Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 14, April 2, 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: Ed Deane of the
Harry Bass Research Foundation, Carlo Poggi of Italy, and
Larry Stack of Stack's, New York (courtesy of Michael
Hodder). Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber
count to 294.
CALL OF THE CONDER
Allan Davisson writes: "I have a question: I assume that some
19th century American cataloger started using the term "Conder
tokens" for what Dalton and Hamer call the Provincial Token
Coinage of the 19th Century. The British find the title strange
or amusing or both. Since Dalton and Hamer were not published
until 1910 and following and Atkins was published in 1892, a
19th century listing referencing Conder's catalogs seems a logical
starting point. But I wonder where the appellation began."
AMERICAN RESEARCH IN OVERSEAS PUBLICATIONS
Asylum Editor E. Tomlinson Fort writes: "American numismatists
and bibliophiles, tend to be more than a bit insular. This was
especially brought home to me while I was looking through some
early volumes of the British Numismatic Journal. There I found a
couple of articles on early colonial coinage [to be specific the
pieces were: P. Nelson, "The Coinage of William Wood for the
American Colonies, 1722-1733," BNJ 1 (1904), pp.265-86
and H.A. Parsons, "A Cut New-England Threepence Attributed
to the Leeward Islands," BNJ 15 (1918-20), pp.225-7].
That the British should take an interest in the American colonial
series is not surprising. After all, until 1783 much of what is now
the eastern U.S. was British territory. Likewise, the esteemed
editor of The E-Sylum possesses A. Vattemare, Collection de
monnaies et medailles de l'Amerique du Nord de 1652 a 1858
(Paris, 1861) which is a catalogue of the Bibliotheque Nationale's
collection of American coins. This is an obvious sign that by the
Civil War the French were taking an interest in the coins on the
other side of the Atlantic.
What I would like to do is put together a bibliography of works
on American coinage published outside of the U.S. and Canada,
especially those in languages other than English. I would greatly
appreciate it if people could e-mail me the basic information:
author, title, place and year of publication as well as brief
summary of the contents (no more than two or three sentences).
I hope to publish this list in The Asylum as time and space permit."
Tom's email address is: etfort@aol.com
NUMISMATIC LITERATURE ON-LINE
Due to the time, expense, and copyright issues involved,
relatively few numismatic texts are available in their entirety on
the internet. Advertisements announcing the acquisition of the
numismatic firm of Bowers and Merena by Collectors Universe
promise that "all of the Bowers and Merena catalogs and many
of Dave Bowers' books will eventually be available online."
I doubt that this means any previous catalogs would be put
online, but certainly future catalogs will be. Empire Numismatics
was probably the first major numismatic auctioneer to discontinue
printed catalogs in favor of online versions. Several other firms
have very complete catalogs online, but continue to produce
printed versions. What does this trend mean for numismatic
bibliophiles? Is the printed word doomed? Will libraries of
21st century numismatics consist largely of links to web pages?
Although newsgroups, bulletin boards, and chat rooms have
been around the internet for some time, The E-Sylum was
among the first, if not the first, completely edited electronic
periodical (the key word being "edited").
The only printed copies are those made individually by
subscribers. The only "volumes" are the archives on the NBS
web site. So is that a good thing or not? I'm sure some
of you have strong opinions on the subject - let us know what
you think.
CONTRARIAN THEORY
A visitor to my personal web site wrote: "I have been looking
for an answer as to why all of the U.S. coins have the bust
direction on the coins head facing one direction while President
Lincoln faces the opposite direction. I have been scouring the
internet looking for this but I cannot find anything. Do you
know the answer or at least where I can go to find out?"
Here was my response:
"Interesting question, but not one which has a definitive answer.
There is no law which says which direction the busts should
face. Each design was conceived individually at the time of first
issue - there is no master plan. The orientation of the bust is up
to the designers. It is a matter of happenstance that the busts
are facing the way they are.
The Lincoln cent was introduced in 1909, and it was the first
U.S. coin to depict a President. Next came the Washington
Quarter in 1932, then the Jefferson nickel in 1938, then the
Roosevelt Dime in 1946. The Franklin Half Dollar came along
in 1948 and was later replaced by the Kennedy half in 1964.
Only Lincoln and Franklin face right; all the others face left.
Several older U.S. coin designs depict a bust of Miss Liberty.
In most she faces left, but there are some right-facing designs.
An art student might argue that a left-facing bust is generally
more pleasing to the eye, and this might explain why most of
our coin designers have chosen that orientation."
NOW THAT'S A PUBLIC SERVANT
From the February 4, 1801 issue of the Massachusetts Spy,
or Worcester Gazette: "The building appropriated to the
Treasury Department at ... Washington was discovered to
be on fire the evening of the 20th ult... through the exertions
of the citizens, animated by the example of the President of
the United States, (who on this occasion fell into the ranks
and aided in passing the buckets) was at length subdued."
THIS WEEK IN NUMISMATIC HISTORY
By coincidence I received in the mail this week lot #156 from
Charles Davis' recent sale. Dated April 2, 1874, it is a
"Circular to Collectors" from J. Colvin Randall and John W.
Haseltine describing their efforts to strike copies of Lovett's
1861 Confederate Cent from the original dies obtained from
the engraver. Most of what is known today about these
restrikes can be traced to this interesting piece of
numismatic ephemera.
SHOW-N-TELL
So who else has a new acquisition they'd like to share with
our readership? A regular feature of The E-Sylum is a
forum for readers to discuss new additions to their libraries.
Please consider taking a moment to tell us if you've recently
acquired an interesting or useful item of numismatic literature.
NOW THE SUSIE B., THAT WAS A LEMON
From the caption on a photo accompanying a Michael
Marotta article on the Fort Lauderdale ANA Convention,
COIN World, March 27, 2000: "Crowds visiting the
Mint's large four-booth installation asked about the State
quarters and Sacagawea dollars, while taking away
promotional items such as rubber lemons."
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web page is the ANS coin quiz.
American Numismatic Society web manager Sebastian Heath
has set up an interesting guessing game, which numismatists
should find both amusing and educational. It draws on the
Society's archive of computerized images.
"This first version is pretty simple... Choose one or more
departments, click "Try me..." and a new window will appear
showing only the picture, material, weight, and measurements for
a particular coin. (Actually, that information will only appear if
known). Look at the coin (or medal, etc.), try and identify it, and
then click "Show Full Info" to see how you did.
I put this together as a small digression while thinking more
seriously about the structure and content of our database."
To reach the quiz, go to the "Collections" heading on the front
page of the ANS web site and choose the "Coin Quiz" link.
http://www.amnumsoc.org/
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)
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