A “RED BOOK” FOR TOKENS AND MEDALS?

Two weeks ago, TAMS president Fred Holabird provided a great overview of The Allure of The Token and Medal Society. Several paragraphs, however, were devoted to why compiling a “Red Book” of tokens and/or medals would be “a near impossible task”. Last week, my good friend David Alexander, who is the founder and past-president of the Medal Collectors of America, amplified Fred’s sentiment, saying that “while a comprehensive American medal catalogue is a great idea, it is also impossible to achieve, thanks to the sheer size of the field”, estimated at over one million items for an American catalogue alone. Both pointed to a future of individual authors publishing books on very narrow, specific topics.

While a comprehensive catalogue of medals and/or tokens could not be quickly assembled, I believe it would indeed be possible, even given the number of potential entries for a worldwide effort. Ultimately, the pages would read more like Bob Julian’s Medals of The United States Mint or Laurence Brown’s British Historical Medals than the Red Book, and be web-based rather than a printed book. Instead of being mostly tables of dates, mint-marks, and valuations, with a little background information around the edges, like the Red Book, it would look more like the medal listings in a Stack’s Bowers, Heritage, or Baldwin’s online auction catalogue. It could include prices, like Chris Eimer’s British Commemorative Medals and Their Values, though this commercial (as opposed to descriptive/scholarly) aspect would be somewhat more difficult to assemble and maintain.

Here are a few thoughts on what it would take to assemble such a catalogue:

Crowdsourced – Yes, the task would be far greater than a single person could achieve in a lifetime, but hundreds of dedicated numismatic contributors could get the job done, just as millions of individual contributors to Wikipedia have now written 40 million articles (27 billion words) in 293 languages, roughly a thousand times the volume of the last printed edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Richard Greever’s token database (www.tokencatalog.com) is approaching a half-million listings, with nearly 100,000 added over the last two years and now over 300,000 images, and provides a good framework for the concept.

Web-based – Obviously, putting such a catalogue on the web would be necessary for logistical and financial reasons, but would also allow for continuous enhancements and updating as discoveries are made, and more medals and tokens are produced. A few software choices would be required, but several excellent options exist.

Standardized format – The catalogue would be driven by an underlying database, which would require standard templates for both inputs and outputs. Dick Johnson once outlined a standard medal listing format, which I refined for NeoCollect (see The MCA Advisory, February, 2010), but could be whatever is agreed upfront by the sponsors.

Basic listing requirements – Some minimal, basic information should be required of every listing, such as a description of obverse and reverse devices and legends, size and weight, and metal. Photos might not be required, but just strongly encouraged, with an option to add extra photos showing unusual details, such as edge marks. Some boilerplate terms and conditions would also be required for both legal and practical reasons.

Dedicated moderation – As with Wikipedia, listings and short background articles contributed by individuals would have to be subject to review, sorting/editing, and possibly even dispute resolution in cases where opinions may differ. This task should not be overwhelming if the basic listing requirements are well thought-out, explained clearly, and enforced.

Technology expertise/oversight – While the technology needed for such an effort is not cutting edge, or even that complicated, the system would need continual updating, as software/standards evolve over time. The necessary cybersecurity and controls would also require ongoing technical expertise and oversight.

Enticement to volunteer contributors – Even though numismatic authors rarely (ever?) make money from their writings, most get a great deal of psychic satisfaction from the recognition of their expertise and work. Some similar recognition and gratification would probably be required for all of the volunteer effort, possibly in the form of author citations for particularly good listings and/or frequent contributions.

Ongoing non-profit sponsorship – For authors of the listings to volunteer significant effort, they need to be assured that their work is for the good of the greater numismatic society, not a for-profit entity, and that the sponsoring organization and this catalogue will survive indefinitely. The ANA, ANS or Newman Numismatic Portal seem like obvious candidates, though each may have its own mission, scope, operating, financial and/or other issues at this time.

Promotion and support – In order to gain traction and ultimately become self-sustaining, some amount of upfront promotion (marketing) would be required.

Professional endorsement – Separate from the possibility of starting with auction house records – which are already housed in proprietary databases – to jump-start the listings, the support of the major firms would be important. While some might balk at making their records available on a public website, the benefits of encouraging broader collecting and standardizing attributions could significantly increase their revenue base and reduce cataloguing costs.

Modest funding – Such an effort would not be expensive, but would require some modest funding, perhaps a few tens of thousands of dollars to establish and a few tens of thousands of dollars annually for hosting, software updates, security oversight and perhaps a paid moderator/curator. User fees might cover some or all of this, though most online media is still expected to be and is mostly free.

It is difficult to know why some crowd-sourced initiatives catch on and others don’t, and whether this project might ultimately gain traction. Perhaps a comprehensive catalogue of medals and/or tokens is impossible in our lifetime, but the hurdles are those of leadership and will, not technical possibility or skill.

These factors come to mind in response to John’s proposal:

1. Catalogs of tokens and medals should be separate.

2. It is mandatory the catalog must have valuations.

3. Since medals do not circulate they do not need multiple condition valuations (like coins do).

4. Award medals are often in a number of compositions (which affects valuations).

5. Award medals are often issued in a number of years (with knowledge of first and last year).

6. Inscribed medals with recipient’s name affects valuation (always unique, degree of fame and collector interest determine valuation).

7. Medals issued in a number of years often have lettering or design changes (revisions are varieties, affecting valuation).

8. Some medals do not deserve to be listed for lack of collector interest or other reasons (would you list a medal for a few cents or its scrap metal value?}.

For all the reasons above, while not impossible, would be extremely time consuming to compile a medal catalog. Establishing medal valuations is a subjective decision for each piece rather than for for a group of similar medals Often, as with named recipient medals requires extensive research of the person involved. Here, no one is better than Joe Levine for his auction catalogs.

It is better to have a medal appraised rather than looking it up in a standard catalog. There are so many factors which must be taken into consideration. You do not have this for coins, so you can have a Red Book of coins.

Having said all that, organizations John named can assist the medal field by sponsoring the publishing of topical medal catalogs. Medal collectors collect by topics. A published catalog aids this activity, lists all necessary items to form a “complete” collection. It can include the lore of some medals and the appeal of the topic

Organizations should sponsor topic medal publishing, offer grants to authors and enact other incentives for this to happen.

John Sallay adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
THE ALLURE OF THE TOKEN AND MEDAL SOCIETY (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n23a12.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JUNE 11, 2017 : More on the Token and Medal Society (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n24a10.html)

JUNE 29th 2017 AUCTION



SELECTIONS FROM THE DR. ALAN YORK COLLECTION OF INTERNMENT CAMP AND RELATED PAPER MONEY INCLUDING 3 DIFFERENT NOTES FROM CAMP HAY, NUMEROUS WORLD WAR II RELATED NOTES FROM BRITAIN, ISLE OF MAN, ETC. PLUS A COMPLETE SET OF GIL GIL POW CAMP NOTES FROM KENYA

A NICE SELECTION OF WORLD COINS, TOKENS AND MEDALS IN ALL METALS INCLUDING: ANCIENT AND WORLD COINS INCLUDING MANY CERTIFIED COINS

THE EXCEEDINGLY RARE, AND PERHAPS FINEST KNOWN, 1947 1 MIL COIN OF PALESTINE

HIGH GRADE AND RARE WORLD COINS WITH MANY COINS FROM AFRICA: SOUTHERN RHODESIA 1932 PROOF SET SOUTHERN RHODESIA 1954 2 SHILLINGS OTHER RARITIES FROM SUDAN TO ZANZIBAR

JEWISH RELATED MEDALS, TOKENS AND PAPER MONEY AND MANY OTHER ITEMS

Catalogs will be mailed early to mid-June, send $10 for printed copy or check our website for color images. The sale should be up on our website in early June as well.

LOT VIEWING at Kansas City International Paper Money Show June 8-10, Colorado Springs Coin Show during the break from the ANA Summer Seminar June 21-24.

William M. Rosenblum, LLC
P.O. Box 785, Littleton, CO 80160-0785
Phone-720-981-0785 Fax-720-981-5345
Cell phone 303 910 8245
Bill@Rosenblumcoins.com
www.rosenblumcoins.com

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