 



New subscribers this week include: 
Ben Hellings.
Welcome aboard! We now have 1,965 subscribers.


This week we open with a visit to the Kolbe & Fanning headquarters, several numismatic book offerings, and several new books not previously discussed.


Other topics this week include numismatic book dust jackets, counterfeiters, Anne Jessopp of the Royal Mint, Pittsburgh dealer C. W. Franklin, the coming changes to U.S. currency, women on Byzantine gold coins, Roman Aurei, and the Quantum banknote.


To learn more about the Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology,  the Biblioteca Numismatica blog, the major eras of numismatic research,  Zerbe’s article on Lesher Referendum Dollars,  William F. Fratcher's printing press, the Numismatic Blue Book, the Tientsin Provisional Government Medal and the best birthday present ever, read on. Have a great week, everyone!


Wayne Homren 
Editor, The E-Sylum

 



A VISIT TO KOLBE & FANNING HEADQUARTERS


This week Len Augsburger visited the offices of numismatic literature dealer Kolbe & Fanning and provided this illustrated report.  Thanks!
-Editor








This Thursday I was a guest at the worldwide headquarters of Kolbe & Fanning in Gahanna, OH.  Their recently expanded office space is a numismatist’s dream, with dedicated space for photography, shipping, research offices for both David and Maria Fanning, and copious amounts of shelving for stock and consignments.  



The lobby is graced by an engraving of Guillaume Budé (1467-1540), French scholar and author of the first numismatic book, De Asse et Partibus Eius (1514). The walls are well adorned throughout with similar numismatic varia, ranging from an award plaque from the NBS to John Ford, to color plates of a Saint-Gaudens piece from the Eliasberg collection. A print of a “potty dollar” is appropriately hung upon the door of the restroom.  




Boxes and boxes come in and go out, and these are located about the different rooms in various stages of processing.  Of course I could not go home empty-handed, and the sale of one item was completed. I also showed David a copy of the book A Superpower is Born: The Rise of the Dollar, which I had just received from the American Numismatic Society. The opportunity to see so much literature in one place is unusual and I recommend a tour for anyone passing through the area.








To visit the Kolbe & Fanning web site, see: 


http://www.numislit.com/

 



GOBRECHT JOURNAL COLLECTIVE VOLUMES AVAILABLE


Kolbe & Fanning are the agent for Liberty Seated Collectors Club publications.  This week they announced the availability of collective volumes of the club's flagship journal.
-Editor



Collective volumes of The Gobrecht Journal published by the Liberty Seated Collectors Club were found and are now available in limited quantities.
 


Volume 1 - $20.00
Volume 2 - $20.00
Volume 3 - $20.00
Volume 4 - $20.00
Volume 5 - $50.00


Water Damaged Copies:
(warped pages, no mold or mildew)
Volume 1 - $10
Volume 2 - $10


For more information, or to order, see: 


www.numislit.com/searchResults.php?category_id=252&action=browse&orderBy=relevance

 








ANS BOOK SALE OFFERS CLEARANCE PRICES


In their April 2016 Enews, the American Numismatic Society announced clearance prices on selected numismatic books.  
-Editor



The ANS will be selling select books published after 2000 at a deep discount (up to 80% off retail) from April 25–May 8. Titles in the sale are:
 

Cultural Change: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Coins of the Holy Land (by David Hendin, reg. $40/sale $10); 

>From Crime to Punishment: Counterfeit and Debased Currencies in Colonial and Pre-Federal America (by Philip L. Mossman, reg. $145/sale $45); 

The Island Standard: The Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman Coinages of Paros (by John A.N.Z. Tully, reg. $120/sale $40); 

The Silver Coins of Massachusetts (by Christopher J. Salmon, reg. $95/sale $45); 

Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces (by Martin Beckman, reg. $95/sale $45); 

New Jersey State Coppers (by Roger S. Siboni, John L. Howes, and A. Buell Ish, reg. $235/sale $100); 

Numismatic Finds of the Americas, An Inventory of American Coin Hoards (Treasure Trove), Shipwrecks, Single Finds, and Finds in Excavations (by John M. Kleeberg, reg. $125/sale $40); 

American Journal of Numismatics Vol. 24 (reg. $75/sale $15).



Download an order form for your purchase(s):


http://numismatics.org/wikiuploads/Store/ANSSaleOrderForm.pdf

 



NEW BOOK: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COIN AND MEDAL TECHNOLOGY


Dick Johnson submitted this announcement and call for assistance in completing his monumental Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology.
-Editor




NEW BOOK REVEALS BASIC DATA IN NUMISMATICS – TERMS & TECHNOLOGY
 

The language and tasks of numismatics –its terms and techniques – are brought into sharp focus in a new publication, An Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology. While not in book form yet, the manuscript has been printed in a preprint, manuscript draft format, a rare occurrence in the numismatic field.
 

The double column 678-page preprint appears in text only. Because of the technical nature of the subject a great many illustrations are required. When published the work is planned to have 935 photographs, 772 drawings and additional illustrations created by a new computer generated process.
 

It will appear in two volumes, published as a two-volume set, with a third volume planed for optional purchase to include a Study Guide, numerous appendices and an extensive index. 
 

Preparation of the content has required a 20-year effort by a seasoned numismatist, who has served in six areas in the field gathering knowledge and insight in each endeavor.


The author is D. Wayne Johnson, who E-Sylum readers will recognize by his informal “Dick Johnson” author name. He has been a collector (since 1939), a writer (many articles, two previous books), an editor (Coin World’s first), a medal manufacturer (hands-on experience at Medallic Art Company for a decade), owner of a auction firm (Johnson & Jensen), and curator (Belskie Museum of Art and Science).
 

His current position is Corporate Historian at Medallic Art Company where he was formerly Director of Research.
 

It was at Medallic Art when he was being trained in the medallic field that, despite 20 years previous as a collector, he was introduced to a new world of language and technology. He recorded the first two new terms in 1966, “cartouche” and “cliché.” The two terms led to hundreds more, each entered in a notebook, destined to contain definitions, explanations, techniques and references.
 

After retiring from the auction business he had the time to work on this project. The handful of terms grew to 1,854 which covers how coins and medals are designed and made, the tasks and techniques n every step of the process, revealing the tools and equipment plus how they are used. Added to this are the types of numismatic objects, terms associated with collecting, cataloging and curating.
 

The technology covers all areas of die-struck items (and cast medals) from ancient times to the present. From hand-cut dies to computer generated models and high speed coining. It covers all areas of coins, medals and tokens, all areas of numismatics except paper money.
 

The high cost of gathering the great many illustrations for the book has led the author to establish a fund for this purpose. He is offering the preprint manuscript – destined to be considered a rare book –free to anyone who donates $100 or more to the illustration fund.
 

While the content of the preprint book should appeal to all segments of the numismatic field, its reference value should be considered extensive and universal even in its present format. It can well serve its purpose until the two-volume is published.
 

The author has underwritten the cost of printing, and will pay for the postage in mailing. Every cent received will be earmarked for gathering the illustrations.
Since the fees for PayPal and credit cards would pay for another photo, the author is asking for checks only.
 

To receive the preprint manuscript send your check of $100 or more and your mailing address to Dick Johnson, 139 Thompson Drive, Torrington, CT 06790-6646.



As noted in Dick's ad elsewhere in this issue, he plans to add over 900 significant photographs and is commissioning nearly 800 drawings to augment 1,000 of the encyclopedia's entries.
This is a monumental work, decades in the making.


The $100 price for early access to the manuscript seems cheap for a work of such importance and utility.   I hope many E-Sylum readers take him up on this offer.
This is valuable information for numismatic authors, researchers and collectors alike, not available in one place anywhere else.
-Editor





THE BOOK BAZARRE

 FLYING EAGLE, INDIAN HEAD, AND LINCOLN CENTS! 
Small cents are studied in detail in a 330-page feature in the second edition of MEGA RED (the 1,504-page Deluxe Edition of the Red Book). The second edition includes new essays, updated pricing and data, thousands of coin photos, new die varieties, and more. Order your copy for $49.95 at
at 
Whitman.com
, or call 1-800-546-2995.





THE BIBLIOTECA NUMISMATICA BLOG









While looking for other things this week I stumbled across the Biblioteca Numismatica blog.  It's in Spanish but Google's translation helps a bit.  The blog announced or reviewed some new and old numismatic books that I don't think we've discussed here.   I won't republish the stilted machine-translated text, but here are images of some of the books and their titles.  Check out the blog for more information. 
-Editor










LAS MONEDAS RESELLADAS DE FELIPE III Y FELIPE IV (1603-1659)


El Sello Moneda de la República, Monografía del sello de la moneda durante la guerra civil


EL Vellón de los Austrias (1566-1718), Iñigo Jarabo y Xavier Sanahuja


Diccionario de la Moneda Hispano-Americana, Humberto Francisco Burzio










La Peseta catálogo básico


Catálogo de Plomos Monetiformes de la Hispania Antigua


Las Acuñaciones de las Cecas de Lima, La Plata y Potosí 1568-1651




Could any of our readers offer more information on these books?
-Editor



To read the complete blog, see: 


http://biblionumismatica.blogspot.com/

 



MCDOWELL APPOINTED COLONIAL NEWSLETTER EDITOR 


In the April 2016 Enews, the American Numismatic Society announced the appointment of Christopher McDowell as the new editor of the Colonial Newsletter.
-Editor




The American Numismatic Society has appointed Christopher R. McDowell as the new editor of the Colonial Newsletter. He and current editor Oliver Hoover will work together on the third issue for 2016, and he will manage CNL beginning with 2017’s first issue. 


McDowell was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and as a boy he collected Lincoln cents with his father.  His first colonial coin was a 1785 Miller 4.1-F.4, Connecticut.  McDowell now has close to 300 different Connecticut copper varieties.  He has written many numismatic articles and is the 2009 recipient of the Gloria Peters Literary Award from Women in Numismatics.  In 2015 he authored his first book, Abel Buell and the History of the Connecticut and Fugio Coinages. 


A student of history and political science at Marshall University, he earned his law degree at West Virginia University where he was the senior editor of the National Coal Issue, West Virginia Law Review.  After law school, he entered active duty as an Army Officer and was stationed in Korea, Germany, and Kansas with deployments to Bosnia.  In 2000, he left active military service and began practicing law in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Additional details about the new direction of CNL will appear in the newsletter and in ANS Magazine.

 







NEWMAN PORTAL SCANS EDWARD COGAN CATALOG SET


The latest addition to the Newman Numismatic Portal is the complete Edward Cogan catalog set.  Project Coordinator Len Augsburger provided the following report.
-Editor









Following up on John Lupia’s biography of Edward Cogan, presented in last week’s E-Sylum, the Newman Portal has completed scanning of the Edward Cogan auction catalogs.  Both Adams (United States Numismatic Literature, Volume One) and Gengerke (American Numismatic Auctions) count 70 Cogan sales, from 1858 to 1879, and these are all now available on the Newman Portal.  This set was primarily scanned at the American Numismatic Society library, with Dan Hamelberg filling in key items at the end, notably a manuscript copy of the Foote sale (3/7/1859), and the DeHaven collection catalog (1861, sold en bloc to Lilliendahl).  


The DeHaven catalog was little known to us – we used the Newman Portal itself to search on “DeHaven” and located information from John Adams on this rare Cogan emission. The Cogan series further features the first plated catalog in American numismatics, namely the MacKenzie collection (1869), and the ANS copy presented here is a triple play – plated, priced, and named.


Edward Cogan catalogs on the Newman Portal: 


https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctioncompanydetail/19



John Lupia’s article on Edward Cogan: 


http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v19n16.html#article10



John Adams’ note on the DeHaven catalog, from The Asylum: 


https://www.archive.org/stream/asylumquarterlyj15n2numi%23page/16/mode/2up/search/dehaven



MacKenzie catalog on the Newman Portal: 


https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=19&AuctionId=510478

 



THE MAJOR ERAS OF NUMISMATIC RESEARCH


Inspired by John Kraljevich's recent compliments for the Newman Numismatic Portal, Joel Orosz submitted these thoughts on the major eras of numismatic research in the U.S. Thanks!
-Editor



John Kraljevich's observation that the first three Pogue catalogs would each have been a pound heavier if the riches revealed by the Newman Numismatic Portal had been available when they were being researched and written sparked an insight:  Like Gaul, the history of numismatic research is divided into three parts.


 The Pre-Internet Era

Starting from 1514, when Guillaume Bude wrote De Asse et Partibus Eius, numismatic researchers had to do it the hard way, casting their nets far and wide for sources, trekking from libraries, to private holdings, to archival repositories, and back to all again, searching for sources, sifting through possibilities,sorting the relevant from the irrelevant, sending letters hither and yon, and finally writing it all out in longhand.  The achievements of men like Sylvester Sage Crosby, C. Wyllys Betts, and William S. Baker while toiling under these disadvantages is a matter for wonderment.


 The Internet Era

Starting in 1990 (for computer geeks only), or 1994 (with Yahoo! and Lycos), and September 4, 1998 (with Google), things got dramatically better for the numismatic researcher, for search engines made it possible to reach previously-unimaginable sources of information, all without having to travel or to subsidize the postal service.  


Search engines were the great equalizer, making any of us feel like S.S. Crosby for a day when we found some important, but heretofore obscure fact in Mr. Google's haystack.  That was the problem, though--it was a haystack, with millions of stalks returned to you for every search.  There were needles of information hidden within, but who had the time (or fanaticism) to search through tens of thousands, much less millions, of completely pointless links? Nor was it possible that even Google had the algorithms necessary to find every pertinent numismatic fact.   


 The Newman Numismatic Portal Era

Starting March 10, 2016, another epoch opened in numismatic research.  The Newman Numismatic Portal began providing content that had been chosen, scanned, and aggregated to be relevant to specific numismatic searches. When fully built out, the NNP will offer Google's encyclopedic reach without Google's millions of irrelevant results. NNP will be what the numismatic researcher has always wanted, but never before had:  an accurate index to every numismatic publication, a reliable guide to all things on topic.  


The NNP will reveal those facts of consequence and those seemingly of little moment, but, crucially, everything, every relevant thing, listed there for the researcher to ponder, decide, and to use.  There will be more Crosbys and Bakers among us, because our tools have become infinitely better.  A golden age of numismatic research and writing has begun, and we will date it to March 10, 2016 when the Portal first opened for us. 


 Future Eras


It's a great time to be a numismatist.
Use of the Newman Numismatic Portal should by now be mandatory for anyone beginning research on American numismatics.  But as valuable as it is, NNP will only continue to get better over time, not only as new content is added, but as new features appear and evolve.


Science fiction author William Gibson once said, "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."
So we don't have to wait for some new space-age technologies to be invented - they're already here.
Technologists in government and industry are already making use of tools and techniques that could one day speed numismatic research by yet another order of magnitude - things such as image recognition, feature extraction,and machine-learning based classification systems.


With continued support and development, important new features could one day come to NNP and many of your favorite numismatic web sites.  What would your ideal "EASY BUTTON" look like?  What would it do for you?
-Editor



To visit the Newman Numismatic Portal, see: 


http://www.newmanportal.org

 

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 


BUILDING THE D. BRENT POGUE COLLECTION

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n16a05.html)
 









GERALD TEBBEN CONTINUES LOOK AT THE RED BOOK


Gerald Tebben has been writing a series of articles in Coin World about A Guide Book of United States Coins, also known as the Red Book. Here are excerpts from a couple of the latest segments.
-Editor


 The Good Samaritan Shilling 





The Good Samaritan shilling, a famous 19th century fraud, might be the only coin to be delisted from the R.S. Yeoman's A Guide Book of United States Coins, the Red Book.


The “coin” was considered a great rarity in the 1940s and ‘50s. For the first dozen or so editions, the Red Book write-up described the piece:


“The Good Samaritan Shilling, supposed to be a pattern piece, was struck at a Boston mint and is extremely rare. This piece is of the same general type as the Pine Tree Shilling, but has a device illustrating the parable of the Good Samaritan on the obverse. It is in silver and dated 1652 on the reverse.”


Sylvester S. Crosby, in his groundbreaking 1876 work The Early Coins of America, acknowledged that some doubt the genuineness of the piece, but he was convinced it was a Massachusetts silver pattern. “I am to a considerable extent justified in regarding it as genuine, in the absence of anything like proof to the contrary,” he wrote.


In 1959, numismatic researcher Eric P. Newman blew that argument apart, exposing the piece as a fraud. In The Secret of the Good Samaritan Shilling Newman said the Good Samaritan Shilling “was the ‘fakest’ coin in history!”


In 1848 the British Museum purchased a Good Samaritan Shilling that was known to exist as early as 1730. The coin, Newman determined, was a Pine Tree Shilling on which the obverse had been ground off and replaced with the seal of the British Commission of Sick and Wounded, a 17th century precursor of the Red Cross. English coin dealer Thomas Snelling and American dealer Thomas Wyatt separately faked their own versions of the supposedly genuine coin and palmed them off on unsuspecting collectors.


The Red Book continued to list the piece for a few years after Newman exposed the fraud, but changed the text. “Although this piece was formerly thought to be a pattern for the 1652 shillings, recent findings show that the known specimens are all fabrications.”


 The King of Coins - the 1804 Dollar 





The 1804 dollar has always been a coin of mystery and desire. Was it struck in 1804 or decades later? In 1946, when the first Red Book was printed, both sides had their adherents. The Red Book told the story down the middle, giving both sides of the argument, but offering no conclusion.


For the first 15 editions, the Red Book reported, “Those who adhere to the belief that these coins were struck in 1804 point to such evidence as the letter written by Robert Patterson, Director of the Mint, to President Thomas Jefferson. This letter stated that no dollars had been minted ‘during the last two years.’ Inasmuch as the letter was dated April 2, 1807, they infer that dollars were struck during 1804.


“Mint records show that 19,570 silver dollars were coined in 1804 and that these coins were struck after March 28, 1804.”


The 1804 dollar text concluded, “The 1804 dollar has been and probably will continue to be a subject of much discussion. Unless some new evidence is uncovered the mystery of its existence or disappearance will always be a matter of speculation for the numismatic fraternity”


In 1962, Eric P. Newman and Kenneth Bressett, who went on to edit the Red Book, set the record straight with the publication of The Fantastic 1804 Dollar. No 1804-dated dollars were produced before 1834, when the Mint struck display sets of coins for diplomatic missions. Years later, a handful more (Class II) were secretly struck at the Mint for sale to connected collectors.


The 1963-dated 16th edition of the Red Book updated the controversy, saying, “Numismatists now know that the 1804 ‘original’ dollars were struck at the mint between 1836 and 1842.”


In the years since 1963, the Red Book text has been updated to reflect current research. It now reads, “Numismatists have found that the 1804 original dollars were first struck in the 1834 through 1835 period for use in Presentation proof sets.”



These two examples illustrate the lasting impact of the research and writing of Eric P. Newman.  Our numismatic knowledge base today is vastly improved due to his tireless efforts.  The title of his biography is spot-on: Truth Seeker.  Thanks, Eric!
-Editor



To read the complete articles, see: 


RED BOOK 70TH ANNIVERSARY: THE KING OF COINS

(www.coinworld.com/voices/gerald-tebben/2016/04/red_book_70th_annive.html)


RED BOOK 70TH ANNIVERSARY: THE GOOD SAMARITAN SHILLING

(www.coinworld.com/voices/gerald-tebben/2016/04/_red_book_70th_anniv.html)


To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 


GERALD TEBBEN LOOKS AT THE RED BOOK

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n14a11.html)









DO REPRINTS OF ZERBE’S LESHER ARTICLE SURVIVE?


American Numismatic Society Librarian David Hill published an interesting article for numismatic bibliophiles in the Soceity's Pocket Change blog April 20, 2016.  Here's an excerpt.
-Editor



George Kolbe of Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers had an interesting question regarding my most recent column in ANS Magazine  (“Bumps in the Road as ‘Coin Zerbe’ became the Dean of Coin Collectors,” 2016:1).



It relates to some correspondence in the ANS Archives documenting a dustup between coin dealer B. Max Mehl and legendary numismatic evangelist Farran Zerbe. Zerbe had become quite perturbed upon learning that Mehl had, without permission, reproduced Zerbe’s article on Lesher Referendum Dollars in Mehl’s own Numismatic Monthly.


The article had first appeared in the 1917 volume of the American Journal of Numismatics. In those days, the ANS routinely supplied its authors with fifty offprints of articles published in the AJN, and Zerbe apparently had big plans for his—namely, selling them. But when the article appeared in Mehl’s publication—“killing whatever market or appreciation there may have been”—his enthusiasm evaporated, and he never bothered obtaining them. Years later, he asked Howland Wood if they were still available.


That is what prompted George to write. “I could not recall ever having seen or handled a copy of the AJN reprint of Zerbe’s Lesher article,” he says. “Were the Zerbe Lesher reprints ever produced and, if so, did Zerbe take possession?”


Good question! And, though it’s not often the case, this is one time when it was pretty easily and conclusively answered with a quick dive back into the correspondence. It turns out the reprints were indeed printed. In fact, Zerbe writes of having received two when the article was published. As for the others? Wood went poking around in the basement of the old building at Audubon Terrace and also wrote to the printer. But no luck. “They must have gotten lost or been destroyed,” he told Zerbe. “Such is the way of things.”


Were Zerbe’s two copies the only ones to survive? And what became of those? I know that George spent some time looking around, consulting his and other sales of the remnants of Zerbe’s library (e.g., Katen’s sale of Chase’s World Money Museum numismatic library in 1986 and 1987) but he found no clues. The ANS Library does not have any of the reprints in its catalog, so there are no “official” copies on our shelves. But I will be keeping an eye out!


Has anyone encountered reprints of Zerbe’s article? 


To read the complete article, see: 


DID ANY REPRINTS OF ZERBE’S LESHER ARTICLE SURVIVE?

(www.anspocketchange.org/did-any-reprints-of-zerbes-lesher-article-survive/)



Hmmm.  I don't recall seeing one of these, either.  Interesting.  Can anyone help?
-Editor





MORE ON NUMISMATIC BOOK DUST JACKETS


Regarding my reply to Christopher Buck's question about how to "determine if a coin book (or ANY book for that matter) was originally published with a dust jacket",
George Kolbe submitted this thoughtful response.
-Editor



Your conjecture is manifestly correct of course. There
is no way to determine if a book was issued in a dust
jacket beyond documenting that such is the case. And
there are “wrinkles.”


Originally, a dust wrapper or dust jacket was intended
to protect a new book from its adjective until the
volume in question was sold. Having served its
purpose it was then often discarded. Many earlier
dust jackets feature no printing. Among numismatic
works fitting that criterion are Horatio Robinson
Storer’s 1931 Medicina in Nummis and Richard
Bowen’s 1942 Rhode Island Colonial Money and Its
Counterfeiting, to name but a few American
publications. Even a numismatic bookseller employed
the practice, witness the 1984 catalogue of the Lester
Merkin library.


Modern dust jackets have little to do with solid
particulate matter and everything to do about
marketing. Plain dust jackets stifle sales. Imagine a
bookstore display of the 1931 and 1942 works [1]
mentioned above: an unending blob of brown kraft
paper. Blah! Contrast that with an image of Tarzan,
vanquishing a lion and saving a beautiful maiden, in
full color. I doubt any of those are still lying around,
mint in their original pictorial jackets.


In numismatic circles, the presence or absence of a
dust jacket generally has but a modest impact on
value. The opposite is often true in the general world
of books, particularly modern fiction. There, an
original dust jacket is typically worth more than the
volume it encompasses. Many modern novels feature
dust jackets designed by talented and famous artists
of the day and their presence and, particularly, their
state of preservation, is key. Suffice it to say that not
only are coins counterfeited. Replicas of older pictorial
dust jackets have become a plague in the book world.
Luckily, their detection at present is easier for those
with a discerning eye, due to the unavailability of the
raw materials involved (paper and ink), combined with
the obsolete technologies involved.


[1] Neither were commercially published and their paper covers likely stifled sales;
decades after publication your scribe purchased multiple brand new copies of
both, with dust jackets intact.



Thanks, George.  I wasn't aware of the fake dust jacket problem.


I believe the increasing level of digitization of numismatic literature will greatly increase attention to physical details of the books we collect, from overall condition to the presence of original dust jackets.  Over time this could lead to higher prices for the rare surviving intact dust jackets. 


 For many years I upgraded my books whenever given the opportunity, and I placed Brodart protectors over many of my dust jackets.  I have at least a few numismatic dust jackets in near perfect condition.  I've always been proud of this minor accomplishment, even though few others cared.  Time will tell if the effort was worth it financially, but at least I can feel good about saving a few of them from the landfill.
-Editor



To read the complete article, see: 


NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 17, 2016

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n16a07.html)









NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 24, 2016

 Finding Time to Work on The E-Sylum 
Mike Sanders writes:


I can't tell you how much I admire your love and dedication to our hobby.  The amount of time that you dedicate to The E-Sylum is truly admirable.  I don't know how you find the time and patience to do this every week!




Me neither.  It's just too much fun to quit.  Luckily our kids are long past the "Play with me, Daddy!" stage.  I handled my E-Sylum work today in between family meals, chores like sweeping the garage and walking the dog, plus playing some volleyball with our daughter after spending enough time detangling and setting up the old net to get a sunburn.
-Editor



 Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq 
Susie Nulty writes:


When I read the article on The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, it reminded me of the children's book, Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq by Mark Alan Stamaty, although my favorite children's book of Stamaty's is Who Needs Donuts? which has amazing illustrations and a very sweet story.




Thanks.  Who doesn't need donuts?
-Editor



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 


NEW BOOK: THE BAD-ASS LIBRARIANS OF TIMBUKTU

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n16a02.html)


 More On Equestrian Depictions of QEII on Coinage 



Last week I discussed a recent coin depicting Queen Elizabeth II on horseback, and said I wasn't aware of any other equestrian depictions of her.   Dick Hanscom and Chip Howell set me straight.
-Editor



Chip Howell writes:


I'm willing to bet you HAVE seen it before, and forgotten--she's been depicted at least TWICE on horseback, on the crown, first in 1953, then in 1977, on her silver jubilee.










Thanks.  I stand corrected.  Thanks to Chip for providing links to the coin images.
What struck me most about the coin discussed last week was the idea of a 90-year-old woman on horseback.  The coronation crown makes the most sense.
-Editor



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 


AN EQUESTRIAN QUEEN ELIZABETH II ON COIN

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n16a17.html)


 On Nostalgia In U.S. Coin Designs 
Responding to the critics mentioned in Lou Golino's piece on  coin design in the U.S., an E-Sylum reader writes:


I am very tired of the hyperconservative nostalgia that objects to anything other than a dead president or caucasian female on US coins. 


St. Gaudens and Weinman created some lovely coins, but they have been dead for a long time. So also the designers of the Draped Bust, Seated, Barber and all other earlier coinages. Let their work live in the old coins they created. If you want nice, pretty examples of that kind of work and don’t have the budget for a real example, the Gallery Mint pieces are lovely and available at very reasonable cost. I love those pieces, too, but the world moves forward, not backward.


This is the 21st century. Get used to it.




This discussion applies equally to the issue of new designs for U.S. currency.  See the article later in this issue about this week's announcement from the U.S. Treasury.
-Editor



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 


GOLINO ON MODERN U.S. COIN DESIGN

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n16a25.html)

 William F. Fratcher's Printing Press 
Dave Lange writes:



In response to Pete Smith's challenge to identify the role played by W. F. Fratcher in the history of the ANA, I've found a connection. In 1888 William F. Fratcher of Detroit swapped his small press with Dr. George Heath for $25 cash and a group of stamps. Heath then used this press to print early issues of The Numismatist. 


W. H. Fratcher was born in New York in 1868 and thus would have been quite a young man when the transaction occurred. The 1930 federal census shows him married and living in Detroit as a proprietor of philatake [sic] supplies. In earlier censuses he is listed in various other fields, such as news vendor or dealer in novelties. I suppose most stamp and coin dealers of that time drifted into it from other careers.


He and wife Luella [spellings vary] had a son, Vernon C. Fratcher, who was born in 1890. Vernon owned a confectionery business at the time of his WWI draft registration and is listed as an attorney in the meat industry in the 1940 federal census, so he obviously didn't follow his father into the hobby business. Dad must have been about 74 when the 1942 photo was taken, assuming that he was still living then. I couldn't find an entry for him in the 1940 federal census.




Correct!  That's the connection Pete was looking for.  Interesting.  Here are some references Pete provided, starting with a 1963 article in (and about) The Numismatist from the September 1963 issue.
Thanks!  The above picture was taken from there.
-Editor



To read the Numismatist article (ANA Members only), see: 


The Numismatist

(www.exacteditions.com/read/thenumismatist/september-1963-44636/5/3?dps=)


To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see: 


MORE ON THE MICHIGAN STAMP AND COIN COMPANY

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n16a06.html)


THE NUMISMATIST CELEBRATES ITS 125TH ANNIVERSARY

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n05a13.html)

 David Lange Coin Boards Updates 
Dave Lange adds:



On another topic, I've learned from the printer that my new book will ship to me April 26. I'll be at the Central States show in Schaumburg that week, so I'm having just a few copies shipped there directly and will have the book for viewing and order taking on Friday and Saturday. For those who've already ordered, deliveries will begin the following week.


On yet a final topic, I've begun rebuilding my coin board website, though it's still not complete. The design is a bit plain for now, as my focus has been on getting the text and images loaded. I'll dress things up a bit, as time allows. I invite readers to take a look at this work in progress.



For more information on Dave's new book, see: 


NEW BOOK: COIN COLLECTING ALBUMS, VOLUME TWO

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n11a03.html)


To visit David Lange's new website, see: 


www.coincollectingboards.com



 Mico Kaufman and Bob’s Big Boy 
In last week's review of the new biography of sculptor and medallist Mico Kaufman, Dick Johnson notes that "one of his creations ... was Burgerboy, the colorful trademark for the Burger Boy chain of restaurants."
Harry Waterson writes:



The restaurant I believe Dick is referring to is Bob’s Big Boy. Attached is a picture of the Big Boy himself. My recollection is that the figure was first drawn by a Disney animator on a napkin. I had my first Big Boy at the restaurant in Toluca Lake, CA in 1968.




  Dick originally called it Burger King and after I questioned this he changed it to Burger Boy.   But there are multiple franchises that used (or use) this trademark.  I found some online references to the artist, but Mico Kaufman wasn't mentioned.  He may well have worked on it in some capacity for one franchisee or another.
-Editor



To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 


BOOK REVIEW: A CHISELER’S TRUE STORY

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n16a03.html)

 More on the Ottoman Coin Embossed Postcard  
Nureddin Gurinar writes:


My thanks to   David  Gladfelter for his  contribution.
First of all, as I said I saw this card by chance for the first time and found it very  peculiar and interesting to me,   and  just  purchased.
 


With regard to the coins, I asked a friend of mine who collects Ottoman  coins and informed me as follows if I am not  wrong:
 

a) The full image  :  Belonging to Sultan Abdulhamid’s  era  (Abdulhamid  II )  ( 1293 - 1327 AH  =  1876 - 1909 AD) ,  1 kurush, nickel alloy, actual size image on the card   and minted at Egypt Mint during his reign.   

    
 b)  other coin partly under the 1 kurush :    Again  Abdulhamid II,    5/10  kurush,    (“ as cited by the Ottoman coin collectors”), infact it is  “half kurush”   minted at Egypt Mint, nickel alloy, actual size image on the card.


  The first year  of Sultan’s reign, 1293,  is clearly seen on it. Though clearly minted and easily  read by everybody  a big  “ 5 “ on reverse,  but it is  NOT   5  silver kurush.  Contrary  it  is  the nickel coin of  “5/10 kurush”,
 or  in other words  “20 paras” ,  or  “half  kurush“ as  commonly called.
 

Lastly, again I am looking forward to hear from your  estemeed  subscribers   other  varieties of  Brüder Kohn,  Vienna cards, if any,  bearing similar  “embossed coin images”.




Thank you, and good luck in your collecting.
-Editor



To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see: 


AN OTTOMAN COIN EMBOSSED POSTCARD

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n14a30.html)


MORE ON THE OTTOMAN COIN EMBOSSED POSTCARD

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n15a27.html)









THE EVERMAN COUNTERSTAMP – A NEW FIND


Bill Groom submitted this article about his recent find of an EVERMAN counterstamp.  Thanks!
-Editor









Until last week, the ownership of an EVERMAN counterstamp had long eluded me. I then
managed to scoop one up at the Dalton, Georgia show. While this host coin is not a rare one, it is
now, to the best of my knowledge, the latest dated one. It is an 1857­O half that is strategically
stamped in the fields on both sides; this, as are other known specimens.


In a June, 2015 
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