The E-Sylum v21n50 December 16, 2018
The E-Sylum
esylum at binhost.com
Sun Dec 16 19:32:01 PST 2018
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The E-Sylum
An electronic publication of
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society
Volume 21, Number 50, December 16, 2018
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WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM DECEMBER 16, 2018
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KOLBE & FANNING NEW WEBSITE INVENTORY
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NEW BOOK: OBJECTS OF WAR
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NEW BOOK: ORDER OF ST MICHAEL AND ST GEORGE
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CHRISTMAS COIN CARDS ON THE NEWMAN PORTAL
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PROVENANCE AND PHILATELY
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MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE ANCIENT COIN APP
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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: DECEMBER 16, 2018
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MYSTERY OBJECT: ANCIENT ROMAN NIPPLE COVER?
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VOCABULARY TERMS: BEVELED BORDER AND EDGE
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SETH H. CHADBOURNE (1836-1904)
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EXHIBIT: PROOF MORGAN DOLLARS AT 2019 FUN SHOW
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STACKING THE 1907 HIGH RELIEF DOUBLE EAGLES
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NGC NOW CERTIFIES DIES
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SELECTIONS FROM THE WEINBERG COLLECTION, PART 1
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SELECTIONS FROM THE ROBINSON JANUARY 2018 SALE
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MEDIEVAL COPPER COINS FOUND AT DELHI MOSQUE
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SILVER TWO ANNA COINS STILL POPULAR IN INDIA
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KENYA ISSUES NEW CIRCULATING COINS
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THE GREAT BELZONI
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FEYNMAN'S NOBEL PRIZE MEDAL BRINGS $975,000
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PRESENTATION MEDAL AUCTION RAISES $2,420
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NIGERIAN BANKNOTE COLLECTOR ADETUNJI OMOTOLA
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FLUTTERING BANKNOTES SHUT DOWN GERMAN ROAD
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UKRAINE MENORAH MADE WITH COINS
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THE CHRISTMAS STORY ON NOTGELD
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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 16, 2018
New subscribers this week include:
James Evans.
Welcome aboard! We now have 5,816 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 (but let me know if they are located in the European Union). Contact me at whomren at gmail.com anytime regarding your subscription, or questions, comments or suggestions about our content.
I'm travelling with my family this week and much of next week and have a backlog of articles and email I'm slowly working through. If you've written and haven't heard from me, check in next week for status. Happy holidays, everyone.
This week we open with an update from numismatic booksellers Kolbe & Fanning, two new books, and Christmas coin cards on the Newman Portal.
Other topics this week include beveled borders and edges, slabbed coin dies, stacks of high-relief double eagles, the Alan Weinberg collection, Kenya's new circulating coins, a menorah made of coins, and the Christmas story on notgeld.
To learn more about the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, William A. Pettit, Seth Chadbourne, proof Morgan dollars, the Judd-1 silver center cent, the Great Belzoni and Feynman's Nobel prize medal, read on. Have a great week, everyone!
Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum
KOLBE & FANNING NEW WEBSITE INVENTORY
Kolbe & Fanning's numismatic literature listings have been updated just in time for last-minute holiday shopping. Have a look! Here's the announcement.
-Editor
Kolbe & Fanning have been updating their website inventory of new publications in recent weeks and have added a number of recent titles to their existing retail stock of over 1000 books available for immediate purchase. Some newer titles include:
Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, Vol. 69: The Abramson Collection, Coins of Early Anglo-Saxon England and the North Sea Area. By Tony Abramson. $75
Coins Minted by the Knights in Malta. By John A. Gatt. $220
History and Coinage of the Ancient Greek Leagues, Fifth through First Centuries BC. By Steve M. Benner. $75
Medals and Tokens of the Chicago Coin Club. By William A. Burd. $45
The Copper Coins of Vermont and Interrelated Issues, 1783-1788. By Q. David Bowers. $38
Obsolete Paper Money: A Guide with Prices. By Don C. Kelly. $75
The Poland 1621 Gold 100 Ducats / Studukatówka Bydgoska 1621 Zygmunta III Wazy. By Dariusz F. Jasek. $30
The Coins of Queen Isabel II of Spain: A Detailed Study of the Coins, Patterns, and Medals of Her Reign. By Patrick O’Connor. $120
“Here We Make Italy or We Dieâ€: The Medals of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Risorgimento and Modern Italy. By Jerome J. Platt. $50
United States Proof Coins. Volume IV: Gold. By John W. Dannreuther. $250
Kolbe & Fanning’s website at
numislit.com
is always being added to, so be sure to take look and see what we have to offer!
NEW BOOK: OBJECTS OF WAR
SPINK has published a new book by Kevin Clancy on currency during wartime.
-Editor
Objects of War: Currency in a Time of Conflict
by Kevin Clancy
Published in association with the Royal Mint Museum
Softcover, colour illustrations throughout
136 pages
ISBN: 978-1-907427-90-9
War has shaped currencies, creating, abolishing and moulding them. By providing the means through which they have been fought, coins and banknotes have proved themselves an indispensable weapon of war. But the disruption that comes with conflict has seen usage of money change to cope with extreme circumstances. Coins have frequently been debased or often buried in hoards as an army advances, they have found themselves saving lives on a battlefield or becoming objects of sentiment as a memory of home. As symbols of state, money has offered the means through which victorious leaders have proclaimed their triumphs, evidenced from Roman Emperors through to the more poignant modern ways in which commemoration predominates.
In this new book Kevin Clancy, Director of the Royal Mint Museum, seeks to explore these themes, revealing how something which thrives on stability can adapt when the normal rules of life are turned upside down. Richly illustrated throughout, the book focuses principally on the experience in Britain from Tudor times but draws on other instances from around the world and across time to show how money and war have collided and influenced one another.
It is a fascinating story that will be as engaging to those with an interest in military history as much as to those of us with more than a passing interest in money.
For more information, or to order, see:
Objects of War: Currency in a Time of Conflict by Kevin Clancy
(https://spinkbooks.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59/&product_id=606)
NOTE: Charles Davis is the distributor of SPINK titles in the U.S. For information on pricing and availability, contact Charlie at
numislit at aol.com. -
-Editor
NEW BOOK: ORDER OF ST MICHAEL AND ST GEORGE
SPINK has also published a new book on one of the one of the lesser-known British medals, the Order of St Michael and St George.
Charles Davis is the distributor of SPINK titles in the U.S.
For information on pricing and availability, contact Charlie at
numislit at aol.com.
-Editor
The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by Peter Galloway
Completely revised and updated bicentenary edition
ISBN: 978-1-912667-00-0
December 2018
Hardback, jacketed
297 x 210mm, 704pp
In 2018, the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George celebrated the 200th anniversary of its foundation. Originally instituted to recognise service in the Mediterranean region, principally in Malta and the Ionian Islands, the scope of the Order has been extended on a number of occasions, and is now the main United Kingdom honour for service overseas to British interests.
The first full-length history of the Order was published in 2000, and this newly revised and updated edition is published to commemorate the bicentenary of the Order’s foundation. Fifteen chapters cover its historical development, from it use in Britain’s Mediterranean empire, its extension to the wider British Empire, its uses by the Diplomatic Service and the armed forces in, and now for overseas service generally.
The book includes a chapter on the work of Bishop Henry Montgomery (father of Field Marshal Montgomery) in creating a chapel for the Order in St Paul’s Cathedral in 1904, and another on the changing styles of the robes and insignia.
The Order of St Michael and St George is one of the lesser-known British honours, but this well-illustrated volume helps to shed a light on the Order and tells its fascinating story.
To read the complete article, see:
The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by Peter Galloway
(https://spinkbooks.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=616)
CHRISTMAS COIN CARDS ON THE NEWMAN PORTAL
Newman Numismatic Portal Project Coordinator Len Augsburger provided the following report on Christmans coin card on NNP.
Thanks.
-Editor
Giving the gift of a gold coin is an old holiday tradition, and today a variety of gift cards that survive from the turn of the 20th century serve to remind us of this delightful practice. The Eclectic Numismatic Treasure collection, a world-class grouping of primarily American numismatic exonumia, contains several examples of these vintage holiday cards. As a coin by itself is somewhat plain, the addition of a card personalized the gift and made for a more artistic presentation. Some of these cards were additionally inscribed by the presenter, creating even more of a personal connection. One such example illustrates Santa bearing a 1915 U.S. $5 Indian gold piece, while another is strictly promotional on the part of the Lansing (MI) State Savings Bank, reminding the receiver where the coin might be deposited. Of course, who would mind a bit of a “commercial†upon the occasion of finding a $20 gold piece in their Christmas stocking? Newman Portal acknowledges the Eclectic
Numismatic Treasure collector for sharing these images, and Lianna Spurrier for image editing.
Link to Eclectic Numismatic Treasure Christmas card collection on Newman Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/imagecollection/511173
PROVENANCE AND PHILATELY
Forbes Magazine published an article by Richard Lehmann on provenance in philately, but his comments are quite applicable to numismatics as well. See the complete article online.
-Editor
In the simplest term, provenance means the earliest known history of something. In more modern usage it refers to the record of ownership of an object of art or antique as a guide to authenticity or quality. Since the 1950’s’ when marketing became a recognized business discipline, provenance has evolved into one of the most powerful marketing tools on the planet. The very term provides a cachet or stature to items with a value that is hard to define. It accounts for why investors will pay tens of millions of dollars for an artwork that most of us wouldn’t give a second thought to if offered to us for $20 at a flea market. In fact, finding such an item at a flea market becomes a part of its provenance because it makes such a good story. Philately is full of such stories.
Provenance’s importance in philately has not been lost on the likes of auction houses. For high priced stamps they spend many hours and thousands of dollars putting together a history of rarities and then publishing book like catalogs, all in an effort to get two or more deep pocket buyers who feel a need to own the stamp into the auction room. The bidding then becomes a matter of ego rather than value, which is one reason buyers want to remain anonymous. More important is the fact that once a huge value for an item is established at a sale, that becomes a part of its provenance. If that buyer also has a recognized name, their ownership also becomes part of its legend.
As you may surmise, provenance is part facts and part marketing. The very use of the word in describing a stamp immediately separates it from the mundane. It says, here’s something you can treasure for its rarity and because it has a story you can repeat to friends or in an exhibit. This brings me to the important question of how can a dealer or collector create provenance.
The practice of developing provenance for a philatelic item may sound shady, it is anything but. When dealing with art, antiquities or stamps one needs talking points to close the sale at the best possible price. A factual provenance creates immediate value, but also, a value that carries forward and can actually grow with time. The history of the inverted Jenny stamps is a prime example where the story continues to grow over time as various copies take on a unique history, but add to the legend. This has grown to the point that the U.S. post office exploits it by printing a new series of high value inverted Jennies and markets them by mixing in some upright sheets to create a treasure hunt. Talk about exploiting provenance!
To read the complete article, see:
Provenance and Philately
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardlehmann/2017/03/02/provenance-and-philately/amp/)
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE ANCIENT COIN APP
A student has created a nice app featuring ancient coins from the Middlebury College Museum of Art.
-Editor
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – A physics major from Putney, Vt., who is interning this year at the Middlebury College Museum of Art, has created an iPad interface to help showcase 30 ancient Greek and Roman coins from the College’s collection.
Louise “Roo†Weed ’18.5, the current holder of the Reiff Internship in Ancient Art, taught herself the programming language Swift in order to create a digital catalog that shows both sides of the coins, the approximate year in which they were struck, and their metallic composition and historical significance. For example, the “Posthumous Denarius of Julius Caesar†is a silver coin from 44 BCE showing the wreathed head of Caesar with the Sidus Iulium (Julian Star) on the front of the coin, and the goddess Venus with the legend “SEPVLLIVS MACER†on the reverse.
The senior will give an illustrated lecture about her work with the coins on January 24 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 125 of the Mahaney Arts Center. Weed’s public lecture will be titled “Show Me the Money: A Digital Interface for Displaying Ancient Coins in a Museum Gallery.â€
The rare coins, along with an iPad containing the digital catalog, will go on permanent display in the museum’s antiquities gallery in the near future, possibly as soon as the summer of 2019.
“Coins are actually very difficult to display,†explains Professor Pieter Broucke, the museum’s curator of ancient art and Weed’s internship advisor, “because a coin is a rather small item and the label text, by the time you have explained the object, is always going to be much bigger than the coin itself. So in terms of real estate, coins are difficult to display. Also, you can only show one side of a coin. This is where the digital can really help.â€
The museum plans to display 15 Greek coins on a map of ancient Greece and 15 Roman coins on a timeline, with an iPad mounted close by.
Weed’s appointment as the Reiff Intern might have seemed unlikely a few years ago. She was well on her way to majoring in physics when she enrolled in a Middlebury art history class to meet a distribution requirement. “I said, ‘Okay, whatever, I’ll just do it,’ and I took an art history class in my fourth semester here. And it turned out that I loved it, and I am really interested in Indian painting and Asian art in general. So now I am a physics major with an art history minor who is doing my senior project in a type of chemical composition analysis called Raman spectroscopy.â€
After working with the coins and appreciating them as tiny works of art, Weed says, “The digital interface will eventually be available online as well as in the gallery, which will make it a valuable resource for researchers around the world. It is very important to tell the story of these coins in such a way that others from outside of Middlebury can benefit from them.†(Two previous museum interns, Shanyue “Shane†Zhong ’17 and Simone Edgar Holmes ’20, contributed extensive research to the project.)
Weed will complete her academic requirements after the 2019 winter term, after which she plans to travel in South America and work in the Putney area before deciding whether to go to graduate school and what to study there.
While enrolled at Middlebury, Weed completed an internship in astrophysics at Wesleyan University’s Van Vleck Observatory and a second internship one summer later in electrical engineering at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Now the 22-year-old is pondering ways to combine her interests in science and art history. “Perhaps I will find some shorter-term internships to help me figure that out,†she says. “Middlebury has helped me discover passions I never knew that I had, and I feel grateful and privileged to have had that experience here.â€
To read the complete article, see:
Show Me the Money: Student Brings Ancient Coins to Light at College Museum
(http://www.middlebury.edu/newsroom/archive/2018-news/node/605664)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: DECEMBER 16, 2018
On Richard Margolis
David Alexander writes:
I read with profound sorrow of the passing of Richard Margolis. I knew him
reasonably well, going back to my years with Coin World and the lamented World Coins Magazine. I admired the rigor with which he policed the early New York International shows, defying dealers who attempted to display U.S. coins in that pioneer all-world show.
Here's one I dare anyone else to match: my bride Pat (nee LaBranche) and I
had our honeymoon at the New York International show in December 1977 at
the Americana Hotel! We had a luxurious room on the 32nd floor, to which we
had rushed back for a quick change, my bride going ahead to the charter bus
carrying invitees to a special showing of the Royal Mint's new facility in
New Jersey, created by ex-Amos Press functionary John Van Emden. I followed
just AFTER all the elevators failed! I rushed down 32 stories on foot and
found there was a bar aboard! Next day was somewhat painful...
The International was never the same in the ghastly environment of the
Waldorf.
Bill Rosenblum forwarded this CoinsWeekly article about Margolis. Thanks.
-Editor
To read the complete article, see:
Richard Margolis (1931-2018)
(https://www.coinsweekly.com/en/page/4?&id=5777)
To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
RICHARD MARGOLIS (1931-2018)
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n48a06.html)
READERS REMEMBER RICHARD MARGOLIS
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n49a10.html)
World Coin Comments
Regarding lots in the upcoming January 2018 NYINC Heritage World Coins sale,
Chip Howell writes:
I'd never heard of "Essequibo & Demerary" either until earlier this year, when I stumbled onto an old ha'penny from there (alas w/a hole in it) at a coin show in Timonium, MD. As you may know now, this was incorporated into British Guiana => Guyana. I was familiar with "Demerara Sugar" which is what brown sugar is called in the UK, named for the Guyanan region.
BTW, that rhinoceros on the Gabon token looks a lot like an Asian rhino (i.e., the skin-folding "plate armor" look), but it does have the proper two horns of an African rhino, at least--like the engraver was looking at a composite drawing of a generic rhino, rather than sketching from life, which wouldn't be all that surprising, I suppose.
I'm not familiar with "Demerara Sugar". Interesting connection. And yeah, that rhino looks a bit odd.
Thanks.
-Editor
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
HERITAGE 2018 NYINC WORLD COINS SALE SELECTIONS
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n49a16.html)
Query: William A. Pettit
Bill Seldon writes:
I just purchased a bound set of Whitman Numismatic Journals 1964 - 1968. Looks like they were bound for William A, Pettit. I gather he was pretty well known in the numismatic field, but I can't really find out much about him on Google.
Any chance you or some of your E-Sylum subscribers can pass on any more info. about the gentleman?
Google's fine, but a Newman Numismatic Portal search is more narrowly targeted on numismatic sources. An NNP search found 142 hits. Many of these are just mentions of his name as a club officer or meeting attendee, but the July 1995 issue of The Numismatist has an obituary of him on p111. That content is restricted, but if you're an ANA member you can read it on their web archive.
There is also an obit in the June 19, 1995 Coin World (also under copyright and restricted in NNP). But from the snippet view in search results I learned that Pettot was born Lansing, MI in 1928. He began his numismatic career in the Coin Department at Marshall Field's Store for Men in Chicago in 1956 two years after his graduation from Manchester College in Indiana. A February 28, 2016 E-Sylum piece references an April 1968 issue of The Centinel with an article by Pettit on the first struck Columbian half dollar.
So, readers - how many of you knew or met William Pettit? What can you tell us? Thanks.
-Editor
To see my NNP search results for "William A. Pettit", see:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/searchwithterms?searchterm=William%20A.%20Pettit
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE RESURRECTION OF THE FIRST COLUMBIAN HALF DOLLAR
(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n09a21.html)
On Recovering Coins From Junked Vehicles
Paul Schultz writes:
I saw in the last E-Sylum that coins are being recovered from junk cars. This is not new or different. Back in the late 1990s I worked at Alcoa on a project to sort out fragments of different scrapped aluminum alloys for recycling. As an example, there is much greater value to having the aluminum-copper alloys sorted and separated from aluminum-magnesium alloys than by keeping all aluminum alloys mixed together. As part of the project, I went to a company in Michigan where they shredded and recycled old cars. The company sorted steel fragments from aluminum from copper from "fluff" (seat cushions etc). and sold the metals for melting and re-use. I was supposed to look into further sorting aluminum castings (high silicon) from wrought aluminum (low silicon).
While there, I was amazed to learn that they regarded old coins left in the cars as part of their revenue stream. I forgot the exact number, but they told me that something between $1 and $5 in change was left (hidden, lost, or neglected) in the average car. After shredding the cars, they had sorting equipment that would take the now-mangled coins and keep them separate. After accumulating several thousand dollars worth of abused coins, they turned them in through government channels and got a nice check. Therefore, the story is more than plausible, the recovery of coins from scrapped cars is real, has been around for over 20 years in the US, and more coins than I imagined possible are left in junk cars.
Thanks!
-Editor
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MAN CLEARED OVER IMPORTING SCRAP EUROS
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n49a20.html)
Groom Clarifies Cameron House Theory
Bill Groom writes:
I much appreciated JP Koning's commentary about redenominated coinage. I found his commentary about the Mitchell-Innes theory enlightening. That said, I'd like to correct one statement. He wrote: "The Cameron House theory, which also happens to be Mitchell-Innes's theory ..."
My theory wasn't about the apparent redenomination. It referred specifically to the location. Since this specific redenomination of coins appears to have been a Civil War generated phenomenon, it's much more likely that the Cameron House counterstamps were not products of the LaCrosse establishment (as thought by some), built about twenty years later. My theory then is that the Harrisburg Cameron House is a far more likely candidate. Harrisburg is not a slam-dunk attribution, as yet, just a stronger contender.
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE CAMERON HOUSE THEORY
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n49a22.html)
MYSTERY OBJECT: ANCIENT ROMAN NIPPLE COVER?
Regarding last week's gold mystery object, Scott Semans writes:
If it weighs in the range of .06 to .13 grams, it may be what I call a "Gold Sombrero," though your piece appears to have been smashed flat. As far as I know these are not published anywhere, and I collect pre-colonial coinages of Malaysia and Indonesia for just this reason. For the last ten years or so construction and dredging in Sumatra has provided quantities of previously rare, obscure, or totally unknown coinages.
These and other early gold of the region reportedly come from the Musi River area of southern Sumatra, Indonesia, once the Sultanate of Palambang. Sellers there call them 1/32 Massa coins of the Kingdom of Srivijaya. Later coinages of the region, mostly tin coins imitating Chinese cash, and later tin with Javanese or crude Arabic inscriptions, have been the subject of articles by Drs. Michael Mitchiner and T. D. Yih in the Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, various issues 2012-13, and some other previously unknown coinages of the Srivijaya era are published in Ronachai Krisadaolarn's two recent books on Thai coinages - but not these. They are probably rare, but because nobody knows about them, they can be had for not much more than the price of a common Indian gold fannam. I'm guessing that their three dimensional shape is to make them easier to pick up.
Image courtesy Scott Semans
Dave Ellison writes:
As for the Gold Mystery Object in last week's E-Sylum: Looks like an ancient Roman gold nipple cover to me!
Well, that's what's speculated in the Forbes magazine article I found this in. But no one seems to really know.
-Editor
This thin gold circle with a raised middle looks very much like a nipple, and since we know the Romans were sexually quite liberal, it makes sense that perhaps it was worn by a wealthy courtesan.
Unfortunately, there is zero evidence for this mental image of bedazzled babes. Classical archaeologist Sarah Levin-Richardson says that "there is no visual evidence from Pompeii of prostitutes wearing nipple covers -- gilded or otherwise." And classicist David Meadows cautions that "considering the social status of sex workers in the ancient Roman world, I doubt they'd be trusted with gold nipples. Their clients wouldn't be trustworthy either." And at just 21mm in diameter, this object seems quite small.
To read the complete article, see:
Is This Really An Ancient Roman Nipple Cover? Archaeologists Are Unsure
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2018/12/07/is-this-really-an-ancient-roman-nipple-cover-archaeologists-are-unsure/#7ca209de1d1c)
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: DECEMBER 9, 2018 : Gold Mystery Object
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n49a17.html)
VOCABULARY TERMS: BEVELED BORDER AND EDGE
Dick Johnson submitted these entries from his Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Terminology. Thanks.
-Editor
Bevel
The angle of the slope between two surfaces, as the two sides of a medallic item, forming the edge; or the angle of the riser, the side of relief or lettering from the background to the top of relief. The bevel of relief, which allows a piece to be diestruck or cast in a mold, is also called draft or taper. Except for very low relief (stiacciato) all other relief must rise from its background (table). The angle of relief on the sides of this design is critical, and this is true for both devices as well as lettering. This angle must be such in the model that dies can be cut or engraved with this design, that pieces can be struck with the design, that the die can withdraw from the struck piece, and the struck piece can be ejected.
For certain cast procedures – like electroform casting – it is also necessary for the pattern to have a minimum bevel so the cast can be easily removed from the mold.
All this implies that there can be no undercuts and no nearly perpendicular relief. Obviously undercuts and too steep of relief should not be made in the model or pattern thus none will therefore exist in the galvano, hub, die or mold, or in the final struck or cast piece.
For technical reasons this minimum angle requirement is different for different die making procedures. The minimum bevel or taper required for handcut dies is 5°; for galvano casting the minimum bevel is 10°; for dies cut on a die-engraving pantograph the minimum draft or taper permitted is 15°.
The necessary reason for the higher minimum for the pantograph is that the stylus cannot trace steep relief and the cutting point cannot cut such relief (see pantograph). For this reason handcut dies, or dies made from puncheons, can have a steeper pitched relief – particularly for lettering – than dies made from oversize models that are reduced on a die-engraving pantograph. Such steep relief, however, does increase stress in diework and is often the cause of diebreaks.
A bevel of only 21/2° – called a holding taper – is such that no piece can be
released from the die, it freezes on the die once it is struck. Therefore no coining or striking dies can have a relief with less than 21/2° draft. In effect any draft of less than 21/2° is the same as an undercut – impossible to reproduce in diestruck work. Perpendicular relief is called standing taper. See undercut, undercutting.
Beveled Border
A medal with a border on an incline plane (instead of one flat and parallel to the field). Such incline borders most often contain lettering or ornamentation. An example is the General Motors International Craftsman's Guild Medal. See border.
Beveled Edge
A medal designed with a slanting edge, requiring one side's diameter greater than the other. When two bevels are used resulting in a pointed edge, this is known as double beveled edge, and an example is the Studebaker Centennial Medal, 1952. Compare beveled border.
Book lovers should be word lovers as well.
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
Or if you would like a printed copy of the complete Encyclopedia, it is available.
There are 1,854 terms, on 678 pages, in The Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology. Even running two a week would require more than 19 years to publish them all.
If you would like an advance draft of this vital reference work it may be obtained from the author for your check of $50 sent postpaid. Dick Johnson, 139 Thompson Drive, Torrington, CT 06790.
SETH H. CHADBOURNE (1836-1904)
John Lupia submitted the following information from the online draft of his book of numismatic biographies for this week's installment of his series. Thanks! As always, this is an excerpt with the full article and bibliography available online. This week's subject is
collector Seth Chadbourne.
-Editor
He was born the son of Seth Chadbourne, a blacksmith, and Lucinda Merrill Chadbourne on December 11, 1836 at Boston. On June 13, 1861 he married Annie Gurley Bradford (b. 1840), daughter of Rufus and Ann Bradford of Kingston, Massachusetts.
He lived in various boarding houses. He worked as a bookkeeper for Draper & Morse, auctioneers. He built a collection of American gold coins sold at auction on July 12, 1865 at the auction house of David F. McGilvray, Boston, Massachusetts. He was the recording Secretary of the New England Numismatic and Archaeological Society. He sold his coin collection of 223 + 99 lots through G. W. Beckford & Co., on December 14, 1864.
Emmanuel Joseph Attinelli writes this about him in Numisgraphics :
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