The E-Sylum v20n18 April 30, 2017

Sun Apr 30 18:22:59 PDT 2017

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The E-Sylum

  An electronic publication of
  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

Volume 20, Number 18, April 30, 2017
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM APRIL 30, 2017
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NEW BOOK: ABOUT CENTS II
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NEW BOOK: LATVIAN BANKNOTES
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BOOK REVIEW: INGLE SYSTEM SCRIP	
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BOOK REVIEW: THE BANKNOTES OF IMPERIAL PERSIA
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CARL HERKOWITZ (1944-2017)
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JOHN REICH JOURNAL ON THE NEWMAN PORTAL
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CONFERENCE: MONEY IN THE EARLY MODERN ATLANTIC
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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 30, 2017
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THE UNDERTAKERS’ RIOT MEDAL
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CHURCH DONATION COIN BRINGS $517,000
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VOCABULARY TERM: PRESS ROOM
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LYMAN WILLIAM HOFFECKER (1868-1955)
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BANGLES: SELLING COINS FOR MAKING LOVE TOKENS
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NEVADA SERIES PROFILES MEDALLIC ART COMPANY
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ERIC P. NEWMAN INTERNET 3 SALE CLOSES MAY 3, 2017
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ORIGIN STORY: WHERE THAT UFO COIN CAME FROM
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ARTICLE PROFILES MONEY ARTIST PENNY
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NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: APRIL 30, 2017
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WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: APRIL 30, 2017
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THE LIBERTY SEATED CENT
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FINNISH COIN DESIGNS WITHDRAWN AMID CONTROVERSY
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NEW POUND COIN DOESN’T FIT AT BANK OF ENGLAND
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ODD NEW £1 COIN: FAKE OR ERROR?
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FAKE EAST INDIA COMPANY COINS
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THE G. ERICHSON COUNTERSTAMP
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THE 2017 BROOKGREEN GARDENS MEDAL
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1914 $20 NOTE VEHICLE VIGNETTES IDENTIFIED
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BANKNOTE CHURCHILL QUOTE DRAWS CRITICISM
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A POEM FOR THE WWII OPA TOKEN
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THE DEPULVERA BOOK CLEANING MACHINE
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THE ISLAND WITH $100 MILLION HIDDEN
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FEATURED WEB SITE: RBI MONETARY MUSEUM
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Click here to read this issue on the web

Click here to access the complete archive

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

WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM APRIL 30, 2017

New subscribers this week include: 
Allan Anderson, courtesy of Mark Lighterman; 
Harry Schultz, courtesy of Ray Czahor; 
Megan McCauley,
Scott Bitsuie,
Gary Hermann and
Dave Holladay.
Welcome aboard! We now have 3,161 subscribers.

Thank you for reading The E-Sylum. If you enjoy it, please send me the email addresses of friends you think may enjoy it as well and I'll send them a subscription with your compliments. Contact me at whomren at gmail.com anytime regarding your subscription, or questions, comments or suggestions about our content.

This week we open with two new books, two reviews, and the loss of a longtime NBS member.
Other topics this week include the John Reich Journal, riot medals, tasteless coin designs, Neil Shafer, ANA President L. W. Hoffecker, Medallic Art Company, and the Liberty Seated cent.

To learn more about Dr. Augustine Shurtleff, Latvian banknotes, Ingle system scrip,  bangles, Territory of Florida scrip, the British stencil artist Penny, the Atomic Age medal, 
and that weird "alien" coin, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren 
Editor, The E-Sylum

NEW BOOK: ABOUT CENTS II

Jim Neiswinter submitted this information about his newest book, released just last week at the Early American Coppers convention.  Thanks!
-Editor

The original ABOUT CENTS was the first attempt of variety classification for any denomination
in the United States. That article, authored by Augustine Shurtleff, first appeared on the front page of
the Boston Evening Transcript on March 1, 1859 and was reprinted in the Historical Magazine later
that year. Particular attention was paid to the cents of 1793, where eleven varieties were described in
detail. Three 1794s and four 1795s were described in lesser detail and a sentence or two described
the rest of the early dates except for the years 1805 and 1806, which were ignored all together. Only
eleven of the years from 1816 to 1857 are even mentioned.

I believe Dr. Shurtleff had help from his coin collecting friends such as William Sumner Appleton,
Henry Brooks, Jeremiah Colburn, and the Rev. Joseph Finnotti. It is my theory they supplied cents
from their collections and helped describe the varieties. These were some of the men who founded
the Boston Numismatic Society in February 1860.

The pictures on the cover are of Dr. Shurtleff on the left and my favorite numismatist, Joseph N.
T. Levick in his army uniform on the right. This is the earliest of the three known pictures of him.
Sylvester Crosby used the descriptions of the 1793 cents in   ABOUT CENTS as a starting point for
his article in describing the 1793 cents that were on Levick’s famous plate in the April 1869 issue of
the American Journal of Numismatics. Since Dr. Sheldon followed Crosby’s descriptions in his Early American Cents, it is
possible to match up Sheldon’s numbers for 1793 cents to their descriptions in ABOUT CENTS.

The first several chapters in the ABOUT CENTS II anthology are stories from my favorite year
of large cents – 1793: Emission sequence and die states, NCs (non collectables), a study on Smith
Counterfeits (plus the man who wrongly named them counterfeits), and a mistake made by Sylvester
Crosby in his monograph on 1793 cents that was written in 1897. Then comes the account of Joseph
Levick, from his beginning in New Orleans, to his end in New York City eighty years later. Levick
was one of the first great numismatic researchers this country has produced, and his Book of
Rubbings of 1793 Cents is published in Appendix B.

The final chapter is about how S. H. Chapman turned his 1923 book The United States Cents
of 1794 into one of the rarest works in American numismatics - with help from George Clapp and
Howard Newcomb.

ABOUT CENTS II is 134 pages, soft cover, and priced at $50 + $5 shipping.

For more information, or to order, contact Jim at

j_neiswinter at hotmail.com
.

This is book is as "inside baseball" as it gets in American numismatics.  So of course, I love it, and think every other bibliophile, researcher, and just plain collector will, too.  
Jim lays out in detail who likely did what when and with whom in the earliest days of coin collecting in this country.  There are B&W and color illustrations thoughout, picturing source materials. 

But as I noted, the book isn't just for those who happen to collect these early cents.  It is a delightful romp though the development of numismatics in America, intertwined with the development of coin clubs, numismatic books and periodicals, coin dealing and auctions.   Give it a read!
-Editor

Len Augsburger adds:

About Cents II is a delightful series of essays on any and all things early copper.  I purchased my copy at the EAC convention in Philadelphia, and the flight home went quickly as I read this book cover to cover. My favorite chapter was “Smith of Ann Street,” in which Neiswinter explains once and for all who the engraver “Smith” was, unearths numerous contemporary references, and creates a census of extant Smith pieces.  

The final chapter on Clapp’s deconstruction of the S. H. Chapman’s United States Cents of the Year 1794 is equally noteworthy, nicely revealing the characters involved. Auction catalogs and other sources merely recount facts - it takes a more critical eye to stare into the archival records and “see” what motivated the various players. The documentary trail of U.S. copper is without doubt the most extensive of any American specialty, but synthesizing the wide array of resources still requires careful thought.  

While this self-published volume could have benefited from a professional book designer, the content more than compensates, and is highly recommended for anyone interested in U.S. large cents, or simply enjoys reading interesting and well-researched stories of coins and collectors in days gone by. The publication of About Cents and About Cents II spans 168 years – let’s hope we do not have to wait as long for About Cents III!

NEW BOOK: LATVIAN BANKNOTES

Author Lee Gordon  of Buffalo Grove, IL submitted this information about his new book on Latvian banknotes.  Thanks.
-Editor

NEW 2017 LATVIAN BANKNOTES CATALOG & PRICE LIST.

New book - catalog on Latvian banknotes. Latvian collection of government issues. It comes with separate price list. The book is 11 x 8,5 inches. Very high quality in full color.  275 pages book in hard cover. Many unique essays, proofs, Specimens and notes are listed for the first time!

Pricing: Domestic U.S. $40.00 by Priority Mail and International $60.00 delivery by Fed/Ex from my the printer in Germany.

LEE GORDON
P.O. Box 5665
Buffalo Grove, IL  60089, USA

TEL: (847) 506-1122
FAX: (847) 506-1155
e-mail: banknotes at leegordon.net
website: http://www.leegordon.net
IBNS: LM100

For more information, or to order, send a check to Lee Gordon at the above address, or use PayPal to send payment to his email address.  

BOOK REVIEW: INGLE SYSTEM SCRIP	

John Mutch submitted this review of Greever & Byar's new Ingle token book.  Thanks!
-Editor

One of the most-used items in my library of trade token references is “A Checklist and Aid to Attributing Ingle System Scrip” by the late Lloyd E. Wagaman.  Published in 1987 by the Indiana-Kentucky-Ohio Token and Medal Society (IKO-TAMS), this was the fruit of thousands of hours of poring over the credit ratings books of the Bradstreet and R. G. Dun companies, city directories, and other references at Wagaman’s disposal.  

He had compiled a list of thousands of tokens made by the Ingle Brothers of Dayton, Ohio between 1908 and 1919, most of which were “mavericks”, carrying only the business name and not the town and state where the business operated.  As Wagaman indicated, his work was only a start - his method of attribution was only reliable in the case of unusual names.  In the case of “Smith Bros.”, for instance, he took his best guess among the thousand businesses with those proprietors to attribute the one Smith Bros. Ingle token he was aware of.

In the thirty years following this initial work, many new pieces of information have come to light.  Foremost among them are the discovery of a ledger which the Ingle company used to keep track of their shipments.  This ledger is incomplete, but it enabled the correlation of business names with locations in many cases.  Next came the expansion of the Internet, giving access to many historical references relating to businesses that used Ingle tokens.  And then, just a bit over ten years ago, Richard Greever opened the tokencatalog.com website where thousands of contributors around the world have listed close to half a million individual tokens, many with historical information accompanying them.

Many maverick researchers interested in the Ingle series, John Byars chief among them, have corroborated or corrected listings from the Wagaman list.  Now, in a format similar to the original, Richard Greever and John Byars have published this new work, a project of TokenCatalog.com, that is a most welcome replacement for the original Wagaman work.

For more information, or to order, see:

http://www.tokencatalog.com/ads/IngleChecklist/IngleChecklistAd.pdf

BOOK REVIEW: THE BANKNOTES OF IMPERIAL PERSIA

Ursula Kampmann of Coins Weekly published a review on April 27, 2017 of the new book on the banknotes of Persia.
With permission, we're republishing it here.
Both articles linked below have pricing and ordering information.
-Editor

Michael E. Bonine (published posthumously by Jere L. Bacharach), The Banknotes of the Imperial Bank of Persia. An Analysis of a Complex System with Catalogue. Numismatic Studies 30. The American Numismatic Society, New York 2016. 148 p., all illustrations in colour, 28.5 x 22.3 cm, Hardcover. ISBN: 978-0-89722-337-9. GBP 65 or US$ 100.

On 30 January 1889, financier and businessman Baron George de Reuter, son of the founder of the famous news agency, founded the Imperial Bank of Persia. It constituted a sort of compromise, by which the Iranian Shah wanted to appease the British without angering the Russians. No one had been able to come to a settlement regarding the planned construction of a railway. Instead, it was the bank that should now raise the money to build a railway without any diplomatic resentments.

George de Reuter had the Bank of England officially approve the founding of his “Imperial Bank of Persia”. They determined that the bank had to have its main office in London, while it could only open branches in Iran. This was a complicated legal situation, which is accounted for by the banknotes of the institute with their additional marking. Michael E. Bonine has occupied himself with this subject matter for years. He created a comprehensive study which was published after his death by Jere L. Bacharach as a monograph in the series Numismatic Studies of the American Numismatic Society.

This is not only an asset for numismatics, but particularly so for the economic history of Persia. It is due to Bacharach’s initiative that this thoroughly worked out catalogue with its elaborate historic-numismatic commentary did not get lost. Bonine masterfully shows how the analysis of the material in combination with the use of archival sources allows for a detailed classification of a rather complicated subject matter. After all, the banknotes of the “Imperial Bank of Persia” do not only have different serial numbers. They were also marked with different stamps which represent the different Persian bank branches. The banknotes could only be redeemed at the issuing bank. Between December of 1889 and the withdrawal of the right to give out banknotes in 1932, the Imperial Bank of Persia opened an impressive 28 branches, only two of which did not issue banknotes. Consequently the banknotes that were printed in Great Britain and exported to Persia only became valid once they 
 got their respective stamp mark in the bank branch. 

This richly illustrated study on these banknotes also features a catalogue with pictures of all denominations, so that even a coin dealer who has to draft his or her catalogue under time pressure, will be able to determine the rare and expensive banknotes in no time. However, one still has to stay cautious, because Michael Bonine, an enthusiastic collector himself, hints at one peculiarity in the Persian way of handling these banknotes. They have often been folded many times into smaller pieces in order to store them. As a consequence, most of the banknotes’ grade is heavily compromised. Recently though, people in Iran have specialised in smoothening, washing and ironing the banknotes, and one has to pay close attention to the notes to be able to tell their actual grade. 

Should anyone offer you a bank note without a stamp mark, this does not mean that it is fake. It could well come from a robbery that occurred in 1907 during a transport of the banknote blanks. 

Michael Bonine has worked with an interesting subject matter and he tells us fascinating stories. The editor of the book explains this with the scholar’s curiosity. He who has passed much too soon. It was already during the 1960s that he took his Landrover (and his wife Marilyn) and went from London to Iran. Never let it be said that numismatics is a couch potato discipline! The author’s advice from his book’s inscription, dedicated to his grandchildren, goes for numismatists, too: Go, explore the world! 

To read the complete article, see: 

Banknotes of Persia

(www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/Banknotes-of-Persia/4?&id=4668)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 

NEW BOOK: THE BANKNOTES OF IMPERIAL PERSIA

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n52a04.html)

For a free subscription to CoinsWeekly, see:  

www.coinsweekly.com/en/Subscribe-to-CoinsWeekly-Newsletter/37

CARL HERKOWITZ (1944-2017)

Longtime NBS member and Asylum contributor Carl Herkowitz passed away earlier this month.  Thanks to George Kolbe, Joel Orosz and Pete Smith for alerting me.  We've been unable to locate an obituary.  Please send me any information or recollections you can share.
-Editor

Pete Smith reports:

Carl Ralph Herkowitz was born on July 9, 1944 and died on April 16, 2017.

Joel Orosz writes:

Carl Herkowitz was an unconventional scholar, but a highly effective one.  His affect was one of thoroughly rumpled and slightly distracted enthusiasm, and his prose tended distinctly  toward the purple end of the spectrum.  It was easy, even tempting, to dismiss him as a guileless numismatic abecedarian.

Yet, at a time when many considered the mysterious Ard W. Browning to be a semi-mythical character, perhaps a nom de plume for an author wishing to remain anonymous, it was Carl who found proof that the author of The Early Quarter Dollars of the United States, 1796-1838 had been an employee of the Central Islip State Hospital, a mental health facility on Long Island.  (See "Ard W. Browning Through a 1920 Looking Glass," The Asylum, Summer-Fall, 1997; and ""Ard W. Browning Comes Home," The Asylum, Fall 2000).  

Numismatic historians all "knew" that Mint Melter and Refiner Jonas McClintock had authored the 1844 memorandum, quoting Adam Eckfeldt, that tied George Washington directly to the creation of the 1792 half dismes. Then Carl demonstrated that the true author of the memorandum was Philadelphia local historian John McAllister, Jr, and that McAllister created  three separate versions of the memorandum (see "The Mystery of 'J. Mc' and the Eckfeldt Memo," The Numismatist, June, 1996).

When Len Augsburger, Pete Smith, and I wrote 1792:  Birth of a Nation's Coinage, our monograph on the first products of the infant United States Mint, it was clear to us that the book should be dedicated to Carl, in recognition of his great contributions to the study of the 1792 coinage.  We wanted to surprise him with the news; he died before that could be arranged.  While we are sad that he never knew he had received such fitting recognition, we are glad to be able to give credit where credit is due, and to recognize the achievements of a fine man whose voice was silenced too soon. 

As Carl said of Ard Browning, so we say of him:  "In the twilight of his journey, while following an avocation and a "star" [he] is among his fellows, home with us today."

For references to Carl in the Newman Portal, see: 

https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/searchwithterms?searchterm=carl%20herkowitz

JOHN REICH JOURNAL ON THE NEWMAN PORTAL

The latest addition to the Newman Numismatic Portal is the John Reich Journal. Project Coordinator Len Augsburger provided the following report.
-Editor

The John Reich Journal, published by the John Reich Collectors Society (JRCS), is now accessible on the Newman Portal for the years 1986-2014. Launched by David Davis in 1986, the Journal focuses on early United States silver (and to a lesser extent gold) coinage bearing the Flowing Hair, Draped Bust, and Capped Bust designs. 

Davis served as club president until 2011, and Brad Karoleff has capably served in the same position since.  Karoleff is also the current Journal editor.  Authors in the   Journal include John McCloskey, Russell Logan, Steve Crain, Jules Reiver, and many others.  More recently, David Finkelstein and Garrett Ziss have contributed important articles.  Many thanks to JRCS president Brad Karoleff for assistance with this project.

Image: 1802 JR-1 dime reported  by David Lange in the July 2013 John Reich Journal, the second known specimen. The obverse is distinguished by a gap between stars 3 and 4 at the left, the reverse by recutting in the leftmost star.

Link to John Reich Journal on the Newman Portal: 

https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/518721

For more information on the John Reich Collectors Society, see their newly updated web site: 

http://jrcs.org/

CONFERENCE: MONEY IN THE EARLY MODERN ATLANTIC

Thanks to Greg Burns for sharing this May 5-6, 2017 UCLA conference announcement.
-Editor

Coins of the Realm: Money, Value, and Sovereignty in the Early Modern Atlantic

Date/Time
Friday, May 5, 2017
10:00 am – 4:45 pm

Location
6275 Bunche Hall, UCLA
315 Portola Plaza

The conference addresses key relationships between money-forms and political authority during major transitions in the British Atlantic economy associated with the Stuart Restoration, the financial revolution, the Board of Trade and Plantations, and the Royal African Company. Of central importance is the Great Recoinage of 1696, which attempted to restore England’s national currency by realigning the nominal values of coins with their material worth as gold and silver.

While much has been written on the fiscal side of this misguided monetary policy, this conference approaches it as an epistemological crisis precipitated by the disassociation of fluctuating exchange-values of bullion from the imprinted sign-values of the coins themselves, as designated by the sovereign’s mark. Responding to the material effects of clipping, debasement and counterfeiting coins by restoring the currency to its “true” metallic value, the Great Recoinage attempted to stabilize the state’s control over labile markets in the colonies, and the multiple forms of currency, barter and contraband in which international trade was transacted. 

Equating signs of sovereignty with substances of value in the metropole, coins of the realm were destabilized in the periphery, where risky conversions and transmutations of value challenged the symbolic foundations of British monarchy. Papers will draw on cases from England, the West Indies, colonial North America, and West Africa to highlight emergent connections between monetary value and political sovereignty in the early modern Atlantic.

Speakers
Alex Borucki, University of California, Irvine
Mara Caden, Ph.D. Candidate, Yale University
Daniel Carey, National University of Ireland, Galway
Barrie Cook, British Museum
Mark G. Hanna, University of California, San Diego
Catherine A. J. Molineux, Vanderbilt University
Jotham Parsons, Duquesne University
Elvira Vilches, Duke University
Chi-ming Yang, University of Pennsylvania

For more information, or to register, see: 

Coins of the Realm: Money, Value, and Sovereignty in the Early Modern Atlantic

(http://www.1718.ucla.edu/events/coins/)

THE BOOK BAZARRE

 SHIELD, LIBERTY HEAD, BUFFALO, JEFFERSON. . . . .  
The 3rd edition of Whitman Publishing’s MEGA RED (the Deluxe Edition Guide Book of United States Coins) includes a 314-page illustrated feature on nickel five-cent pieces from 1866 to date, covering 545 varieties, in-depth coin-collecting history, data, pricing, market analysis, and more! Get your copy for $49.95—online
at 
Whitman.com
, or call 1-800-546-2995.

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 30, 2017

 1953 Manship Portrait by Paul Jenewein

Tony Terranova submitted this image of a 1953  Portrait of Paul Manship by Paul Jenewein.  Thanks!
-Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 

COMPLETE SET OF MANSHIP ASHTRAY MEDALS OFFERED

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n17a33.html)

 More on Bob Vlack 
Jeff Rock writes:

In the April 9 issue you asked about a French Colonies coin --  the envelope was typed by none other than Bob Vlack, and I had quite a few from him over the years (indeed, my interest in the series started with looking at examples he had in his case at one of the ANA shows in the 1980's).  Bob would set up at the Colonia Coin Collectors CLub (C4) gatherings until his health deteriorated, and he was always my first stop so that I could look at the French Colonies pieces he had out, which were always duplicates from his collection.

I've seen his envelopes in black, green and red ink, and some of the earlier ones feature the flying witch motif from the 19th century token that reads "WE ALL HAVE OUR HOBBIES" -- quite fitting since his address at the time was near Salem, Massachusetts!   Hopefully people recognize the importance of these envelopes in establishing pedigree -- and it couldn't help but add value to the coin when you know it was in the collection of the man who wrote the book on the series!

Thanks again for all you do for this journal -- and how amazing that the run from 2000 to 3000 readers went a LOT faster than the 1000 to 2000 mark did!  And thanks for the Jamestown blurb as well -- hopefully more people will put this into their travel plans, especially if they are going to see Colonial Williamsburg.

We did get an identification of the envelope in the next issue, which Jeff hadn't seen yet -he's been travelling and getting caught up on his E-Sylum reading.  Thanks for the additional background on Vlack.
-Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see: 

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 16, 2017 : Bob Vlack's Coin Envelopes

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n16a16.html)

NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: APRIL 9, 2017 : 1640 French Colonial Fleur de lis Counterstamp

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n15a26.html)

JAMESTOWN COINS AND COUNTERS EXHIBIT

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n15a15.html)

 More on the Perpetual Calendar Medal 

Gary Dunaier writes:

Regarding the 1955-1982 perpetual calendar medal: that design and format must have been used for a long time.  I remember getting one in the Philadelphia's Franklin Institute gift shop in 1975, 20 years after the medal shown.  They must have updated these every year, because the medal I got covered the period 1975-2002.  I wonder how long these things were made?

Good question, and something some collector somewhere might be able to address.  I lifetime of accumulating different examples from flea markets and eBay could shed light on the range of dates seen.
-Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 

VOCABULARY TERM: CALENDAR MEDAL

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n17a16.html)

 More on the the 1908 London Olympic Games Participation Medal 
Regarding the 1908 London Olympic Games participation medal
Ron Haller-Williams writes:

You said "Beautiful medal. Unfortunately, only the obverse is shown."  So take a look at this...

Thanks.  I pictured the gold one on the web page Ron cited.  VERY beautiful medal!
-Editor

To read the complete web page, see: 

http://olympic-museum.de/pmedals/olympic-games-participation-medals-1908.php

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 

NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: APRIL 23, 2017 : 

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n17a23.html)

 More on English Coin Weights 
Regarding the 1772 English Coin Weight,
Ron Haller-Williams writes:

This coin weight was not very carefully catalogued – it is for a half guinea, "coined since 1772", and could not have been made before August 1773.

And, by the way, at $175.00 it is heavily over-priced – in that condition, I think the seller would be very lucky to get 20% of the asking figure!

The Mint was required to produce 89 guineas from 2 pounds troy of standard gold, so the theoretical weight (as struck) of a guinea would be 5 pennyweights and 9.438 grains, with the half-guinea at 2 pennyweights and 16.719 grains.

On 23 July 1773 the Treasury issued an Order (published in the London Gazette on 31 July 1773) specifying a minimum acceptable weight of 2 pennyweights (Dwt) and 16 grains (Gr), i.e. 4.147 grams, for coins in circulation if dated 1772 onwards.

See the last paragraph on "page 108" of the nice article at 

http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/2004_BNJ_74_10.pdf
.

Another good article is at

http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/2001_BNJ_71_11.pdf
.

The best reference for our (British) coin weights is 
Paul and Bente Withers, "British Coin-Weights" (Llanfyllin, 1993)

Thanks!  Andy Singer also recommends the WIthers book.
-Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 

NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: APRIL 23, 2017 : 1772 English Coin Weight, King George III, 2 DWT, 16 GR. 

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n17a23.html)

 41st Maastricht Show Report
Tony Pisciotta writes:

 SPRING Maastrich Report......THE BUZZ IS BACK!!!!!

     I have just returned from my 41st Maastricht Show in the Netherlands and am still bumping into walls, but wanted to get my comments posted before anyone else yelled at me for being lazy.

    This show was the best, most active show in at least 10 years and maybe EVER.  It was my good fortune to pick up some nice fresh material from an old time collection and it virtually flew off the shelves as soon as the notes were acquired.  This year, the pre-bourse (where the REAL action is) was held in the same venue as the show and it added to the BUZZ and overall level of activity.  Because of the change in venue, we stayed at a different hotel and it was great (thanks, Dennis for making all the arrangements).  A couple of new (to us) restaurants which were also great.

    The mantra remains..."Fresh, scarce material is in tremendous demand."  The Russians, Chinese and Eastern Europeans seemed to be the most aggressive buyers, but this time they were buying "The World" rather than just their native countries.  Better British Colonial and French Colonial, along with Middle East seemed to be market leaders as has been the trend lately.

    Overall, the show was superb, the people were as crazy as ever, and the laughs were more than plentiful.  A "special thanks" to Dennis Hengeveld, Jeremy Steinberg, Mike Findlay, Paul Walters, Jaime Sanz and too many others to mention, for making my trip so enjoyable.  You guys are the best!

Thanks to Martin Kaplan for bringing Tony's report to our attention.
-Editor

To read the complete article, see: 

SPRING Maastrich Report......THE BUZZ IS BACK!!!!!

(http://www.banknotesoftheworld.com/index_main.htm?Submit3=Contact+Me)

THE UNDERTAKERS’ RIOT MEDAL

Jeremy Bostwick writes:

I saw the Neptune Sea Chariot medal from the April 16 Numismatic Nuggets section.  I remember cataloging one a few years back while at CNG. Interestingly enough, it deals with undertakers.

Never would have guessed that connection!  Thanks.  Here's the lot description.
-Editor

LOW COUNTRIES, Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden (Dutch Republic). Amsterdam. 1581-1795. AR Medal (37mm, 26.84 g, 12h). Commemorating the Resolution of the Civic Unrest in Amsterdam. By J. Boskam. Dated 1696 in Roman numerals. MOTOS · PRÆSTAT · COMPONERE · FLUCTUS (he stands ready to control the billowing waves, –adapted from Virgil), Neptune, holding trident and extending arm, standing upon carriage pulled rightward by two sea horses; coat-of-arms of Amsterdam behind; to far left and right, personifications of the wind blowing upon the stormy seas; in foreground, two kingfishers (Halcyons) floating in a nest / HALCYONIBUS · REDUCTIS/SENATUS · AMSTELOD/CIVIBUS · SUIS · HOC/ANTIQUÆ · VIRTUTIS/SPECTATÆQ · FIDEI/PRÆMIUM · LARGITUR (the Halcyons having returned, the Amsterdam city council grants unto her citizens this gift of ancient virtue and wondrous faith) in six lines on banner, the same two doves floating in a nest upon calm seas; rising sun upon the horizon; in two
  lines in exergue, MDCXCVI/I·BOSKAM·F·. Van Loon IV, pp. 161-2. Good VF, toned, small scratch in the field on the obverse.

Following the passage of a new law which planned to cut the number of men working as an undertaker’s man from 300 to 72, the aanspreker (undertakers) spread rumors around the city that, due to these proposed changes, the city’s poor would no longer be able to expect proper burials. The ensuing riot grew from just the poor to the city’s sailors as well, with unruly crowds attacking the homes of the various civic leaders. The riot was eventually quelled, but only after a number of deaths among the city’s elite.

"Riot Medals" would be an interesting specialty - there was the New York draft riot, the Haymarket Square riot, the Tulsa Race Riot, and others.  We touched on the topic briefly in 2004.   Has anyone written on the topic more recently?  Such a collection would make for a fascinating and diverse exhibit.
-Editor

To read the complete lot description, see: 

Aansprekersoproer – The Undertakers’ Riot

(https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=224691)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see: 

NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: APRIL 16, 2017 : 1696 Netherlands Neptune Sea Chariot Medal

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n16a26.html)

NUMISMATICS & RIOTS

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v07n15a20.html)

NUMISMATICS AND RIOTS

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v07n16a15.html)

NUMISMATICS AND RIOTS

(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v07n17a17.html)

CHURCH DONATION COIN BRINGS $517,000

The Chicago Tribune reported on April 28, 2017 the selling price of the 1866 Proof $20 With Motto coin that had been donated to an Indiana church.
-Editor

The new GracePoint church struck gold Thursday when a donated $20 coin was sold at auction for $517,000.

The auction of a rare 1866 Double Eagle gold $20 proof coin, stamped with "In God We Trust," fetched well over the estimated sale price of $300,000. A woman who belonged to the church donated the coin recently as officials there faced a financing deadline for a building project.

Heritage Auctions sold the coin during a combination live and online auction that closed with the winning bid at 10 p.m. Thursday. The live auction was held at a Schaumburg, Ill., convention center, part of a premium event for high-dollar items, but the final bid came in online, after officials said bidding was so intense, amounts were going up in $20,000 increments. The buyer has not been disclosed.

The church will not receive all of the money from the sale, said Ben Lamb, GracePoint's pastor. The actual sale price was $440,000, with premium auction fees paid by the buyer making up the rest of the bid.

The church's take of that, after paying out its auction fees, is $418,000, Lamb said. Since Heritage Auctions gave GracePoint officials $150,000 up front when they agreed to auction the coin, the church will receive the remaining balance of $268,000.

"With the most recent construction costs and equipment going up like they have, we needed the coin to sell for more than $300,000 to help with the unforeseen extra expenses," Lamb said, "However, we obviously would have been grateful for it to sell for $300,000, but getting more helps with the deficit so greatly."

Lamb declined further comment and said now that the auction is over, "we're just trying to gratefully move on and do ministry."

To read the complete article, see: 

Church's rare coin sold for $517,000

(www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-church-rare-coin-auction-st-0429-20170428-story.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 

CHURCH DONATION: 1866 DOUBLE EAGLE WITH MOTTO

(www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n16a12.html)

VOCABULARY TERM: PRESS ROOM

Dick Johnson submitted this entry from his Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Terminology.  Thanks.  
-Editor

A modern press room in a mint or medal manufacturer is more like an industrial plant.  Coining presses shown here can strike coins and coin-like medals in large quantities. Photo courtesy Medallic  Art Company, Dayton, Nevada.

 Press Room. 
Enclosed area where one or more presses of any kind are located. National mints, large private mints and medal firms will have a number of coining presses to produce coins in large quantities. Medal presses – hydraulic or toggle–joint presses – can be located in the same room as coining presses, or in separate rooms. A pressroom foreman will be in charge of all operations and all presses. Once automatic coining presses are SET UP with dies in proper position, with proper impression and blank feeding is functioning properly one PRESSMAN can oversee two or more presses. His tasks include frequent inspection of struck specimens. He is also attuned to the sound the presses make and must act quickly if the sound changes. See PRESSES AND PRESSROOM PRACTICES. A balcony is frequently above the press room floor for visitors to view the minting operations.

Once a mint abandons its building it is interesting what a pressroom continues as in an afterlife. The Philadelphia Mint at Sixteenth and Spring Gardens Streets became available after moving to a new building in 1966 after 65 years of service. The building was acquired by the Community College of Philadelphia. What was once the press room became the library and the balcony housed study carrels.
CLASS 06.5

Looking for the meaning of a numismatic word, or the description of a term?  Try the Newman Numismatic Portal's Numismatic Dictionary at:

https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionary

LYMAN WILLIAM HOFFECKER (1868-1955)

John Lupia submitted the following information from the draft of his   Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatic Biographies for this week's installment of his series. Thanks! As always, this is an excerpt with the full draft article and bibliography available online. This week's subject is collector, dealer, and ANA President L. W. Hoffecker.
-Editor

Lyman William Hoffecker (1868-1955), was born the eldest of five children on September 27, 1868, son of Hiram H. Hoffecker (1839-1912), a wheelwright and carriage maker, and Hannah E. Mack Hoffecker (1836-1906), at Tunkkannock, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania.

            In 1886, at eighteen he began collecting coins while working at the Dalton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Post Office as a letter carrier.

In 1900, he and his wife Cora and daughter Merle moved to El Paso, Texas, at 1110 Texas Street, and worked as a carpenter and in the wholesale glass and building materials business. Learning the business he opened L. W.  Hoffecker Door & Sash Company in the building materials trade. In November 1918, he went to Belgium purchasing glass for retail sale in America. Also, in 1918 he went to Mexico as a building contractor.

            In 1910, he and his family and his father Hiram lived at 1514 Montana Street, El Paso, Texas, working in the Plate Glass business.

            On July 4, 1915 Cora Hoffecker died of stomach cancer, and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, El Paso, Texas...

            About 1919, he married Sarah Jane Jennie Watkins (1889-1954), a native of Kentucky...

 In 1922, he retired from the building materials trade business. After retirement Hoffecker devoted his time to world travels and coin collecting and dealing. He visited 72 foreign countries and brought back home many numismatic specimens for his collection and for his inventory for sales.

            In 1924, he joined the ANA and became Member No. 2610.

            In 1929, Hoffecker had his first volley into the initiation of U. S. Commemorative coins was his plan to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Gadsden Purchase of 1854, ratified in 1854. He erected a Commission at El Paso, headed by himself to plan the design and promote its advocacy among the appropriate Congressional Committee members. It was approved. However, President ... Hoover vetoed it...

Both Hoffecker and Thomas L. Elder worked to influence the U. S. legislation on commemorative coinage, which looked very bleak in the first months of 1935.   It was widely thought at that time that U. S. Commemorative coins would be entirely discontinued.    Elder wrote aggressively on the subject appealing to continue and promoted U. S. Commemorative coinages. Hoffecker worked with his local historical society and museum. He became the chairman of the El Paso Museum Coin Committee. And, in 1935, he designed the Old Spanish Trail Commemorative Half Dollar engraved by sculptor Edmund Senn, and became the distributer for the Museum. The profits made in sales were for funding the Museum.

Hoffecker and his wife Sarah opened Watkins Coin Co. in El Paso, Texas, so-called after her maiden name. They advertised in Hobbies : The Magazine For Collectors.

>From 1936 - 1939 he served on the ANA Board of Governors.
In 1939, he was elected the 22nd President of the ANA.
            In 1942, he became ANA Life Member No. 68.

His collection was sold together with that of Joseph C. Rovensky at auction by B. Max Mehl, Sale #115, on November 30, 1954.

He died of arteriosclerotic heart disease on January 13, 1955. He is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. 

To read the complete article, see: 

HOFFECKER, LYMAN WILLIAM

(https://sites.google.com/a/numismaticmall.com/www/numismaticmall-com/hoffecker-lyman-william)

BANGLES: SELLING COINS FOR MAKING LOVE TOKENS

Carol Bastable is the President and webmaster of the Love Token Society and also writes for the society's newsletter, the Love Letter.  With permission we're publishing this excerpt of her latest article on where people got some of the coins used to make love tokens.  Thanks for submitting this!
-Editor

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