The E-Sylum v26n05 January 29, 2023

Sun Jan 29 18:18:03 PST 2023

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The E-Sylum

  An electronic publication of
  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

Volume 26, Number 05, January 29, 2023
** WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM JANUARY 29, 2023 <#a01>
** KOLBE & FANNING BUY OR BID SALE  20 CLOSING <#a02>
** MÃ¼NZEN GUT-LYNT LITERATURE AUCTION 9 <#a03>
** NEW BOOK: NUMISMATIC HISTORY OF CANADA AND U.S. <#a04>
** NEW BOOKS: BUST HALF DOLLAR VARIETY GUIDE  <#a05>
** NEW SIATRAS BOOKS PUBLICATIONS <#a06>
** BOOK REVIEW: WHEN MONEY TALKS <#a07>
** BOOK REVIEW: COIN HOARDS AND HOARDING <#a08>
** BRYCE FRANKLIN DOXZON (1960-2023) <#a09>
** NNP STORIES FROM WORLD WAR II EXHIBIT <#a10>
** VIDEO: ROBERT W. JULIAN <#a11>
** NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JANUARY 29, 2023 <#a12>
** ENGRAVER ALLEN LEONARD'S WEBSTER VASE <#a13>
** VOCABULARY TERM: MINT ERROR <#a14>
** WHAT WAS THE FIRST JUNIOR COIN CLUB? <#a15>
** THE CELINA  COIN COMPANY <#a16>
** ATLAS NUMISMATICS JANUARY 2023 UPDATE <#a17>
** LONGACRE HARD WAX MODELS OFFERED <#a18>
** WORLD BANKNOTE AUCTIONS US SALE 1 <#a19>
** NUMISMATIC AUCTIONS SALE 67 WORLD HIGHLIGHTS <#a20>
** DAVISSONS AUCTION 42 ANNOUNCED <#a21>
** NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: JANUARY 29, 2023 <#a22>
** SOUTH KOREA'S NEW  ROCKET COINS  <#a23>
** THE MYTHICAL TRILLION-DOLLAR COIN <#a24>
** OKLAHOMA SENATOR PROMOTES BULLION IDEA <#a25>
** HOLLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK SOUVENIRS <#a26>
** DICKIN MEDAL FOR BOMB-SNIFFING DOG BASS <#a27>
** ARGENTINA, BRAZIL COMMON CURRENCY? <#a28>
** ARGENTINE BANKS RUNNING OUT OF ROOM FOR NOTES <#a29>
** LEAVING $2 BILLS INSIDE HOTEL BIBLES <#a30>
** THE WALT DISNEY $100 BILL <#a31>
** LOOSE CHANGE: JANUARY 29, 2023 <#a32>
** THE MONEY ART OF VICTOR DUBREUIL <#a33>

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

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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 JANUARY 29, 2023

New subscribers this week include: 
Caitlin Smith of the American Numismatic Society.
Welcome aboard! 

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. 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 numismatic literature sales, lots of new books, two reviews, another obituary, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, and more.

Other topics this week include lettered-edge bust half dollars, coin hoards, engraver Allen Leonard, mint errors, Junior Coin Clubs, the Celina Coin Co. fixed price and auction offerings, South Korea's rocket coins, trillion-dollar coins, the Holland Society of New York, a new Dickin Medal, two-dollar bills, and the money art of Victor Dubreuil.

To learn more about freaks and fidos, 
 the Rodney Dangerfield of engravers, the Delos hoard, Syracusan medallions, Bryce Doxzon, 
Robert W. Julian, Ted and Carl Brandts, the Webster Vase, the Madagascar Dollar
the Defense of Finland medal, 
the Walt Disney $100 bill and the Money Dream Pillow's wealth energy, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren 
Editor, The E-Sylum

KOLBE & FANNING BUY OR BID SALE  20 CLOSING

Reminder: Kolbe & Fanning's twentieth "Buy or Bid Sale" closes tomorrow, January 30, 2023.
-Editor

Â 

Buy or Bid #20 Closes Tomorrow

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers have announced our latest â€œBuy or Bid Sale,â€ which will close tomorrow, Monday, January 30, 2023. With hundreds of new additions, the sale focuses on modestly priced books, giving collectors an opportunity to add to their libraries at minimal cost.

The sale includes over 1400 works on ancient, medieval and modern coins, as well as general works, periodicals and sale catalogues. â€œBuyâ€ prices have been kept low to promote sales. To further encourage participation, the firm is offering free domestic shipping to bidders spending at least $300; there is also no packing and processing fee for this sale. Again, please read the Terms of Sale before participating.

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.

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

numislit.com. Please send all bids to 

orders at numislit.com or use the bid sheet included at the end of the PDF catalogue.

To read the complete catalog, see:

https://www.numislit.com/images/upload/kolbefanningbob20.pdf

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 

KOLBE & FANNING BUY OR BID SALE NUMBER 20

(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n04a02.html)

THE BOOK BAZARRE
AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS: Are your books carried by Wizard Coin Supply? If not, contact us via www.WizardCoinSupply.com with details.

MÃ¼NZEN GUT-LYNT LITERATURE AUCTION 9

The Germany-based Münzen Gut-Lynt auction house is holding a sale of numismatic literature closing January 29, 2023.  Here are some lots that caught my eye.
-Editor

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Lots 9 and 21

 Lot 9 
DE BIE, J. La France metallique, contenant les actions celebres tant publiques que privees des rois et des reines remarquees en leurs medailles d'or, d'argent et de bronze. Paris 1636. 396 S., 131 Tfn. Ganzledereinband der Zeit, Buchrücken bestoßen. III-II
Ex libris "Bibliotheca Magnia. Rothomagensis 1837".

To read the complete lot description, see: 

https://auktionen.gut-lynt.de/de-de/lot?$page=1&$maxpagesize=20&$sortby=lot_number&$sortdir=asc&$goto=14385&cat_id=9

 Lot 21 
VAILLANT, J. Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum Praestantiora. A Julio Caesare ad Postumum usque. Tomus primus. De Romanis Aereis... Paris 1696. Engraving, 256 pages with numerous engravings. Half leather, bumped and content just trimmed. IV-III

To read the complete lot description, see: 

https://auktionen.gut-lynt.de/de-de/lot?$page=1&$maxpagesize=100&$sortby=lot_number&$sortdir=asc&$goto=14396&cat_id=9

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Lots 24 and 51

 Lot 24 
HILL, GF Becker the Counterfeiter. Reprint Brussels 1961 of the London 1955 edition. 2 volumes. 72 p., 8 tfn.; 39 p., tfn. 9-19 Bound in a full linen ribbon. II

To read the complete lot description, see: 

https://auktionen.gut-lynt.de/de-de/lot?$page=1&$maxpagesize=100&$sortby=lot_number&$sortdir=asc&$goto=14399&cat_id=9

 Lot 51 
BLAND, R./ BURNETT, A. The Normanby Hoard and other Roman Coin Hoards. London 1988. 238 pp.; 40 pn. full linen II

To read the complete lot description, see: 

https://auktionen.gut-lynt.de/de-de/lot?$page=1&$maxpagesize=100&$sortby=lot_number&$sortdir=asc&$goto=15294&cat_id=9

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Lots 101 and 118

 Lot 101 
FORRER, L. The Weber Collection. Greek Coins. 3 Bände, London 1922-1929. Frontispiz, XVI, 377 S.; 69 Tfn.; 579 S.; Tfn. 70-171; 473 S.; S. 477-996; Tfn. 172-317. In sieben Halblederbänden gebunden, minimal bestoßen. I (7)

To read the complete lot description, see: 

https://auktionen.gut-lynt.de/de-de/lot?$page=2&$maxpagesize=100&$sortby=lot_number&$sortdir=asc&$goto=14468&cat_id=9

 Lot 118 
GROSE, SW Catalog of the McLean Collection of Greek Coins. 3 volumes, Cambridge 1923-1929. X, 380 p., 111 ptn.; 563 p., pl. 112-248; VI, 507 p., 380 p. Linen, minimally bumped. Uniform all-linen with gold trim at the top. II-I (3)

To read the complete lot description, see: 

https://auktionen.gut-lynt.de/de-de/lot?$page=2&$maxpagesize=100&$sortby=lot_number&$sortdir=asc&$goto=14484&cat_id=9

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Lots 300 and 363

 Lot 300 
MATTINGLY, H. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum. 6 volumes in 8 parts, London 1965-1976 reprint of the London 1923-1962 edition. full linen Volume I with slightly damaged spine. I (8)

To read the complete lot description, see: 

https://auktionen.gut-lynt.de/de-de/lot?$page=3&$maxpagesize=100&$sortby=lot_number&$sortdir=asc&$goto=14658&cat_id=9

 Lot 363 
BELFORT, A. DE. Description generale des monnaie Merovingiennes par ordre alphabetique des ateliers. Paris 1892-1895. 3 volumes. Volume 1: ABAL-OXXE, VIII, 484 p., 6 tfn, 464 p.; Volume 2: PACI-VVLT, IndÃ©terminÃ©es - Supplement, 464 p., 475 p.; Volume 3: Table, 290 pp. Bound in uniform half leather. II

To read the complete lot description, see: 

https://auktionen.gut-lynt.de/de-de/lot?$page=4&$maxpagesize=100&$sortby=lot_number&$sortdir=asc&$goto=14712&cat_id=9

NEW BOOK: NUMISMATIC HISTORY OF CANADA AND U.S.

Ray and Carol Gregory of Alliston, ON,  Canada have published a new two-volume work on the Numismatic History of Canada and the United States. 
-Editor

Â 

Numismatic History of Canada and the United States
Vol 1 and Vol 2

Authored By: Raymond Gregory, Carol Gregory

Self-Published: Raymond & Carol Gregory

Price: $189.95 CAD

8.5 x 11 inches glossy softcover)

Pages: Vol 1 448; Vol 2 510

ISBN: 978-1-7782230-0-6

Print Run: 100

Targeted Audience: Numismatist and History Buffs

Hot of the press are 100 copies of â€œNumismatic History of Canada and United States Vol
1 and Vol 2,â€ available through our website www.numismaticpublishing.com
Our book is self-published, printed in Waterloo, ON and bound in Aylmer, ON.
The red cover was designed by the Art Department of Westmount Signs & Printing.

Features

337 color numismatic photos printed larger than the actual size to exemplify artistic details

463 illustrations such as photos of designers, engravers, and subject matter to further enhance articles

Example: we show pictures of the actual presidentâ€™s home depicted on the obverse of the Lovettâ€™s presidential residence series

Featured in Vol. 1: the Gift of Franklin award medals for boys and Boston School City medals for girls

Featured in Vol. 1: are seven Chateau de Ramezay medals and a Cartier, Montcalm, Chaplain Plaque issued by the Association of French-speaking Physicians of North America

Featured in Vol. 2: are ten medals of the Frederic Remingtonâ€™s Old American Western Heritage Medal Series issued by Century 21 Club, New York, NY

Featured in our Franklin D. Roosevelt section are two Eleanor Roosevelt cast bronze medals

References are given at the end of each article to supply the reader with sources for further information

Easy to find information using Table of Contents, Glossary, Index and List of Figures

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Raymond Gregory worked for the York Region School Board in Ontario and retired as a
Head Custodian and a Fourth-Class-Engineer. Ray taught coin collecting to students in
various elective school programs. Ray and Carol displayed Colonial Coinage at Fort York,
Toronto, Niagara-On-the Lake Museum, and the Simcoe County Museum, Barrie, ON.
Ray wrote articles published in the Royal Canadian Numismatic Journal and is a 47 year
member of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association and an American Numismatic
Association member since 2014.

Carol Gregory was a Library Technician for the Georgian College Library, Barrie, ON and
the RCNA Librarian from Sept. 1980 to June 1991. Carol photographed all the
numismatic items contained in the two volumes. Carol is also a 47 year Member of
Royal Canadian Numismatic Association.

For more information, or to order, see:

https://www.numismaticpublishing.com/

NEW BOOKS: BUST HALF DOLLAR VARIETY GUIDE 

Robert Powers is publishing a series of variety guides for U.S. coins.  The latest two volumes cover Lettered Edge Capped Bust Half Dollars and are available through David Kahn Rare Coins.  There are priced at $125 plus $5 shipping each.  I've seen the books, and the photos are large, beautiful and in full color. Ordering information is below.
-Editor

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U.S. Capped Bust Half Dollars 1807 - 1826 Variety Identification Guide (Volume I)

U.S. Capped Bust Half Dollars 1827 - 1836 Variety Identification Guide (Volume II)

The primary purpose of this guide is rapid variety identification â€“ while other publications are excellent for inviting in depth home study, this guide is perfect for portability, heavy on-the-go usage, and quick attribution. The author of this book has had a strong interest in Early U.S. coins for over 30 years. He set out to write this series of books because he has wanted to read them for many years, and finally gave up on waiting for someone else to write them. Inside, you will find a comprehensive collection of the highest quality, full color, high resolution modern photos available anywhere, which will make attributing your Capped Bust Half Dollars easier than ever before. Careful attention to detail was considered in the selection of these photos for only those which show the greatest of useful detail in helping with your attribution and die stage recognition. 

This guide is written in a classical, though modernized attribution guide format, meaning that you are simply presented with a photo and description of each die. The descriptions of each die are in plain English, designed for those who are complete beginners, as well as those with intermediate and advanced levels of knowledge. Attributing Bust Halves (or any coin series) begins with taking in the whole picture of the coin. The position of all of the features relative to the other features on each individual coin should be visually taken in the same way that one recognizes the face of a familiar person. The positions of the stars, leaves, berries, letter and number spacing, etc. are universal observations for every attribution. The text descriptions will point out specific, unique features found on each and every die to further guide you. Also, the best kept secret in variety attribution are the dentil alignments relative to the stars and letters below them. Every effort was m
 ade to present photos with maximum dentil visibility for this underrated purpose. Use the dentils as your compass. Once you dive in, you will understand this â€˜compass conceptâ€™ all too well.

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For more information or to order individually or as a set, see:

U.S. Capped Bust Half Dollars 1807 - 1826 Variety Identification Guide, by Robert Powers

(https://www.davidkahnrarecoins.com/u-s-early-half-dollars-1794-1807-variety-identification-guide-by-robert-powers-1.html)

U.S. Capped Bust Half Dollars 1827 - 1836 Variety Identification Guide, by Robert Powers

(https://www.davidkahnrarecoins.com/u-s-early-half-dollars-1794-1807-variety-identification-guide-by-robert-powers-2.html)

U.S. Capped Bust Half Dollars, Volumes 1 & 2 Variety Identification Guides, by Robert Powers

(https://www.davidkahnrarecoins.com/u-s-large-cents-volumes-1-2-variety-identification-guides-by-robert-powers-1.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see: 

NEW BOOK: HALF CENTS 1793-1857 VARIETY GUIDE

(https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n32a04.html)

NEW BOOK: 1793-1795 LARGE CENT VARIETY GUIDE

(https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n15a05.html)

NEW BOOK: LARGE CENT 1793-1814 VARIETY GUIDE

(https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n50a02.html)

NEW BOOK: U.S. LARGE CENTS, 1816-1839

(https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n13a04.html)

NEW BOOK: HALF DOLLARS 1794-1807 VARIETY GUIDE

(https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n32a05.html)

NEW SIATRAS BOOKS PUBLICATIONS

Bruce Perdue passed along an announcement from
Demetrius Siatras of Siatras Books in Athens about a number of new titles on numismatics and sigillography. Thanks.
-Editor

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# SNS004.

Jean N. Svoronos, CONSTANTINIAN COINAGE - The Delos Hoard / 1909

Athens, 2023. In English. Soft cover, 24 cm, 96 pp. EUR 32.â€“ FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

To order through PayPal:

https://paypal.me/DemetriusSiatras/32.00

# SNS005.

Anastasios Tzamalis, TA ΝΟΜΙΣΜΑΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΝΕΩΤΕΡΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΥ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ 1566 â€“ 2007

Athens, 2023. In Greek. Soft cover, 24 cm, 304 pp., ill. EUR 64.â€“ FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/64.00

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# SNS006.

Anastasios Tzamalis, COINS OF THE MODERN GREEK WORLD 1566 â€“ 2007

Athens, 2023. The English version of the previous title. Includes the coins of Cyprus. Soft cover, 24 cm, 304 pp., ill. EUR 64.â€“ FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/64.01

# SNS007.

Arthur J. Evans, SYRACUSAN â€œMEDALLIONSâ€ and THEIR ENGRAVERS - The Santa Maria di Licodia Hoard (IGCH 2123)

Athens, 2023. Soft cover, 24 cm, 192 pp., ill. EUR 48.â€“ FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/48.00

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# SNS008.

Edward T. Newell, THE COINAGES OF DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES - Editio nova

Athens, 2023.  Soft cover, 24 cm, 224 pp., ill. EUR 54.â€“ FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/54.00

# SNS009.

Friedrich Otto Hultsch, Die Gewichte und Werte der ptolemäischen Münzen, 3. Aufl. = Βάρη και αξίες των πτολεµαϊκών νοµισµάτων = Weights and Values of the Ptolemaic Coinage

Athens, 2023. In German, Greek and English. Soft cover, 24 cm, 160 pp., ill. EUR 39.â€“ FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

F.O. Hultsch (1833-1906) is credited with a series of excellent works, among them the famous ''Griechische und römische Metrologie'' (Berlin 1862). The first edition of the current work was published by Teubner under the title ''Die  ptolemäischen Münz- und Rechnungswerte'' (Leipzig, 1903) and then it was also reprinted in the Abhandl. Kön. Sächs. More than 25 reprints followed during the 20th century, despite the fact that Hultsch had in part revised the text of the first edition, just before his death in 1906. In 1904, Svoronos published his great work on the coins of the Ptolemies, in three volumes. 

Svoronos had also planned a French edition of this book, but finally he preferred to proceed to the edition of a revised fourth volume in German, four years later; in the foreword he writes that six months before the release of the Greek edition, the German metrologist sent him a copy of his study. One of the main differences of the fourth volume of Svoronos, in comparison to the previous ones, would be the addition of a chapter on the  Ptolemaic metrology; but the reading of Hultsch's study convinced him that the two texts were incompatible. Therefore, Svoronos wrote a long letter to Hultsch, exposing his opinions and urging the German savant to revise his treatise in the light of the new data; he also added that he could omit his own chapter on metrology from the fourth volume and replace it with an appendix containing the revised text by Hultsch; and the great Hultch consents and â€” when after a few months receives the first three volumes of Svoronos â€” says that the new
  finds and the new classification was a pleasant surprise to him! Unfortunately, Hultsch was already seriously ill; despite his ilness, he managed to finish it but could not correct the proofs sent from Athens by Svoronos; this was done by Franz Poland who also announced to Svoronos the death of the German savant. 

The new text was published as an Appendix in the fourth volume of Svoronos (''Die Münzen der Ptolemaeer'', 1908); since actually it was the second edition of the 1903 study, we may consider the current edition as the third one to which translations in modern Greek and English have been added.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/39.00

The previous three volumes of the series are also available:

# SNS001.

G.P. Oeconomos, TO XAΛΚΟΥΝ KOMMA - THE PELLA FIND (1914) AND THE COPPER COINAGE OF CASSANDER

Athens, 2017. Hard cover+jacket, 24 cm, 72 pp., ill. EUR 48.– FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/48.01

# SNS002.

Jean N. Svoronos, THE MYRON HOARD / 1914 (IGCH 62)

Athens, 2019.  Soft cover, 24 cm, 200 pp., ill. EUR 64.â€“ FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/64.02

# SNS003.

Edward T. Newell, LATE SELEUCID MINTS IN AKE-PTOLEMAIS AND DAMASCUS - Editio nova

Athens, 2019.  Soft cover, 24 cm, 136 pp., ill. EUR 52.â€“ FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/52.00

# S6137.

A.K. Wasileiou-Seibt, Byzantinische Bleisiegel der Sammlung Gert Boersema

Thessalonica, 2022. In German. Hard cover+jacket, 25 cm, 192 pp., ill. in colour. EUR 64.â€“ SHIPPING COST INCL.

Bibliographie und Siglenverzeichnis // Abkurzungsverzeichnis und Transkriptionszeichen // KATALOG: I. MILITARS IN HAUPTSTADT UND PROVINZ, II. ZIVILE BEAMTE IN HAUPTSTADT UND PROVINZ, III. DOMANEN, IV. FUNKTIONARE DER KIRCHE, V. KLOSTER, VI. VOR- UND FAMILIENNAMEN. ENGLISH SUMMARY. INDICES.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/64.00

# S7541.

MEMORY AND IMPRESSION - An itinerary through the Peloponnese in the company of ancient coins

Athens: Benaki Museum, 2022. Exhibition catalogue. Bilingual (Greek-English) edition. Hard cover, 22.5x27.5 cm, 376 pp., rich ill. EUR 96.â€“ SHIPPING COST INCL.

Presents silver and bronze coins that introduce the reader to aspects of ancient Greek myths taking place in ancient territories of the Peloponnese, such as Patras, Sparta, Corinth and Tegea. The elaborated catalogue is complemented by rich illustrations and detailed bibliography.

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/96.00

# S9432
.
Nikolay Ovcharov et al, THE ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL CITY OF PERPERIKON â€“ I. The Acropolis

Sofia, 2021. Hard cover, 30 cm, 556 pp., ill.; net weight 2560 gr. EUR 136.â€“ SHIPPING COST INCL.

Archaeological and numismatic report presenting the results of the excavations. In Bulgarian and (partly) in English.

Of special interest are the chapters on the Roman and Byzantine coins found on the Acropolis (pp. 175-266) and the Byzantine and Bulgarian lead seals (pp. 267-284).

To order through PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DemetriusSiatras/136.00

BOOK REVIEW: WHEN MONEY TALKS

JP Koning passed along this London Review of Books review of When Money Talks by by Frank L. Holt. Thanks!
-Editor

When Money Talks: A History of Coins and Numismatics

by Frank L. Holt.

Oxford, 336 pp., Â£25.99, October 2021, 978 0 19 751765 9

A great dealâ€‹ remains to be learned, particularly where the technical study of coinage intersects with larger social and economic questions, but the work is hampered by the lowly status of numismatics in contemporary academia. Among the so-called auxiliary sciences of history, only heraldry and genealogy are taken less seriously, still carrying the stigma of antiquarianism from which epigraphy and archaeology long ago liberated themselves. All of these fields stemmed from the curiosity of Renaissance humanists and the collecting mania of noblemen with their Kunstkammern. The first serious studies of ancient coinage, on the Romans by the French humanist Guillaume Budé at the beginning of the 16th century, and on the Greeks by the Austrian Wolfgang Lazius fifty years later, were analytical and remain worth reading. But they were outshone and far outnumbered by essentially compilatory works, the long lists and catalogues that culminated in the work of Joseph Eckhel, anoth
 er Austrian and curator of the imperial coin cabinet in Vienna. His Doctrina numorum veterum invented some of the classificatory principles with which we still work, for instance the sequence in which Greek coinages are presented in catalogues, clockwise from Spain to India and then back around to North Africa. Although Eckhelâ€™s work was a masterpiece, the abiding image of the numismatist was that of the antiquarian worker ant, hoarding details but not very interested in what they meant. Not even Theodor Mommsen could rescue the field, although he managed to place epigraphy at the centre of ancient historical studies.

As well as this antiquarian taint, there is also the whiff of trade: academic numismatists have to rub shoulders with amateurs, many of whom possess great technical knowledge, and professionals who work for commercial concerns. The same can be true of art historians, but at least they often have dealings with the donor class whose private collections, through gift or loan, grace the worldâ€™s museums. With coins, all but the most splendid rarities cost less than a mediocre Roman bust, while at the low end of the market, PokÃ©mon cards are a better investment. So not just sordid but dÃ©classÃ©. On top of that, there is a very real problem with provenance. While dealers and auction houses keep the existing stock of ancient coins recirculating, the supply of new coins, from great rarities to the most common late Roman bronzes, comes overwhelmingly from war zones or from countries where clandestine excavation is enabled by lax law enforcement and venal officialdom. Bulgaria has f
 or decades been the source of huge caches of Greek and Roman coins, while Syria has been disgorging bronzes by the tens of thousands with the distinctive patina that sand gives to coins.

Frank L. Holt tackles the problem in a chapter he frames as a classroom discussion between a lecturer, a preternaturally learned coin collector and students playing devilâ€™s advocate. His verdict is that we should take the curatorial approach used with dinosaur bones, where paleontologists and fossil hunters have a symbiotic and co-operative relationship. This seems less realistic in Helmand than in Wyoming. Holt has written several excellent books on Alexander the Great and his successors in Central Asia, all of them with substantial numismatic content. When Money Talks, by contrast, is rather eccentric, with puns and dad jokes and a chapter on â€˜the coinâ€™s point of viewâ€™. Philip Griersonâ€™s magisterial Numismatics (1975), sadly out of print, remains a better introduction to the subject, though Holtâ€™s book is more likeable. It also conveys something very important: holding a coin that someone else held two thousand years ago creates a special feeling of connectednes
 s. Anyone who has handed a bag of cheap Roman bronzes around a room of bored undergraduates will have seen first-hand the way it electrifies the atmosphere. Coins make history feel real. And there are an awful lot of them out there.

Ancient Roman coins in particular were mass-produced on a scale that beggars the imagination and shipped to every corner of the empire, ending up as far afield as East Africa and southern India. The Mildenhall Hoard, found in Wiltshire in 1978, probably the most famous Romano-British find, weighed 180 kg and contained more than fifty thousand low-value coins from the third century. The 1918 Komin hoard, found near the mouth of the Neretva river in Croatia, contained around three hundred thousand coins from the same era. Right now, half a million Roman coins from Egyptian hoards, mostly uncleaned and unconserved, are stored between museums in Cairo, Alexandria, Toronto and Ann Arbor. More turn up all the time. A Spanish badger made international news last year when it uncovered a hoard of several hundred coins in an Asturian cave. Even for scholars, the fact of the badger was more interesting than the utterly predictable fourth-century bronzes that made up the hoard.

What survives is thought to represent about 1 per cent of the coinage originally struck; almost all of them were part of a hoard. Stray finds â€“ single coins lost by the roadside or dropped at the bazaar â€“ make up a tiny percentage of survivals. Yet for most of the history of numismatics, coins have been studied individually, for their iconography, their contributions to political geography (there are, for instance, Greek cities attested only by their coins), or for what their inscriptions tell us about the structure of government or the development of rulersâ€™ titulature. Less happily, they have been used to build elaborate historical narratives of places and periods for which written evidence is virtually non-existent, like the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, most of whose rulers are known solely from coin portraits and legends. Third-century usurpers attract similar excesses. Jotapian, Uranius Antoninus, Ingenuus and Regalianus are all barely known apart from their coinages. T
 o this list we may perhaps now add the Sponsianus whose anomalous gold coins, housed in Glasgowâ€™s Hunterian and long dismissed as modern forgeries, sparked a Twitterstorm in December, when an earth scientist suggested that mineral deposits and surface abrasion authenticated their antiquity. The jury is out â€“ the case for forgery either modern or ancient is very strong â€“ but even if real, the lost history of Roman Dacia they are purported to reveal is in fact pure fantasy.

To read the complete article, see: 

What the Badger Found

(https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n03/michael-kulikowski/what-the-badger-found)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: 

NEW BOOK: WHEN MONEY TALKS

(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n31a05.html)

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