Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 37, September 10, 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: Vincent Alones. Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber count to 336. COLLINS AWARDEE WRITES Bill Malkmus, Asylum indexer and recipient of this year's Jack Collins Award writes: "The Jack Collins Award plaque was quite a surprise in today's mail. It is certainly a very impressive and dignified design. It arrived in perfect condition. Please feel free to pass my appreciation for the award to the rest of the N.B.S. membership." KOLBE FIXED PRICE LIST George Frederick Kolbe/Fine Numismatic Books has just released their first Fixed Price List of Rare and Important Numismatic Literature since 1997. Nearly two thousand items are featured in the 96-page catalogue. Copies of the printed catalogue may be obtained by sending $5.00 [free to E-sylum subscribers] to the firm or it may be viewed at their web site: http://www.numislit.com/. One fourth of the catalogue is devoted to works on ancient numismatics; another fourth is devoted to American numismatic works; and the remainder comprises key works on medieval and modern worldwide numismatics. Some of the more important titles offered for sale include: An original eleven volume set of Babelon's Traité des Monnaies Grecques et Romaine; a number of great classic 16th, 17th and 18th century works on ancient coins; a large paper set of Burns' Coinage of Scotland; three original Medina works on Latin American numismatics; S. H. Hamer's personal copy of Pye's 1795 Provincial Copper Coins or Tokens, and a complete twelve volume set of the monumental Count Magnaguti sale catalogues. For more information, contact George at this address: Numislit@compuserve.com BOOK REVIEW: PETERSON BUST HALF GUIDE Michael E. Marotta sends the following book review of THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ATTRIBUTING BUST HALF DOLLARS by Glenn R. Peterson, MD. (2000. Money Tree, Rocky River, Ohio): "This book belongs on the shelf of every collector of American coins. Brad Karoleff's "Introduction" alone, explaining the history of the coin is worth the cover price. Since modern collecting leans heavily to errors and varieties, any collector of any series can benefit from the scientific methodology for identifying die marriages. Dr. Peterson's work sets the standard for the coming century. Collectors of Bust Half Dollars are close on the heels of Early American Copper collectors at setting the pace for studious examination of numismatic materials. This book narrows that gap." INDIAN PAPER MONEY BOOK PUBLISHED Kishore Jhunjhunwalla of Currencies & Coins, Mumbai, India, writes: "We are pleased to announce the release of our latest publication, "A Standard Reference Guide to INDIAN PAPER MONEY". The book is a comprehensive catalog on the issue of currency in India, since 1770 AD to the present times, covering a history of 200 years. It contains 464 pages, classifying Indian notes into 1500 categories, with 763 full color illustrations (including many rare specimens and patterns), giving details of paper, printer, watermark, size, prefix, signatories, etc." For further information, see their web site at this address: http://www.numisindia.com/ LYMAN LOW'S LIBRARY CREDO In his recent book, "The Rare Silver Dollars Dated 1804 and the Exciting Adventures of Edmund Roberts", Q. David Bowers recounts Lyman Low's 1900 credo on numismatic libraries, which is still relevant today (p411): "The foundation of a library should always accompany the collection of a cabinet of coins. To fully enjoy your treasures, books are necessary; coin study cannot be conducted intelligently without them. If we wish to learn the particulars in detail of any coin, just make a specialty of it for a time, and you will find much that comes to your notice." MORE ON CINCINNATUS Some were unclear on whether last week's discussion of the famed Roman citizen-soldier Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus was a real person. Pete Smith writes: "It is my understanding that he was a real person. However, his accomplishments have been glamorized and embellished until it is difficult to separate fact from fiction." Mike Hodder writes: "He became a personification of civic virtue but he was a real person first. He was consul in 460 B.C. When his term expired he went back to his farm. In 458 B.C. he was appointed dictator for the war against the Aequians. Sixteen days later, after defeating his enemy and recapturing the legionary standards, he returned to his farm and plough. His example of rustic virtue, civic devotion, and military skill became an example for later Romans. Here's what St. Augustine (speaking of Christians of his time who boasted of their righteous poverty) had to say about him: "...Quintius Cincinnatus, who, possessing only four acres of land, and cultivating them with his own hands, was taken from the plough to be made dictator -- an office more honorable even than that of consul -- and that, after having won great glory by conquering the enemy, he preferred notwithstanding to continue in his poverty" FAKES OF THE FAKES In last week's issue of the Early American Coppers Region 8 newsletter, Tom Reynolds wrote: "I thought I had seen it all. I just received in the mail two "electros" of a 1793 S-1 and 1793 S-11. They are not electros but are cast pieces using Gallery Mint examples to make a mold for the casting. The mold uses the unmarked side of two pieces so that "Copy" does not show. After casting, they are copper plated. The pieces are crude but could easily be mistaken for electros. It is bad enough that we have to watch out for fake key dates, now we have watch out for fakes of the fakes!! These pieces came from the Springfield, IL area and last year I was sent a damaged and "aged" Gallery Mint 1796 Half Cent from the same area. Be on guard!!!! These fakes could easily sell in the $75-$100 area." OBSOLETE CURRENCY Reminiscent of our recent discussions on numismatic terms is a very lengthy Letter to the Editor of Bank Note Reporter by E-Sylum subscriber Bob Cochran in response to a columnist's statement that "obsolete currency" is a "fancy term for broken bank notes". Cochran states that "it is quite clear that "obsolete currency" is the correct term for the entire group of banknotes issued between 1781 and 1866". He backs up his point with quotes from the journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors, letters by D. C. Wismer, and a passage from William Dillistin's "Bank Note Reporters and Counterfeit Detectors 1826-1866". DEVASTATING REVIEWS Asylum editor E. Tomlinson Fort writes: " I recently purchased a copy of The Numismatic Chronicle for 1901. As some may know this issue is unique in the history of that esteemed journal in that the entire volume (some 515 pages) consists a single work: Joseph Andrews, "Numismatic History of the Reign of Henry I, 1100-1135." Making a long story short, Andrews' principal argument was that during Henry's reign the English mints were controlled by the earls, all of whom held lands and titles in Normandy, and that the mints only produced coins when the earls were in England. Thus, the mint at Gloucester only struck coins when the Earl of Gloucester was in England, and when he was in Normandy the mint ceased production. The next volume of The Numismatic Chronicle contained a five-page review of Andrews' work by two clerks at the Public Record Office in London [C.G. Crump and C. Johnson, "Notes on 'A Numismatic History of the Reign of Henry I," NC 1902, pp.372-7]. In this review the authors completely and utterly demolished the arguments which Andrews spent 500 pages building. The rancor caused by this was one of the principle reasons for a group leaving the Royal Numismatic Society and forming the British Numismatic Society in 1904. More recently, there is the case of Karl F. Morrison and Henry Grunthal's "Carolingian Coinage" (New York, 1967). This 465 page tome was published by no less an august body than the American Numismatic Society. In his review (in the Numismatic Chronicle, 1969, pp.346-350), the British scholar Philip Grierson at least tried to find a few good things to say (he did like the plates). However, the French numismatist does not suffer fools lightly and he "nuked" the book in his review [Revue Numismatique 1967, pp.291-5]. In fact these reviews were so bad (as is the book) and the book so riddled with errors that I am told it cost Morrison tenure at the university where he was lecturing. [To the uninitiated wishing to learn about the Carolingian series, if you pay $90 for this work you should receive $95 in change] The fate of Morrison's monograph is rather sad, since before it he published several articles on the Carolingian series which are quite good. [I particularly recommend his "Numismatics and Carolingian Trade: a Critique of the Evidence," Speculum 38 (1963), pp.403-432.]. Thinking about Andrews and Morrison has made me wonder about what other great numismatic literary disasters may be out there. I am not talking about articles or pamphlets - I mean lengthy works which were pilloried soon after they hit the street and which caused trouble and embarrassment for either their author(s) and/or publishers. I am not interested in works which were only shown to be incompetent years after they appeared. The published scorn must have been poured on them within a year or two after they were printed and the critics must be right. Since my own interests are Medieval European I am particularly interested in any works dealing with modern and American coins. Please send all submissions to me at etfort@aol.com. FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web page is an article on credit card collecting at Business Week Online: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/sep2000/nf2000091_468.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)
