Welcome to The E-sylum: Volume 2, Number 8:  February 22, 1999: 
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 
   

NEW SUBSCRIBERS  

    New subscribers this week are E. Tomlinson Fort and 
    Peter Irion.   Mr. Fort is a researcher and author on 
    medieval coinages, and is active in PAN, the Pennsylvania 
    Association of Numismatists.  Mr. Irion is a Board member 
    and  Librarian of the Token and Medal Society (TAMS). 
    Including the NBS Officers (who I forgot to count last 
    time), we now have 138 subscribers.  

    Peter  writes:  "I always like being kept informed of society 
    happenings and new book releases. I think this is a great 
    method of keeping in touch with the NBS community, and 
    I really look forward to receiving future issues." 
   

MASTERS OF OUR DOMAIN  

    We have another announcement this week - the NBS 
    is proud to report that we now have our own internet 
    domain address - COINBOOKS.ORG.   This 
    easy-to-remember name is the home of a newly 
    updated version of the NBS web site.  (The old version, 
    so graciously hosted for us by the A.N.A., will be 
    phased out). 
   

WEB SITE BIBLIOGRAPHY  

    Member Larry Mitchell is making a major contribution 
    to the new web site - he's compiling a general numismatic 
    bibliography.   So far he's developed bibliographies for 
    twenty-six areas.   As stated on the contents page, "Our 
    goal here is very simple: to identify major English-language 
    references in a variety of numismatic disciplines."    We 
    hope this information will be a useful starting point for 
    collectors and researchers. 
   

WEB SITE SPONSORS  

    The new NBS web site also features a sponsor page. 
    All members in good standing are welcome to place an 
    advertisement relating to numismatic literature.  Dealers 
    may announce sales and link to their private web sites. 
    Individual collectors can post their want lists and sell or 
    trade duplicates.  Ad sales help defray NBS costs. 
   

DAVIS SALE  

    Charles Davis has released the catalog for his next sale 
    of numismatic literature.  The closing date is March 13, 1999. 
    The sale includes selections from various consignors, including 
    Part III of the Theophile Leon library and Part IV of the 
    Frank Van Zandt library.    The catalog text and many lot 
    illustrations are available on Davis' website:  

        http://members.aol.com:/numislit 
        http://members.aol.com:/davisnumis 
  
   

CONTEMPORARY REPORT OF AN EARLY COIN SALE  

    In the "Show-N-Tell" category, here's an interesting account 
    from an unnamed and undated newspaper article pasted onto 
    the endpapers of my copy of the 1846 book by William Du Bois, 
    "Pledges of History."  The book is the first record of the cabinet 
    of coins at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.   The article describes 
    a coin sale, probably the March 25, 1862 sale of the John K. 
    Wiggin collection by Edward Cogan in Philadelphia:  

      "RARE AMERICAN COINS AND MEDALS - A 
      NOVEL SALE  

      A sale somewhat curious and interesting took place, a few 
      evenings ago, in Tenth street, consisting of nine hundred and 
      eighty lots of rare American coins and medals.  Mr. William 
      C. Cook acted as auctioneer.  The bidding was very spirited, 
      especially for the finer pieces.  Among the numismatoloists 
      present we noticed Messrs. Strawbridge, and McCoy, of 
      New York, Mr. Cohen, of Baltimore, Leavitt, of Cincinnati, 
      Chambers, of Providence, Bertah, of Mauch Chunk; and of 
      Philadelphia, Messrs. Coffin, Zehnder, Jenks, Mickle, 
      Cauffman, Emlen, Moneita, Potts, Humphries, Jones, Nipper, 
      Clarke, Cline, and others.   Below we give prices of some of 
      the finer pieces, which no doubt will prove interesting to 
      many of our readers."  

    The article went on to list prices of fifty-seven lots.  Top bids 
    were for a 1796 Half Dollar "remarkably fine and rare," $28, 
    an 1854 proof set, $21, an "excellent impression" of a 1799 cent, 
    $14, and a 1794 Half Dime "proof, very rare," $8.13.  The 
    account is an interesting window into the golden age of 
    American numismatics.  Although the reporter misspelled many 
    of the names, they are still recognizable as including the major 
    numismatic figures of the day.   What fun we "numismatoloists" of 
    today would have if we could be transported back to that sale. 
    Pleasant dreams... 
   

 FEATURED WEB SITE  

    What else?   http://www.CoinBooks.org/  Check it out! 
   

  Wayne Homren 
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society  

  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.  To join, print the application and 
  return it with your check to the address printed 
  on the application.   For those without web access, 
  contact Dave Hirt, NBS Secretary-Treasurer, 
  5911 Quinn Orchard Road, Frederick, MD 21701  

  (To be removed from this mailing list 
   write to me at whomren@coinlibrary.com)