Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 34, August 20, 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: Dick Duncan of
Lancaster, PA. Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber
count to 334.
ANA EXHIBIT WINNERS
NBS Board member Pete Smith writes: "It was NBS Vice
President Tom Sheehan's exhibit on "Building a Set of The
Numismatist" that took first place in the Numismatic Literature
classification. Board member Scott Rubin took second place
with "Auction Catalogs That Led Me to Collect Numismatic
Literature." My exhibit on "An Illustrated History of Four
Mints in Philadelphia" took second place in the Local Interest
class.
IN SEARCH OF THE FIRST MINT
Pete Smith also sent this note about his convention experiences:
"My talk on literature and illustrations of the Philadelphia Mints
ran longer than the time suggested. I had at least a half an
hour of additional material that I could have included. As an
example, I did not tell of my attempt to visit the first Philadelphia
Mint.
The current Mint shows a map of the location of previous
mints and mentions a marker on the Federal Building
commemorating the first mint. I walked around three sides
of the Federal Building and could not find a marker. I asked
two guards at the public entrance and they had never heard
of a marker for the first mint. Another guard at the employee
entrance had the same reaction. She suggested I try the GSA
office on the fourth floor saying they would know if anyone
would. There I found two more people who had never heard
of a marker for the first mint. One woman said that she had
worked for the government for 29 years and had worked in
that building since it was opened. She assured me that there
was no marker on the building.
I talked to someone at the ANA convention who had seen
the marker on a previous visit. The south end of the Federal
building was inaccessible because of construction. I suspect
the marker, if it still exists, was behind the construction fences.
I wonder if any of the workers in the current Federal Building
are aware that they occupy the site of the first building
constructed by our government."
MINT VISITOR'S RECORDS
Last week's excerpt from the 1863 pamphlet "Something
About Coins" led us to wonder if the San Francisco mint's
visitors logs still exist, which would enable us to pinpoint the
date of author Barra's visit. Karl Moulton writes: "I agree
with the view that if the San Francisco visitor register does
survive, it would be in the Pacific Division of the National
Archives.
Jenny and I spent several days going through the visitor
registers for the Philadelphia Mint (1836-1851) and found
many interesting entries. I can say with certainty that the
Branch Mint visitor registers are not in the Mid-Atlantic region
office in Philadelphia."
MANATEE COINS
Denis Loring ferreted out a manatee coin with the help of
some E-Sylum readers. He had been looking for one as
a gift to his wife. Your editor consulted a local club
member (Corleen Chesonis) who collects images of
wildlife on coins. She knew of the following issues:
* 1 cent from Guyana minted 1976-1980 (and maybe later)
* 1974 50 colones from Costa Rica - part of the Wildlife
Conservation series, non-circulating legal tender
Denis reports: "Pete Smith not only found out about this one
[the Costa Rican piece], but got one for me at ANA! I gave
it to Donna when she picked me up at the airport -- her grin
lit up the room!"
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
Paul Schultz writes: "I found the "Something About Coins"
pamphlet interesting, but I think the pamphlet contains and
perpetuates a common misquote. It cites the proverb of
money as the root of all evil, and goes on to defend its
(money's) use. The original quote is from the Bible, and it
states that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil
(First letter of Paul to Timothy (i.e.1st Timothy), Chapter 6
verse 10. Here are verses 9 and 10 together to maintain
the context:
9. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,
into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires
that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
10. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is
through this craving that some have wandered away
from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs.
Since this is about 1,950 years old, I think we can probably
regard it as the original source of the saying. Obviously,
money is not being called evil here, but the love of it above
other things that are more important. The misquote, however,
is a very common one, and it leads to a very different meaning
which can easily be disputed, like in the pamphlet."
USED BOOK SOURCES
[Editor's note: as mentioned previously, we generally avoid
referencing businesses or commercial web sites, but the
following submissions are sure to be of interest to bibliophiles,
especially those who are still new to using the net to search for
books,]
Howard Daniel writes: "Paper Treasures is a very large used
book and periodical store at 9595 Congress Street in New
Market, Virginia which is open seven days a week. Their
mailing address is P.O. Box 1160, New Market, VA 22844
and their telephone number is 540-740-3135. In their
"Hobby" section, they always seem to have numismatic
material that would be of interest to NBS members. It is rare
that I find something in my area of interest (Southeast Asia),
but I often see old U.S. auction catalogs with and without the
prices realized, and many other U.S. numismatic publications.
Their prices are reasonable and every NBS member should
stop there when they are in the northern half of the Shenandoah
Valley of Virginia."
Doug Andrews of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada writes: "I am
an avid reader of The E-Sylum. I offer the following reviews of
used booksellers' websites that may well interest NBS members.
The first is abebooks.com. This site boasts a staggering 19
million listings from used book vendors. It bills itself as "the
world's largest network of independent booksellers." Online
payment is accepted by participating dealers.
A search using the keyword "numismatics" returned 4750
matches; "coin collecting" some 820. These are significant
numbers, and represent offerings that are focused on American,
British, and Canadian numismatic interests. There are, however,
many volumes dealing with ancient and European coinage and
related topics.
The other website is alibris.com. It offers books sold by both
itself and by member dealers. Alibris guarantees the security of
its online payment system. Its trademark is "Books You
Thought You'd Never Find," and it seems to live up to this
promise. The books cover a considerable range of worldwide
numismatic tastes. Searching under "numismatics" returned hits
for 1691 volumes.
Both websites offer browse, search, payment, and shipping
options that show the companies operating them intend to be
competitive with the most advanced e-tailers on the Internet."
ANOTHER REASON FOR AN ASSAY COMMISSION
Donn Pearlman, in his "Pearlman's People" column in
the August 2000 issue of The Numismatist, wrote a
tongue-in-cheek Question & Answer segment using
real questions frequently submitted by hobby newcomers.
Here's one gem:
Q: Why do so many of the new golden dollars have
ugly spots and tarnish?
A: Obviously, the Mint used impure gold.
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site showcases Philippine guerrilla
money of World War II:
http://www.softcom.net/users/jmarcum/
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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