Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 8, February 20, 2000: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2000, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATES We have three new subscribers this week: Paul Totoritis, Vicken Yegparian and longtime NBS member George Fitzgerald. Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber count to 281. FUNCTION ASSOCIATES SALE Numismatic literature dealer Fred Lake reports that Function Associates is holding its 51st sale of numismatic literature with a closing date of March 21, 2000. For more information contact Fred at fredlake@aol.com ANS LIBRARY CATALOG NOW ONLINE Well bibliophiles, the day we've long anticipated has finally arrived. Sebastian Heath and Francis D. Campbell report: "The American Numismatic Society is pleased to announce that its library catalog can now be searched on-line at http://www.amnumsoc.org/search/. While this is a preliminary version of a developing tool, we hope that it proves useful to researchers and collectors alike. To date the ANS has put its object database, a growing number of images, and now the library catalog on the world wide web. The next step is to re-implement the on-line search of Numismatic Literature. It will be interesting to see how these four tools will complement each other as part of a single resource for numismatic research and learning. All suggestions or corrections will be appreciated." Mr. Campbell can be reached at: Campbell@amnumsoc.org NBS WEB SITE SEARCH FEATURE DEBUTS Speaking of search features, several people in recent months have commented on how useful it would be to have a search feature on the NBS web site. Well, now we do. A full text search feature is now available from the home page. Click on "Search", then enter your query in the box and click on the button. Including the Bibliography and E-Sylum archive, all 181 pages of the web site are indexed. Be sure to read the "Help on Searching" to learn how to form your queries for best results. The NBS web site is located at: http://www.coinbooks.org/ PHOTO FAKE AT ANA WEBSITE In a note to ANA webmaster Susan Nulty, Andy Lustig wrote: "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Clark Gruber $20 on your home page is fake. Experts differ on these, but some other photo should be used." At this writing the photo is at this address: http://www.money.org/cg1861.jpg As a follow-on, he posed the following to readers of The E-Sylum: "There are two distinct types of 1861 Clark Gruber twenties. The ones that are semi-prooflike and have somewhat concave fields (most apparent at the peripheries) are, in my opinion, fake. Can anyone locate a plated "fake" prior to 1950? I doubt it! The Clark Gruber overstrikes, such as the piece struck over a 57-S twenty, are from the suspect dies, and have the same PL tendencies. How 'bout dat???" CRITIC'S CORNER: BREEN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA In response to the call for comments on Walter Breen's Encyclopedia, Researcher and author D. Wayne Johnson writes: "Most of my comments are about the illustrations: (1) Placing illustrations beneath the descriptions was a terrible mistake. Visually the stronger element should be above with the descriptions below; as "art and caption." (2) The illustrations are not lined up, they bounce all over the column; I would have preferred obverse and reverse brought together in the exact center of the column almost, but not quite touching. (3) Breen gathered his photographs from many sources. While he had to use what he got, the density of the photos are more annoying than their haphazard placement in the column width. Perhaps it was not possible to make the photos more uniform density at the time of publication. Now it is possible to do this via computer. (4) The enlargements of the Patterns of 1792 (pages 156-157) was a great idea but could have been more artistically treated. The if-it-won't-fit-in-a-column- put-the-reverse-below-and-to-the-right-of-the-obverse school of layout makes a very unattractive unbalanced page. (5) "The Bibliography, Abbreviations, Typographic Conventions" in the appendix was a real catchall. I would have preferred separate charts. The use of the equal sign in this section is somewhat disconcerting. Good Points: (6) I greatly admire Walter's numbering system: serial numbers from 1 up [7,343 items in numbers up to 8035, with just enough open numbers for future issues]. It was sheer genius to organize everything in one system that is simple but very effective. Future additions are possible without disturbing the existing numbers. (7) I liked the Metrology section and the Inscription Index, both in the front, and the Glossary and the two separate indexes in the back. But the worst problem of all: (8) My pages have separated from the binding. The sections I have used most -- almost every page in the back -- are loose and sticking out from the pages still fastened to the spine. I have an autographed and inscribed copy that I highly cherish (which now I realize I should have set aside and used a second copy for everyday use)." A couple other subscribers had comments which we'll save for next week. WALTER'S SECRET CODE? D. Wayne Johnson went on to add: "Incidentally, has anyone broken Walter's secret code? What is the meaning of the secret mark "297B" in the name index following the name Robert Graham? It is no secret Walter did not like the design of the 1984 Olympic Silver Dollar. His words are well chosen, yet very unflattering in his description. But the "297B" in the index does not refer to the page number (606), nor the catalog number (7602) of this coin. Could it be Walter's secret word for what he really meant? Can it appear in print in this proper publication? Was it his way of sticking it to the artist? I'm curious to know." GLEANINGS FROM COIN WORLD Here are some items relating to numismatic literature taken from the February 28, 2000 issue of COIN World: DEISHER SPEAKS ON BUILDING A LIBRARY On Saturday, March 4, 2000, at the ANA midyear convention in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, "COIN World Editor Beth Deisher will discuss "First the Book: Building a Core Numismatic Library," a program that covers 10 essential books needed to collect U.S. coins and how to build a library." (p8) LETTER REGARDING THE 1804 DOLLAR ADS In the letters to the Editor section, Robert S. Williams discusses the 1804 Silver Dollar "recovery" ads that have been running in that publication (see The E-Sylum, Vol 3, No. 4). "It would be hoped that Mr. Brown had his coin attributed by one of the grading services or by an otherwise qualified numismatist ... meanwhile, I would hope that knowledgeable members of the numismatic community would comment to Coin World on this unusual situation." (p11) ALEXANDER ARTICLE ON AUCTION CATALOGS David T. Alexander of Stack's has an article titled: "Numismatic Auctions: 20th Century Auction Catalogs Collectible in their Own Right." The article gets our vote for best adjectival description of a coin dealer: "a bumptious young immigrant from Russian Lithuania, B. Max Mehl." (no doubt sending nearly everyone but George Kolbe to their dictionaries). (p 20) BREEN AND FORD In his "The Joys of Collecting" column, Q. David Bowers, describing his visits to the New Netherlands Coin Company, writes: "Breen's numismatic focus tended to be narrow, with frequent consultation of selected numismatic reference books and a limited number of auction catalogs. This was a limitation, as based on a very limited survey, Walter would state ex cathedra that "only five are known" of a certain coin, whereas if he had looked further, he might have multiplied his estimates. On the other hand, beyond numismatics, Breen could discuss anything from the philosophy of Ayn Rand (whom he had met) to the ancient plays of Aristophanes to the tidal theory of planetary formation..." (p76) FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is the History of Japanese Currencies hosted by the Bank of Japan. The illustrations and text are excellent. If you're a collector of U.S. currency, particularly National Bank Notes, be sure to visit section 19, "National Banknotes": "Banknotes were issued by the 153 national banks. The forms and designs of all the national banks' notes were the same except for the banks' names." The similarity to U.S. nationals is striking. http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/cm/english_htmls/history.htm 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 21704 (To be removed from this mailing list write to me at whomren@coinlibrary.com)
