Welcome to The E-sylum: Volume 2, Number 17: April 25, 1999:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
Terry L. Guthrie is our newest member, bringing the number
of subscribers to 153. Welcome aboard!
GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
Board Member Pete Smith writes: "I would like to react to
the featured web site http://www.ancestry.com/ I have used
the web extensively for genealogical research. I have found
that the commercial sites usually give access to free sites that
are just as available without going through the commercial site.
My favorite site for genealogical research is
http://www.gendex.com/ It is a free site that provides an
index for more than 10 million names. (although many are
duplicates) It provides links to private web pages that include
family history in different formats. Once I land on a site that
has a name that I want, I usually find that the site has much
more on that family that is also of interest.
A word of warning on the use of the web for genealogical
research as well as other research. There is a lot of garbage
out there. Some people are not careful about what they put on
their web pages and include family links that are not correct.
Others make mistakes in transcribing information from other
sources. A researcher has to learn what looks trustworthy and
what looks suspicious. If the information is important, it should
be confirmed through a reliable source."
1802 HALF DIME UPDATE
Board Member Joel Orosz had a few tidbits for David
Davis' research: "In the Cohen sale (1875), the buyer was
Herman Ely at $23.00."
"In the Levick sale (1859), my priced and named copy says
the buyer was "Wilson", and the price was a munificent $1.80.
Of course, Cogan did describe it as "poor". I assume that
"Wilson" was Rathmel Wilson, of Wilmington, Delaware. He
was a buyer in the Lewis Roper sale of 1851, and purchased,
from the grandnephew of Charles Thomson, the Nova
Constellatio mark and quint. See Bowers, History of U.S.
Coinage, pp. 134-35, and Garrett 1, lots 620 and 621."
Joel's report presents a problem, since others have reported
that their catalogs record the lot as a no sale. Hmmm.
LIBERTAS AMERICANA
From the March, 1783 issue of the Gentleman's Magazine of
London: "In commemoration of the American war, and the
independence of America that succeeded it, Dr. Franklin has
caused a medal to be struck. It represents Hercules in his
cradle, strangling two serpents; a leopard, amazed at his
strength, is about to fall upon him; he is repulsed by France,
who, under the figure of Minerva, turns her shield, on which
are three fleurs de lis, towards him. At bottom are the years
1777 and 1781, epochs of the capitulations of the armies of
Burgoyne and Cornwallis, represented by the two serpents.
On the other side is Liberty, emblematically portrayed by a
fine woman; and in the exurgue, Libertas Americana."
FEATURED WEB SITE
Tom Fort found the web site for the Hunterian Museum in
Glasgow, Scotland: http://www.gla.ac.uk/Museum
"They have a nice numismatic section, including material on
Scottish communion tokens."
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)
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