Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 22, May 28, 2000:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2000, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
We have one new subscriber this week: Paul Schultz.
Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber count
to 302.
WEBTV TRANSMISSION TROUBLE
Some subscribers with email addresses at webtv.net may
have stopped receiving The E-Sylum. Apparently we've
been marked as "spam". Perhaps this is a side effect of the
growing size of our mailing list, and NBS should be flattered.
But I'm not amused, and will investigate to see what can be
done. Luckily this only affects four subscribers, but I hate
to see even one delivery miss its mark. Whatever happened
to "Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night..."?
POSTAGE CURRENCY PATTERN BOOK PUBLISHED
David Cassel writes: "May 31, 2000, marks the six-year
anniversary of my research into Postage Currency pattern coins
and the beginning of my Postage Currency research collection.
The book I have just completed, entitled: "United States Pattern
Postage Currency Coins", a survey of U. S. pattern Postage
Currency 10 cent coins of 1863 and the related issues dated
1868 and 1869, is complete and at the book binders right now
being assembled and bound. The anticipated delivery date to me
is June 12th.
My research has led to many discoveries that I have revealed
for the first time regarding these historic coins and the method
in which they were manufactured. I have disproved many Judd
classifications and have added some new classifications. The
book has 234 pages with more than 100 enlarged, mostly
color photographs of Postage Currency coins.
Due to the very high cost of printing, I will be producing only
110 perfect-bound numbered copies of my book. Forty-four
of the 110 have already been spoken for. The remaining
sixty-six copies are available on a first come, first served basis.
My published price is $145 per copy, but, for E-Sylum readers
I will offer the remaining copies for $125 ppd.for a limited time
only." For more information, contact Mr. Cassel at this address:
DavCassel@aol.com.
MORE CELEBRITY NUMISMATISTS
Ken Barr writes: "I'm surprised that no one mentioned
Michelle Johnson (15 minutes of topless fame for "Blame It on
Rio") who bought an 1894-S Barber dime for $50,600 in the
Jerry Buss sale (Superior, 1985). Her current claim to fame is
being married to Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Matt
Williams."
Bill Rosenblum writes: "A few "CELEBRITY" numismatists
that I know of: Angie Dickenson, the actress, whom I met at a
show in the LA area in the early 1980's; James Earl Jones was
a customer of a number of LA firms and thus was persuaded to
narrate the video that David Lisot produced, the ANA and PNG
sponsored a number of years ago that was seen on PBS ...
(And I can't remember the name of it). Also, the ex-mayor of
Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, was an avid numismatist and two other
collectors (or more likely investors) were Randy Gradishar,
ex-linebacker for Ohio State and the Denver Broncos, who
helped us with some free advertising work for coins shows we
ran in Denver in the early 1980's and Julius (Dr. J) Erving. I also
know a few other comparatively famous people who collect
(and are serious numismatists) but since I value my clients'
privacy I can't reveal their names at the moment. I'm sure there
are plenty of similar people out there."
THE CHAINED LIBRARY
Over the past few weeks your editor has been squeezing in
time to read "The Book on the Bookshelf" by Henry Petrosky,
first profiled in The E-Sylum on October 25, 1999. The book
is a fascinating account of the evolution of the bookshelf,
something we bibliophiles take for granted today.
One step in the evolution was the chained library. In the era
preceding the modern printing press, books were laboriously
hand-made and thus all were quite rare and valuable. "To
assure that books were not moved from their rightful lectern,
they were chained to it. This constraint led to other
developments, for
A chained book cannot be read unless there is some
kind of desk or table on which to rest it within the
length of the chain; that fact conditioned the structure
of the bookcase. Again, since a chained book cannot
be moved to the window, the window must be near
the book; that determined the plan of the building...
Among the first implications of chaining was to obviate the
need for the constant availability of keys to unlock rooms,
chests, or armaria. The books were openly available but
secured by chains that ended in rings strung on a long rod,
as shower curtain rings are on a shower rod." p60.
About a week after reading this passage I was struck with
a realization that the evolution continues today, and in one
sense has come full circle. Today's scholars sit not just in
front of books, but computer screens as well. While
becoming less expensive each year, computers are still a
valuable item that the owners don't want to "walk away".
At my office I use a laptop computer, and when I'm not
carrying it with me, it remains fastened to the desk by the
means of a long, low-tech chain. Someday technology
will further reduce the cost of the device such that the
chains will once again disappear from desks, no doubt to
return again to secure the next generation's newfangled
devices.
WASHINGTONIANA
Another nomenclature debate around the hobby surrounds
the proper term for medals, tokens, and other numismatic
items depicting or relating to George Washington. In the
May 15, 2000 issue of The Coin Collector, Q. David Bowers
writes: "The preference of "Washingtonia" (this being the
modern term for Washington collectibles) over the traditional
"Washingtoniana" (used in the 19th century by the likes of
W. Elliot Woodward, Joel Munsell, Franklin B. Hough, et.
al.) seems to be fading, perhaps at least in part due to the
comments made at the "Washingtonia" conference held by
the American Numismatic Society in New York last
November."
Citing comments by David T. Alexander and George Fuld,
Bowers states that "for the meantime it will be
"Washingtoniana" in our catalogues."
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is "Dawn's Virtual Currency
Collection", a nicely done site containing images of U.S.
currency. Site owner Dawn Banks writes: "The site started
off as a hobby, to try to make a currency site that'd cover
US currency in a fairly complete way. It kind of grew." Be
sure to check out the page on currency myths.
http://www.drbanks.com/currency/
http://www.drbanks.com/currency/myths.html
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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