Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 46, November 5, 2000: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2000, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATES We have two new subscribers this week: Mike Baxter and Vince Lacariere. Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber count to 350, a new milestone. KARL MOULTON PRICE LIST AVAILABLE The October 2000 Price List #3 is available from literature dealer Karl Moulton. The 22-page list features catalogs and periodicals at least 55 years old. Karl may be reached at this email address: numiscats@aol.com LAKE BOOKS CATALOG AVAILABLE The Lake Books sale #55 of numismatic literature, closing December 5, 2000, is available for viewing at the firm's web site: http://www.lakebooks.com/ Fred Lake writes: "The sale contains 640 lots covering the broad expanse of numismatics. Many hard-to-find volumes are contained in the catalog's 24 pages, including the Breen/Gillio book on California gold, an autographed Breen "Encyclopedia", a signed Ted Naftzger sale by New Netherlands, a signed Buddy Ebsen sale by Superior with extra photographic plates, Dr. George French's personal copy of Frossard and Hays on the "Cents of 1794", Sutherland on "Roman Coins", special editions of "The Redbook", and many other unique items." BREEN LARGE CENT BOOK READY After reading a note about the new Breen Large Cent book in the EAC Region 8 newsletter, your editor quickly dashed off a note to Mark Borchardt for confirmation. His response: "New travels fast. I'll bet a report from Saturday would not have reached another desk by Sunday evening back in Thomas Cleneay's day. Yes, the large cent book is finished and on the way to the printer. The book has come in at 895 pages with the retail price just over 10 cents per page. Regular Hardbound edition is $89.95. Pre-publication price is $65.00 Deluxe Hardbound edition is $149.95. Pre- publication is $105.00 Add $5.00 shipping for each. There will also be a leather bound presentation copy priced at $325.00 with a pre-publication price of $235.00. This edition will be numbered and available on a subscription basis limited to orders received prior to 12/31/2000." [According to an ad on p7 of the November 13th issue of COIN WORLD, "Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of Early United States Large Cents 1793-1814" can be ordered calling 1-800-222-5993 or by email to this address: directsales@bowersandmerena.com -Editor] CALIFORNIA COINS AND ASSAYERS PUBLISHED The long-awaited book by Dan Owens on "California Coiners and Assayers", also published by Bowers and Merena ("A Collector's Universe Company") in conjunction with Stack's, began shipping last week. The importance of the 448-page book is noted in the Introduction by Q. David Bowers: "Every so often in numismatics a work is published that breaks new ground. After much unceasing, unstinting effort involving travel, correspondence, and other communications, and delving into long-forgotten directories and archives, Dan Owens has created a master work which will be used in the future as a source and standard reference. Now, for the first time in numismatic and western history, in one encyclopedic dictionary is told the story of coiners, assayers, and others who created gold in the form of coins and ingots, for use in commerce during one of the most pivotal eras of American history." LEAD WEIGHTS Carl Honore writes: "the piece on lead weights this week was quite interesting. It is also interesting to note that the one and two penny cartwheel copper pieces of 1797 were also used as weights in England, so precisely were they made. Boulton heretofore had boasted on his Cornish halfpenny token of 1794 that each piece contained "one half ounce of Cornish Copper", and so they did ... each and every one. Well the standard was set ... the cartwheels were too bulky to be used in everyday business transactions so were put to use as weights!!" AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY COLLECTION David Lange writes: "In reference to the CSA half dollar and the ANS' ownership of one, I recently went to the society's headquarters with the expectation of viewing this piece. I suppose I should have specified in advance what I wanted to see, as this coin and the other major rarities in its collection are stored offsite in a bank vault. I can understand why this is the case, but it really took the wind out of my sails. I did go through all the trays of colonial and early federal coins, but in most instances the more desirable pieces were represented by replicas or photographs. What is available for viewing would make for a nice amateur collection, but I didn't really see anything that I don't get to see in a typical year working at NGC. Let's hope that when its new building is ready for occupation the ANS will be able to mount its rarities for public viewing. I believe that's one of its goals in relocating." OLDEST COIN COLLECTION RECORDED IN THE U.S.? On p18 of his current literature price list, Karl Moulton describes an article from the January, 1907 issue of The Numismatist: "One of the more interesting passages in this particular issue is titled, "Oldest Coin Collection Recorded in the U.S." It outlines extracts from the diary of Reverend William Bentley who, it would appear, was the very first coin dealer in this country. His main customer was Judge James Winthrop. He sold Judge Winthrop Swedish Plate Money on August 26th, 1787. Later, on October 23, 1795, he created the earliest catalogue of coins of Mr. Samuel Curwin's collection for Mr. Winthrop. This catalogue far outdistances the 1828 Watkin's broadside listed by Attinelli. As numismatic bibliophiles, we should endeavor to obtain a copy of this significant milestone publication." [Editor's note: Bentley's diary is quoted in Bowers' "American Numismatics before the Civil War". A web search turned up one reference to Curwin - his unabridged journals. If this is the same Curwin, perhaps a reading of his journals will yield further clues about his coin collection. Oliver, Andrew (ed.). The Journal of Samuel Curwin, Loyalist. Cambridge; published by the Harvard University Press for the Essex Institute:1972. The unabridged journals of the Salem merchant who fled America after being harassed for his Loyalist activities. 2 volumes. 6.5"x9.5", 1083 pages, b&w illustrations] BINGHAM PAPERS LOCATED In response to the question about Anne Bingham, Andrew Pollack referred Mr. Goldsborough to the papers of William Bingham (1752-1804) in the collections of the Broome County Historical Society, Roberson Center, Binghamton, NY. FILL IN THE <BLANK> COLLECTING Dick Johnson writes: "Collecting coin albums, cloth mint bags, bank deposit slips and other such peripheral money items is a tacit expression that we are moving away from our "core" interests. (I am never one to criticize what another collector assembles as I have gathered some esoteric items myself in the past, so I am not casting any stones from my glass house!). But aren't we numismatists moving in the wrong direction? Question: What one denominator is common to all coins, medals, tokens and paper money? What is the one basic CORE subject common to all numismatics? What should we know more about than any other in the field of numismatics (and perhaps don't)? Answer: Engraving. Yet how many books, articles, numismatic writing have you seen (ever!) on engraving? Shouldn't we be learning more about engraving as a precept for all numismatic understanding? Yet it is not easy researching engraving. I have talked with and interviewed both hand and machine engravers, those that worked for Medallic Art when I worked there also, and outside engravers. I learned a little about their tools and techniques but nothing about the history of engraving. Engravers are craftsmen that can carve a little metal but have little feeling for their heritage. One told me in his entire lifetime he found only one book on engraving; "But it was in German and I couldn't read it!" Most books on engraving discuss the flat engraving for printing. To distinguish this from die engraving for coins and medals some call this "die sinking." So I checked a number of websites recently for both terms: On eBay: no books, 3 pieces of equipment for die sinking, 3,625 entries on engraving. On Barns & Noble: 1 new book, 1 old on die sinking, 337 and 7,747 for engraving. On Yahoo: 9 entries on die sinking, 382 on engraving. On Abebooks: 1 on die sinking, 14,661 on engraving. On Google: 102,000 entries on die sinking, 239,000 on engraving. Not one book of numismatic interest! At ANS's Library Catalog I found 5 entries on die sinking: two on die sinking errors, one on Anglo-Saxon, one on Lauer -- a catalog from the German die sinking firm -- and one on artistic die sinking in 1898. I must admit I had read none of the articles (but do own two copies of the Lauer catalog listed, but do not consider this a source of information on numismatic die sinking). Point of all this: I am concerned where we are headed. Aren't we chasing a wider spreading ripple of peripheral artifacts of questionable value when we should become more knowledgeable about an important core interest, such as engraving? Is this the direction we want numismatics to go?" NO CHANGE WITHOUT A REALLY, REALLY BIG PURCHASE From the AP newswire, as published in a local newspaper November 4, 2000: "Federal authorities yesterday charged a Utah auto mechanic with trying to cash a bogus $100 million Federal Reserve bearer bond allegedly issued in 1934. Prosecutors said the Federal Reserve never issued any note in a denomination greater than $1 million..." FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web page is a new addition to the NBS web site - John Bergman's instructions on how to pack books, taken from his web site. http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_how_to_pack_books.html Jim Bergman writes: "I did get to read some of the messages that were in the E-Sylum and it did my heart good to see how much people liked my father. He was truly a good guy. Anyway, there would be nothing my father would have liked more than to have as many people as possible read and follow his instructions on the proper techniques for packing books. Feel free to reprint that article in any form either printed or electronic." 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)
