The E-Sylum v20n50 December 3, 2017

The E-Sylum esylum at binhost.com
Sun Dec 3 19:30:10 PST 2017 

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


Volume 20, Number 50, December 3, 2017
**
WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM DECEMBER 3, 2017
<#a01>
**
EPNNES DONATIONS TO NUMISMATIC ORGANIZATIONS
<#a02>
**
KOLBE & FANNING BUY OR BID SALE NUMBER 5
<#a03>
**
NEW BOOK: LIBERTY SEATED DOLLARS
<#a04>
**
DIRTY OLD BOOKS: CRAIG’S GERMANIC COINAGES
<#a05>
**
ARCHIE TAYLOR, JR. (1951-2017)
<#a06>
**
RUTH HILL INVENTORY ADDED TO NEWMAN PORTAL
<#a07>
**
NEWMAN PORTAL SEARCH: 101 RANCH
<#a08>
**
WORLD NUMISMATICS ON THE NEWMAN PORTAL 
<#a09>
**
JOEL ISKOWITZ AND NARRATIVE ART ON U.S. COINAGE
<#a10>
**
MORE ON THE DELAWARE TERCENTENARY MEDAL
<#a11>
**
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: DECEMBER 3, 2017
<#a12>
**
THE 1818 “I OVER 0” REVERSE HALF EAGLE
<#a13>
**
MEDAL-ENGRAVING MACHINES AND ANAGLYPTOGRAPY
<#a14>
**
VOCABULARY TERM: ANAGLYPTOGRAPHY
<#a15>
**
ALBERT FORREST MOSIER (1866-1892)
<#a16>
**
THE BELA LYON PRATT SESQUICENTENNIAL
<#a17>
**
BOB LEONARD'S NUMISMATIC MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE
<#a18>
**
COINAGE PRESSES AND THE ENGINEER’S THUMB
<#a19>
**
ALEX SHAGIN’S SHERLOCK HOLMES MEDALS
<#a20>
**
WSJ HIGHLIGHTS MINT'S PROOF COIN MARKUP
<#a21>
**
1913 LIBERTY NICKEL HOLDER BRINGS $10,800
<#a22>
**
ROMAN SERRATED DENARII
<#a23>
**
THE 1868 CYRUS FIELD CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL
<#a24>
**
SWAZILAND COINS STAND IN FOR POUNDS
<#a25>
**
BANKNOTE OF THE YEAR NOMINEES
<#a26>
**
THE TWO DOLLAR BILL BOOK
<#a27>
**
NEW BOOK: THE MEDIEVAL GIRDLE BOOK
<#a28>
**
GOLD COIN HOARD FOUND IN FOOD DONATION
<#a29>
**
HAVE A NUMISMATIC CHRISTMAS
<#a30>
**
FEATURED WEB PAGE: OAK SAPLING ON GERMAN COINS
<#a31>





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





Content presented in The E-Sylum  is not necessarily researched or independently fact-checked, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.



WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM DECEMBER 3, 2017





No new subscribers this week. 
We now have 3,318 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 a note on the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society donations to numismatic organizations, Kolbe & Fanning's latest numismatic literature buy or bid sale, one new book and a review of an old one: Craig's Germanic Coinages.


Other topics this week include Archie Taylor, Ruth Hill, Joel Iskowitz, Alex Shagin, Bela Lyon Pratt, the 1818 "I over O" reverse half eagle, the 1913 Liberty Nickel case, medal-engraving machines and anaglyptograpy.


To learn more about roman serrated denarii, the 1868 Cyrus Field medal, Liberty Seated Dollar die varieties, Stack’s Numismatic Review, challenge coins, Bob Leonard's numismatic Mediterranean cruise, 
 the pronking springbok, the Dingle Penny, the 101 Ranch, and the two-dollarbill book, read on. Have a great week, everyone!


Wayne Homren 
Editor, The E-Sylum





EPNNES DONATIONS TO NUMISMATIC ORGANIZATIONS


Last week the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society (EPNNES) made the following announcement.
-Editor




EPNNES Thanksgiving Donations to Numismatic Organizations





 In the spirit of Thanksgiving and to honor the field that was a life-long source of joy and discovery for Eric P. Newman, the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society (EPNNES) is making a number of one-time gifts to organizations dedicated to the study and promotion of numismatics.


EPNNES desires to acknowledge the work of various national, regional, and specialty groups and to further encourage the pursuit of scholarship and collaboration.  Newman was active in many numismatic societies throughout his long collecting career and understood the value of working with fellow collectors and researchers in order to advance the science of numismatics.


EPNNES particularly wishes to recognize groups that have freely shared information with the wider numismatic community.  Organizations receiving gifts will be contacted directly by EPNNES in the coming weeks.



This is great news for the receiving organizations.  I spoke briefly with Newman Numismatic Portal Project Coordinator Len Augsburger; NNP is also funded by EPNNES.  Checks are starting to go out to over 40 organizations and will total over $250,000 in all.   What a generous gift to the numismatic community! These funds will be a big help to many deserving groups.
-Editor







 



KOLBE & FANNING BUY OR BID SALE NUMBER 5


Numismatic Booksellers Kolbe & Fanning submitted this announcement of their fifth “Buy or Bid Sale” which closes on December 11, 2017.
-Editor




Kolbe & Fanning Announce Buy or Bid Sale #5 Through December 11





Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers have announced their fifth “Buy or Bid Sale,” which begins now and will close on Monday, December 11. The sale focuses on modestly priced books, giving collectors an opportunity to add to their libraries at minimal cost.


There will be no printed catalogue. The PDF catalogue is available now for downloading from the Kolbe & Fanning website at 
numislit.com. 


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


The sale includes over 1400 works on ancient, medieval and modern coins, as well as general works, periodicals and sale catalogues. “Buy” prices have been kept low to promote sales. To further encourage participation, the firm is offering free domestic shipping to bidders spending at least $500; there will also be no packing and processing fee for this sale. Again, please read the Terms of Sale before participating. 


If you have any questions about the sale, please write the firm at orders at numislit.com. 


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

numislit.com.
 



NEW BOOK: LIBERTY SEATED DOLLARS


A new book on Liberty Seated Dollar die varieties is being published.  Here's the information.
-Editor






Liberty Seated Dollars

A Register of Die Varieties


By Dick Osburn and Brian Cushing


Dick Osburn and Brian Cushing announce the release of their new book on Liberty Seated Dollars. The book will be formally released at the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) winter convention in Tampa, Florida. The show begins on
Wednesday, January 3, and ends on Sunday, January 7. Dick and Brian will be signing the book at their table – Dick Osburn Rare Coins.


The book covers all Liberty Seated dollars, beginning in 1840 and ending in 1873. Both business strikes and proofs are included. All known die marriages of each issue are described in detail, with estimated rarity ratings for each die marriage.
Each issue is described in a separate chapter, a total of 48 chapters for the series. Also included are chapters on Terminology, Collecting Liberty Seated Halves, Grading, Rarity, Survival Rates and Population Estimates, Proofs vs. Business Strikes, and Restrikes. A Top-30 list of varieties is described in another chapter.


Pre-publication prices (prior to January 1, 2018):’

Spiral bound:
$85.00

Hard-bound (limited edition):
$115.00

Loose-leaf, punched for a 3-hole binder: 
$80.00


Post-publication prices (beginning January 1, 2018):’

Spiral bound:
$95.00

Hard-bound:
$129.00

Loose-leaf: 
$85.00


Send check or money order to:


Dick Osburn

Box 596

Kemah, TX 77565


For more information on the new book please contact:


Dick Osburn
713-875-5860
dickosburn at comcast.net


Brian Cushing
603-767-7745
bpcushing at gmail.com





 



DIRTY OLD BOOKS: CRAIG’S GERMANIC COINAGES


Paul Withers of Galata Coins in Llanfyllin, Wales submitted these thoughts on Dirty Old Books in general, and one in particular: Craig’s Germanic Coinages.  Thanks!
-Editor



I recall that many years ago I either heard someone say, or saw in print somewhere ‘there is
nothing so fascinating as an old newspaper’; to which you might add ‘and old books’.


 We are still processing for sale the books that we bought, a long while ago, from the library of
Professor Philip Grierson. There are many treasures, and already a pile of books that will go no
further than our own library, though there are many more that we hope will find new owners to
cherish them. For me, there is always a little frisson of delight when I use a book that has
belonged at some time to a numismatist of note, especially those I have known, or with whom I
have corresponded.


 One of the old books that has come to light is a copy of William D Craig’s Germanic Coinages,
a remarkable work which was published in 1954 and is still useful today.


 But let me take you back to 1954. Here in the UK, although the war was over and rationing had
just finished, there was still general austerity and goods although no longer rationed by law, were
rationed by price. Just after the war in Europe, we did not have what is now termed a refugee
problem, in those days they were called ‘displaced persons’. Factory workers worked a 48-hour
week and £10 for a week’s work was a reasonably good wage.


 Our house had an electricity supply, hot and cold running water and an indoor toilet, you might
say we were flush, certainly, we were compared to my maternal grandfather whose home was lit
by gas and candles, and his water supply was cold water only. His sanitation was an outdoor
earth and ashes closet.


 Television, black and white, of course, was beginning to become available, though you had to be
relatively well off to afford a set. A great deal of effort had been made the previous year, 1953,
to make it available here in Wales so that people could view the coronation as it happened. We
didn’t have a set, so my family, who had the day off for the big event, walked five minutes down
the street, to the house of my uncle Alfred’s father, a retired pensioner from the Boer war. His
many children had clubbed together to buy the television set for him, the biggest and best
available. He was a lovely old chap and he and his wife had a large number of children now all
grown up. He had come back from the Boer war in South Africa in 1901 and returned to mining,
only to have an accident that precluded him from taking part in the next conflict. He smoked a
pipe, the smell of which I loved. He wore a waistcoat, with four pockets that seemed always to
have something interesting for his numerous grandchildren, and he seemed not to worry that I
wasn’t directly related to him, I lived in the same street and one of his sons was married to my
mother’s sister.


To a young child his waistcoat pockets seemed truly magic, there were always wrapped sweets,
real treasures in the days when they were rationed, but his wife had a shop and presumably
sources for buying such goodies, although I suspect now that these were black market. Another
pocket housed a large gold watch, which was on the end of a double Albert, from the other end of
which there dangled a seal, which rotated, and a coin, not an ordinary sovereign, but an ‘oom’
Paul Kruger pond, which he had brought back from South Africa when the war ended. He
explained that Oom (“Uncle”) Paul was president of the Transvaal, or South African Republic,
from 1883 until his flight to Europe when the South African (Boer) war broke out.
It was June 2nd, 1953 and I was proudly wearing the new black blazer, onto which my mother
had sewn the badge of the town grammar school, for which I had passed what was in those days
called ‘the scholarship’.


That morning, or perhaps the day before, we had heard a radio announcement that Mount Everest
had been climbed by a British team including Edmund Hilary, who was almost immediately
knighted for his efforts, never mind the fact that it was his Sherpa guide Tensing who was the
first to the summit ! India, and much of the rest of the world was still part of the glorious British
Empire and the Dominions beyond the Sea. What a triumph for coronation day !


Although my parents didn’t have a television set, entertainment was available several nights per
week if we took a bus ride to one of the town’s four cinemas just a mile or two away, and if we
walked home instead of taking the bus, we could afford a fish and chip supper from a shop that
we passed on the way. That year we were even going on holiday to stay with my father’s aunt
Clara, in Worcester. All was well in the world.


 I didn’t know it, but far away, in California, where another of my father’s aunts lived, William D
Craig, a lawyer, then in his early 30s, was about to publish Germanic Coinages.


My British-born American great aunt Beat(rice), after whom my father’s sister was named, in the
hope of a legacy, was something of a legend in our family. She sent us food and other parcels
during the war, one of which I remember particularly well, contained a cowboy doll with leather
leggings, with which I was not allowed to play because I might get it dirty. This didn’t worry me
unduly because I had a panda, which I much preferred, because whilst I could cuddle a cute little
panda, I certainly didn’t want to cuddle a cowboy, with or without leggings, even if he did have a
gun. Great aunt B evidently didn’t go in for much cuddling either, for her husband was never
mentioned. However, she must have been rich because she not only had a car, which she could
drive, she had a pilot’s licence, and could and did fly small aircraft to ferry her boss around,
amazing to a small boy who lived in a tiny town where vehicles were often still horse-drawn, and
until relatively recently the appearance of aircraft was preceded by sirens warning us to take
shelter before the bombs fell.


 However, back to Craig, who was born in the USA around 1920. He became an attorney, but his
passion was not the law, but German coins. In 1954, he published Germanic Coinages
(Charlemagne through Wilhelm II), which became the standard reference in the field.
The Galata website has the following description of the book:
 

William D Craig. Published by the author, Mountain View, California, USA. HB (linen cloth)
viii + 242 pages, illustrated with several hundred line drawings. With separate 16 page stapled
supplement, and duplicated instruction slip on how to use it. 172 x 248mm.
 

So what distinguishes this from other books published at the time and a great many that have
been produced since ?


Here is part of the author’s preface, which tells us some of the story. He says:


“This book has been compiled to meet what I have long considered an urgent necessity. The field
of German numismatics, often termed "the greatest speciality," has been almost neglected outside
Germany itself because of the difficulty and expense encountered by novices attempting to
attribute their first German coins. One could readily purchase publications on the currency of
Greece, Rome, Latin America or Britain for a small sum, but a decent-sized library has been
required to even begin with Central Europe. Since most collectors are loathe to acquire reference
libraries disproportionately more valuable than the coins they describe, interest in the German
series has lagged.
To alter this situation, some sort of general catalog has been badly needed. However, in view of
the several hundred thousand coins involved, any attempt to compile even a list of major types
was destined to economic failure. As a substitute, numerous experts have written catalogs
limited to the monies of individual states. Other catalogers have listed the contents of large public
and private collections in Europe. Still others, like J W Scott, Eklund, and Professor Davenport,
have compiled more or less complete lists of certain coin types such as coppers or thalers. Thus
the field has been covered in vertical and horizontal cross section, as well as by the scatter-shot
method, but no one has produced a reference work which, by itself, could be used to attribute the
majority of German coins the ordinary collector is likely to encounter. This handbook is my
effort in that direction.
In addition to outlining the realm of German numismatics for the beginner, this work is designed
as a source of basic information for the advanced student and dealer. It should prove invaluable
as an aid to rapid and complete attribution of large lots.”



In short, this is a serious, considered and well-thought-out work, the like of which had not been
published before. It was the book that Craig needed when he started to collect Germanic
coinages. Along with the works of Dalton & Hamer, Charles W Peck, it goes onto my list of the
top ten books that ought to form part of every numismatic library.


He continues:
“As shown in the Table of Contents which follows, the present volume contains, at least in
sketchy fashion, data on nearly every factor useful in identifying Central European coinage.”


The contents of those chapters are as follows:-
 1. A Simple Guide to Heraldry. II. German Armorial Devices. III. The German States: History
and Rulers. IV. General Monetary History of Germany. V. Mints and Mintmarks. VI. Glossary
of Monetary Units and Terms. There are appendices:- A. Rulers' Monograms Identified. B.
Patron Saints Identified. C. Counterstamps Found on German Coins. D. Place Names. E.
Translations of German and Latin Titles. F. Table of Coin Denominations.
Its worst defects, as the author admits, are (1) insufficient information to attribute more than a
portion of German medieval currency, and (2) the absence of lists of mintmarks. “These have
been eliminated perforce due to space considerations.


Coins of the Middle Ages are best identified through familiarity based on experience. The next
best means is through the lavish use of photographs. These are quite costly, and since beginners
rarely obtain unattributed medieval currency, pictures are not a sound investment here.
Mintmarks are often highly useful as an aid to attribution, but inclusion of a reasonably complete
list of them would double the size of the present volume. Consequently, it is suggested that
anyone interested in this phase of German numismatics consult Leonard Forrer's monumental
work, A Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, published in London during the early part of the
century.”


What Craig does not tell us is the real reason why there is no German book on German coins
written by a native-born German. Personally, I have always thought that it was a slur on Germany
that the standard reference on German coins was written by an American. However, most
Germans collect only the coins of their own state or region of Germany prior to 1874, the coins of
United Germany from 1874, or some collect the coins of the 3rd Reich, or those of the DDR, or
modern Germany. Nowadays some collect only the euro coinage issued in Germany – but then
there have always been collectors with no imagination.


The current situation regarding the availability of the fundamental works on German coins has
not changed greatly. A fair number of the important ones were reprinted back in the 1950s to
commemorate the centenary of their original publication. Wonderful, but many of them were
self-defeating for they were often printed only in the same numbers as the original printing,
usually only a hundred or so, and are also now long out of print, difficult to find and rather costly,
or both ! Worse still they are (obviously) in German and the majority of Americans, like the
largely monoglot English, suffer from that compound of arrogance, ignorance and insularity that
makes them believe that everyone should speak English because it’s a superior tongue to all
others.


For this reason, this wonderful book is just as valuable now as it was back in 1954 and just as
necessary for the thinking collector of Germanic coinage, even those who live in Germany.
Whilst writing this I discovered, through the marvels of the internet, that in 1966, Craig upped-
sticks and moved to Hobart, Tasmania. Here he discovered a new passion - philately. Over
thirty years he compiled, edited and published nine comprehensive catalogues of British
Commonwealth and Australian States revenue stamps. The first, on Tasmania, appeared in 1978;
the last, for Victoria, in 1999. The most recent update of which was issued in 2002. According
to the internet source, each of his catalogues is a scholarly work including newly researched
information that had not been published previously. Like ‘Germanic Coinage’ these were
published privately by Craig himself. Why did he do that ? Because, particularly in the USA, the
nature of the mass numismatic market is such that only those books that are cheap and cater for
the masses, will succeed. Any that are specialist, different from the norm, investigative, designed
for the thinking person, are destined never to make it make it to the top of any popularity poll, for
everything is governed by price – a sure way to replace quality and excellence with mediocrity.
 

Even more astonishing is that I could not find an obituary for Craig, so perhaps he is still alive,
nearly a century old and living quietly in the obscurity of a retirement home. Regardless of
whether he is, or not, I salute him, his spirit is still alive through his books. He inspired me to
publish under the Galata imprint numismatic books that I and others write on subjects that
deserve to be adequately researched and there are still corners of the numismatic world that need
illuminating, so I go on writing and publishing.


My own comment on this work is ‘A most informative and useful book.’
Suitable for a somewhat reserved listing of secondhand and antiquarian books. However one of
my original comments on the condition of one of the copies that we have for sale, which said
‘Dirty cover, but contents good’ had to be changed before it sold. Are present-day buyers of
books totally lacking in humour ?


To visit the Galata web site, see: 


https://www.galata.co.uk/




As of 2014 William D. Craig was reported in The E-Sylum to be alive and well in Australia at the age of 95.
-Editor



Today at a highly respectable 95 he resides in a nursing home on the Aussie mainland. His collection will comprise a major segment of Downies sale 317 on July 8-10 to be held in their Block Arcade auction rooms, 98–100 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. The catalog for this sale is currently being compiled. Interested readers wanting details will need to keep a weather eye on the Downies website: www.downies.com/aca.


To read the complete article, see: 


DOWNIES TO SELL WILLIAM D. CRAIG COLLECTION

(http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n10a09.html)
 









ARCHIE TAYLOR, JR. (1951-2017)


Carol Bastable, President of the Original Hobo Nickel Society, penned a remembrance of OHNS Past President Archie (Rollie) Taylor, Jr.  It was published with the group's Winter Auction Catalog, Vol. 26, No. 4 issue of BoTales, the club's official publication.  Here's an excerpt.
-Editor





Archie Catches the Westbound


It was at the January show in Fort Lauderdale that we began
to hear that Archie had some medical issues and the news
just got worse when he was diagnosed with cancer. Sadly
he lost the battle and passed away on October 5th . Many
of you probably already have heard by now.


Wanda let me know that Archie was cremated in
his yellow shirt and bowler hat. He wanted no fanfare, no
viewing, no special ceremonies, and his only request was
to have his ashes spread at his hobo camp at River Ranch
in FL. While he was ill he spent much time there and
enjoyed it greatly. There he was removed from all the
detrimental germs while his body was in a weakened state
from chemo and he was living out a life akin to a real
hobo in his jungle camp.


Just weeks before his passing, OHNS was at work
setting up a scholarship fund in Archie’s name. Archie
had two passions, working with kids and helping modern
carvers just getting started. Since there is already a
modern carver honorarium, we felt a fund to help YNs
would best reflect Archie’s spirit and goals. OHNS has
organized a scholarship for higher education and will
award between $500 and $1000 a year depending on what
the budget will allow. There will be more details on this
in the Spring issue of BoTales.


Once we got the call that Archie had “taken the
westbound”, we got to work with one last tribute and that
was securing a full page ad in The Numismatist (an ANA
publication) for a memorial tribute. This again required
finding funds to make it happen. Between officers, board
members, carvers, OHNS members, OHNS Facebook,
and even a check from Archie’s family, we succeeded.
These ads are few and far between, mainly due to cost
(over a grand) and are reserved for important
numismatists with many followers funding such an ad.


Archie was touched by how many people cared
for him and I think he was one of the lucky ones knowing
what he meant to people before his death. He had a great
outpouring of support both monetarily and emotionally
during his battle with cancer. Archie my friend, you will
be missed.


For more information about the Original Hobo Nickel Society, see: 


http://www.hobonickels.org/

 









RUTH HILL INVENTORY ADDED TO NEWMAN PORTAL


The latest addition to the Newman Numismatic Portal is the Ruth Hill world paper money inventory. Project Coordinator Len Augsburger provided the following report.
-Editor



The latest addition to the Newman Portal is the inventory of the Ruth Hill world paper money collection. Including thousands of notes, the handwritten inventory is divided into 43 parts, covering nearly every country in the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. 


Hill (1898-1995) was a St. Louis collector who lived close to Newman, and the two corresponded on various aspects of paper money.  She served as president of the International Bank Note Society from 1979-1981. The Hill collection was sold in 2014 by Heritage, who recognized her as the “Grand Old Lady of Paper Money Collecting in North America.”


Link to Ruth Hill inventory on Newman Portal: 


https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/523209



Link to Ruth Hill / Eric Newman correspondence on Newman Portal:


https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/515378



To read earlier E-Sylum articles about Ruth Hill, see: 


QUERY: WHERE IS THE RUTH HILL WORLD PAPER MONEY COLLECTION?

(http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n07a16.html)


MORE ON RUTH HILL

(http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n07a13.html)


MORE ON THE RUTH HILL WORLD BANKNOTE COLLECTION

(http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n08a07.html)




NEWMAN PORTAL SEARCH: 101 RANCH


Project Coordinator Len Augsburger offers observations related to content being searched for on the Newman Numismatic Portal. This week's search term is “101 Ranch”
-Editor
 


A user this week searched for “101 Ranch.”  This brought to mind a college trip cruising the 101 highway in California, a coastal route with spectacular scenery. A quick search of the Newman Portal suggests I’d be a sure loser on Numismatic Jeopardy. The October 1969 issue of Bunyan’s Chips, journal of the International Order of Wooden Money Collectors, identified a set of wooden nickels featuring the “101 Ranch Rodeo” and commemorating the 75th anniversary of Ponca City, OK.  Elsewhere, in the 1981 TAMS Journal, former ANA Executive Director Ed Rochette placed a want ad for “101 Ranch” scrip. A Johnson and Jensen auction sale catalog, 1980, cataloged a “101 Ranch” medal (lot 71) as follows:









101 Ranch Centennial Medal, 1976: 1 1/2-inch (38.2mm) copper. By Frank Hagel, stc. Obv. Trapper with long rifle. Rev. prospector panning for gold. Struck by Medallic Art Co. (72-45-5).



This all tells us there are a number of numismatic objects associated with the “101 Ranch” but still don’t tell us what it is.  That is answered in the Stack’s Bowers catalog of February 2016, lot 35, an 1899 $5 silver certificate, which writes in part, 


“….These bills circulated in an era when the Wild West was a prevailing theme in entertainment. Throughout America many traveling shows featured cowboys, Indians, horses, cattle, bison hides and other trappings. Perhaps the most successful was the 101 Ranch, headquartered in Bliss, Oklahoma, with a large traveling entourage that played in many towns and cities.”



Link to Bunyan’s Chips, October 1969


https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/521351?page=87



Link to TAMS Journal 1981, no. 6


https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/525590?page=24



Link to Johnson & Jensen Auction 6: 


https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=511036&AuctionId=518012&page=3



Link to Stack’s Bowers February 2016 Rarities Sale:


https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=517088&page=62






 



WORLD NUMISMATICS ON THE NEWMAN PORTAL 


In his latest Newman Numismatic Portal blog post, John Kraljevich reviews the many items to be found relating to world numismatics.
-Editor




The Portal Opens #3 (John Kraljevich)



The Newman Numismatic Portal has followed Eric Newman’s lead down the back roads of numismatics. Banking history, obscure auction houses, letters written to numismatists now shrouded by the fog of obscurity: it all finds equal footing here with the classic periodicals, catalogues, and reference works we all know and love. While Eric collected U.S. Federal coins, and was a pioneering researcher in fields as diverse as colonial coins and obsolete bank notes, his fields of study were not solely limited to the North American continent.


And thus, neither is the Newman Numismatic Portal.


Eric was among the first American numismatists to champion the importance of world coins that circulated in early America, from the counterfeit halfpence he researched so avidly to the Latin American coins that set the stage for our dollars and dimes. His membership in the Royal Numismatic Society remains an unusual honor for an American, even as his abiding love of British numismatics has become more common among his American countrymen.


Fortunately, researchers in wildly diverse fields of world numismatics will find abundant resources here. For now, most of the texts included on the Portal are written in English. We imagine that will not always be the case, and would love assistance identifying and sourcing important works in other languages. But even with the language restriction, NNP can help just about any research project.


Among the great treasures of the NNP’s collection of periodicals is the publication of Numismatics International, listed as the NI Bulletin. Founded in 1964, the organization is devoted solely to non-US coins. A perusal of the Bulletin’s pages yields original research on coins from every inhabited continent. Much of John S. Davenport’s research on European crowns appeared here first. Latin American specialists will find original research by Jorge Proctor, Herman Blanton, Frank Sedwick, and others, from technical treatises on die varieties to mint history. Aspects of Islamic and ancient numismatics are covered with depth and excellence. The NNP collection includes every issue from 1966 to 2015. If any field of world numismatics tempts your interest, you will find research relevant to your specialty. 


Though short-lived, Stack’s Numismatic Review (filed under N) also included original research from some of the brightest minds in the field. From 1943 to 1947, the Numismatic Review rivaled the old AJN for scholarship. Ancient coins, modern issues, world medals, and Latin American numismatics are all covered with excellent brief articles on subjects that stretch from the fascinating (“An Abortive Attempt to Establish a Mexican Mint in San Francisco” by A.F. Pradeau, December 1943) to the, well, relatively obscure (“The Bread Tokens of Hildesheim”).


 Then again, maybe you’re really into bread tokens. A search for “bread token” yields 184 hits on the NNP. Of those, 58 hits are among periodicals. Mehl’s Numismatic Monthly reveals that David Proskey exhibited a bread token of Elberfeld at the March 1917 meeting of the New York Numismatic Club. In a similar vein, Mr. Lionel L. Fletcher displayed “a break token of 1729, with reverse ‘POORE’” at the January 1930 meeting of the British Numismatic Society, as recounted in the British Numismatic Journal. Fletcher also kindly shared his “Dingle Penny of 1679.” The “Dingle Penny” was referenced by John Kleeberg in his 1992 Coinage of the Americas Conference paper on the New Yorke in America token, brought up for its similar and contemporaneous depiction of Cupid shooting an arrow at two young lovers beneath a tree.


Whether you’re into Dingle tokens, or the eight escudos of Ecuador (check out the musings and auction catalogue descriptions of Henry and William Christensen, if so), or the coins of the procurators of Judea (covered regularly in The Augur, published by the Biblical Numismatic Society from 1977 to 1983), the NNP covers much more than the coins, medals, and paper money of the United States. Go explore. You might learn something.


To read the complete article, see: 


The Portal Opens #3 (John Kraljevich)

(https://nnp.wustl.edu/blog-post/515151)





 



JOEL ISKOWITZ AND NARRATIVE ART ON U.S. COINAGE


Miles Standish  published a nice article on U.S. Mint artist Joel Iskowitz in the December 2017 Coin Dealer Newsletter Greysheet Monthly Supplement.
-Editor





Reflecting on his work with coinage during a 2015 interview, Joel Iskowitz said, “it’s very gratifying to think that my art work has such wide reach, though a majority don’t know who I am and don’t even know that it’s an artist that creates these miniature works of art.” This quotation reveals a great deal about the philosophy of a man who is a giant figure in the creation of recent American coinage, even if he is known only to a small numismatic circle. Designing coinage, he attests, is a high honor, and coins must be of the highest artistic quality.


Joel Iskowitz joined the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program as a designer in 2005. Having created over 50 U.S. coinage and medal designs issued in the last decade, he is the most prolific U.S. coinage designer of the recent era. Iskowitz had a long career as an artist before entering numismatics. Beginning in the 1970’s as an illustrator, he created album covers and postage stamps—over 2,000 designs for 40 countries. He had also completed work for NASA and the Air Force Art Program.










-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization
promoting numismatic literature. For more information please
see our web site at
http://www.coinbooks.org/.

There is a membership application available on the web site
at this address:
http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_member_app.html

To join, print the application and return it with your check
to the address printed on the application. Membership is only
$15 to addresses in the U.S., $20 for First Class mail, and
$25 elsewhere.  For those without web access, write to:

David M. Sundman, Secretary/Treasurer
Numismatic Bibliomania Society,
P. O. Box 82 Littleton, NH 03561

For Asylum mailing address changes and other membership
questions, contact David at this email address:
dsundman at LittletonCoin.com

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, just
Reply to this message, or write to the Editor at this
address: whomren at gmail.com <!-- at coinlibrary.com-->

Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers
(or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page:
https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

All past E-Sylum issues are archived on the NBS web site at this address:
http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_archive.html

Issues from September 2002 to date are also archived at this address:
http://my.binhost.com/pipermail/esylum

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.binhost.com/pipermail/esylum/attachments/20171203/cf601b0d/attachment.html>

More information about the Esylum mailing list