Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 2 January 9, 2000:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
We have five new subscribers this week: Carl Greve,
Thomas P. Wolf, Clement V. Schettino, Adrian Gonzalez
Salinas of Monterrey, Mexico, and Mark Van Winkle,
Chief Cataloger at Heritage Auctions Welcome aboard!
However, we also have five lost sheep whose email
addresses are no longer valid: Mike Grogan, Terry Guthrie,
Reed Marton, Michael Rea, and Carlo Poggi. This keeps
our net subscriber count at 269.
FUNCTION ASSOCIATES EMAIL ADDRESS
In last week's issue I neglected to include literature dealer
Fred Lake's email address - it is fredlake@aol.com.
I already forwarded to Fred all requests for catalogs that
we sent to me instead.
SEEING DOUBLE?
Unless NBS member Brad Karoleff has an evil twin,
something's fishy about his new column, "Designs of the
Times", which began appearing in the January 17, 2000
issue of COIN World. The column will address Flowing
Hair, Draped Bust, and Capped Bust designs of the U.S.
Mint.
In my copy, the article appears on p44 and AGAIN, in
its entirety, on p58. It's not a binding error - the pages
are quite different except for the article.
CURRENCY REPRODUCTION IN FRANCE
My apologies for the delay in publishing this note from
Georges Depeyrot, responding to November's
discussion on laws relating to the reproduction of
currency: "There is the same problem in France. The
Banque de France does not allow reproduction of bank
notes. A periodical for collectors did it and reproduced
all the bank notes. The Banque de France went to court.
The first time to stop immediately the periodical (they lost).
It was a very quick procedure. The second time to stop
the periodical (they lost). The next time they asked a new
court to break the first and second judgments.
They lost last week... "
SOURCE FOR OREGON BEAVER MONEY HISTORY
Michael J. Sullivan writes: "With all of the controversy over
the recent Spink's sale cancellation, it may be time to return
to the time-honored tradition of reaching for a good book.
During my 11 years seeking out bank histories across the
United States for my burgeoning collection, I found the
following item:
Richter, A. Century of Banking in the Rogue River Valley.
Medford, OR: Pacific Coast Banking School, 1967. vii, 204
pp. "Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
Pacific Coast Banking School conducted by Western States
Bankers Association of the University of Washington, Seattle."
The book includes a history of the Oregon Exchange Co. gold
coins (aka "Beaver Money") which is reasonable well written.
A copy of this thesis can be borrowed from your local library
on the inter-library loan program. The copy I borrowed was
secured from the Jackson County Library System, Medford,
OR in June 1998."
COLLECTIONS PUBLISHED, BUT NOT AUCTIONED
Allan Davisson writes: "The discussion of sales that did not
occur as scheduled suggests another numismatic publishing
byway -- great collections that would have made an
outstanding sale that were bought and then published before
dispersal:
Arguably the most important catalog I have in my library that
fits this description is the October 1890 publication by Spink
and Son of the Montague collection of milled English coins
featuring patterns and proofs. They published a special catalog
of this "unrivaled collection of English coins -- a portion so rich
in patterns of extreme rarity--we felt it would be a matter for
regret did we not make some permanent record of it"
The items were numbered (1853 lots) in the same manner as a
sale catalog. The plates, however, are photos in the text rather
than plates at the end. My copy also has the prices neatly
inked in in the same manner as sale catalogs from that era.
And another "never held" sale:
Henry Platt Hall's collection of British coins; Part III
catalogued by Glendining's for a July 26, 1950 sale but the
entire collection was purchased outright by Spink before the
sale. 423 lots with a particularly important group of Charles I
provincial issues included; 11 plates."
KEEPING ACTIVE VIA EBAY
Dick Johnson writes: "This week's E-Sylum mentions eBay in
two separate items. I find eBay sellers are quite chatty. I
bought a book from a Maine dealer and dropped her a line
why I was buying it. I was working on two books and a film
script, I mentioned, and that I was 69 but staying active by
writing while retired.
She wrote back that she was 74 and selling books was her
passion, and that at this age you have to be passionate about
something!
Also, I wish the use of the term Mint as a condition would not
be permitted on eBay. While searching for Denver Mint up
came "Denver Co Mint" but was a postcard of the Denver
skyline in mint condition. I have yet to learn how to search for
our kind of mint, and eliminate the word for the condition of
the piece."
ANS LIBRARY CATALOGUE PROJECT
According to the Fall 1999 issue of the American Numismatic
Society Newsletter, "the library's dictionary card catalogue is
now completely converted to machine-readable records.
Some 120,000 records, representing the entire catalogued
library collection of books and periodicals, have been
converted." Auction catalogue records are still being
processed. The records will "ultimately appear on the
Society's web site where they can be accessed by keyword
searching." Wow!
LAST WORD ON "THE GREAT DEBATE"?
A four-column comment article by Q. David Bowers
regarding the "Great Debate" over Western Assay Bars
appears in the same issue of the ANS newsletter. While
the article contains much of interest to numismatic
bibliophiles, I'll just quote one paragraph, which follows
up on an earlier mention in The E-Sylum: "Researcher
Dan Owens has completed the manuscript for a new
book, the working title of which is "An Encyclopedia of
California Coiners and Assayers Related to Numismatics,
1849-1863." Upon publication, Mr. Buttrey will find
hundreds of pages of documentation about firms that
issued gold bars, nearly all of this material having come
from readily available sources."
The ANS newsletter's editor notes, after stating the usual
disclaimer that all such articles and publications do not
represent the opinion of the ANS, its officers, and staff,
that "this communication will conclude discussion on this
topic in any of the publications of the American Numismatic
Society."
NUMISMATIC COLLECTION AT MINT HQ?
In an interview in the January 4, 2000 issue of Numismatic
News, U.S. Mint Director Philip N. Diehl remarks: "I very
much want to see a new home for American numismatics.
What I'm really talking about here is a visitor's center and/or
museum here in Washington, D.C., that pays tribute to the
American coin collector and to numismatics...
There has been a lot of talk about the National Numismatic
Collection and the fact that there hasn't been a great deal
invested in it over the last several years. We have been
talking to the Smithsonian about the possibility of entering
into an agreement that would allow the Mint to take a more
active role in that collection."
The new Mint headquarters building was designed to have
a visitor's center on the ground floor. It would be an
interesting turn of events to see part of the collection come
full circle and return to the Mint, where it was started
(albeit in Philadelphia, not Washington). Having driven
past the building this spring while it was under construction,
I can attest to the fact that it is a substantial structure, located
at the edge of Washington's Chinatown, with plenty of
restaurants nearby.
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is a page from the U.S. Mint
site listing the past Directors of the Mint from 1792 to date,
David Rittenhouse to Philip Diehl.
http://www.usmint.gov/facts/past.cfm
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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