Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 47, November 12, 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: Ron Guth and
George Polizio. Welcome aboard! This brings our
subscriber count to 352.
A NEW SUBSCRIBER DISCOVERS THE E-SYLUM
Ron Guth writes: "It's 12:30 in the morning and I'm bleary-eyed
from spending an enjoyable two hours reading back issues of
the E-Sylum. What a fount of knowledge! I've taken some
side trips onto some of your recommended websites and have
found them to be incredibly useful, as well. I don't know why
it took so long to find you ... I consider myself pretty Internet
savvy, but the E-Sylum name never popped up until I did a
search for Sheridan Downey (of Half Dollar fame). Speaking
of side trips, I just realized that I never did find Sheridan's site!
Please add me to your list of subscribers."
[Editor's note: I couldn't locate a web site for Sheridan
Downey, either. Can one of our readers help out?
Also, while we generally refrain from referencing commercial
web sites, it is worth noting that Mr. Guth runs a useful site
himself - CoinFacts. The site has a nice collection of basic
information and images of U.S. coins. See
http://www.coinfacts.com/Administrative/home.html ]
THE UPCOMING ASYLUM
The upcoming issue of our print journal, The Asylum, contains
several articles of interest. Karl Moulton leads off with a
"Behind the Scenes" look at the business side of our hobby.
Joel Orosz discusses the "Missing Masterpieces" of American
numismatic literature. John and Nancy Wilson contribute two
articles, on the Lowe library sale and the special ANA
Convention "Redbooks". Pete Smith summarizes the "News
from the Net", and Asylum editor E. Tomlinson Fort provides
a review of a new CD on Scottish Currency.
NBS BIBLIOGRAPHY UPDATED
NBS Board Member Larry Mitchell has added the
following sections on Modern Coinages : USA to the
NBS Bibliography, available on our web site at:
http://www.coinbooks.org/
92. GENERAL & INTRODUCTORY WORKS
93. PRE-FEDERAL AND FOREIGN ISSUES
94. HALF-CENT AND CENT
95. TWO CENTS, THREE CENTS & FIVE CENTS
ANS LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS
The Summer 2000 newsletter of the American Numismatic
Society reports: "In the recent sale of the Harry W. Bass, Jr.
Numismatic Library, Part Four, several items of great
interest were acquired for the Society's Library through the
generosity of ANS Councilor and Chairman of the Library
Committee, John W. Adams and ANS Fellow, George F.
Kolbe. Among these were Ed and Kenneth Lee's unique
and heavily annotated research notebook on California
Fractional gold coins, the extremely rare, typewritten
inventory of the Waldo Newcomer collection of American
Colonial coins, prepared by B. Max Mehl and an
unpublished 1868 manuscript price guide devoted to
American copper and other coins, by Henry Phillips, Jr."
KOLBE CATALOG
Craig N. Smith writes: "Just a note to let you know that I just
received a copy of George Kolbe's newest "cool runnings"
catalogue. Upon seeing the cover, I was overwhelmed with
the urge to sit back, light-up and read it cover to cover to the
lyrics of Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley in the background.
I just can't wait to see the hardbound edition. Rasta on..."
[Editor's note: Mr. Smith is referring to the colorful, bold
geometric design on the cover of Kolbe's 82nd catalogue,
which practically dances itself out of the mailing envelope...]
ANNE BINGHAM RESEARCH
In a follow-up to his research question about Anne Bingham,
Reid Goldsborough writes: "A friend of mine, also a Draped
Bust enthusiast, lives in Binghamton and has said he'll be
checking out the microfilm there about this.
I said I would share with you any information I turned up. I've
prepared a web site based on an article I wrote for Coins
magazine (scheduled to be published in January 2001) about
Anne Bingham and Draped Bust coins. The web site is 95
percent done. If you think it would be a service to your
readers, feel free to share with it them. The address is
http://www.draped-busts.com."
[Editor's note: the site is blessed with dozens of gorgeous
photos of Draped Bust coinage - be sure to take a look.]
SPMC RESEARCH GRANT
In the November/December 2000 issue of Paper Money,
the Society of Paper Money Collectors announces the
George W. Wait Memorial Prize, a $500 unrestricted
research grant available "to anyone engaged in important
research on paper money subjects." The application
deadline is March 15, 2001. For more information, see
p90 of the issue of contact Fred Reed, SPMC Secretary,
at P.O. Box 793941, Dallas, TX, 75379.
OLDEST COIN COLLECTION?
Regarding the "Oldest Coin Collection Recorded in the
U. S.?", George Kolbe writes: "I call your attention to
page 75 of Attinelli."
[Page 75 is the beginning of Attinelli "Part II. Catalogues
and Price-Lists". The first entry refers to a mention in the
catalogue of the Library Company of Philadelphia, dated
1764, to "The Valuable Collection of Ancient MEDALS,
in the Library". This reference predates the 1795
collection by 31 years. The oft-cited 1828 date in
Attinelli refers only to auctions. Parts II and III of
Attinelli are often overlooked by readers - my favorite
part is Part III, beginning on p102: "Publications Issued
in the United States" - Editor]
GREEK NUMISMATIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allan Davisson writes: "We will be publishing a major work
by Bill Daehn on Greek numismatics, an annotated
bibliography of articles published in the English language on
Greek numismatics.
Bill spent over seven years completing this massive project.
The book he has produced lists well over 4000 (4094, to
be exact) references, ranging from brief articles to major
references. His goal, as he states in his preface, is to
provide a comprehensive guide to the literature in the field
of ancient Greek numismatics published in the English
language.
He has organized the book by region and has a detailed
index. I have discovered important articles I did not know
about by simply browsing in the section that includes an area
I am researching. Each bibliographic entry is accompanied by
a detailed summary of the article.
The book is planned at 400 pages. In order to make it
affordable, it will be a perfect bound volume with card covers.
The $65 pre-publication prepaid price is valid until December
31, 2000. After that it will be $75. We can have it custom
bound in library buckram by the Campbell Logan Bindery for
an additional $50." Mr. Davisson can be reached at this
address: davcoin@aol.com
1ST EDITION ENCASED STAMP BOOK
In an ad on p207 of the November/December 2000 issue of
Paper Money, Fred Reed writes: "Thirteen unbound 1st edition
/ 1st printing copies of my book, "Civil War Encased Stamps,"
are available now at $169 each." "This is NOT the green-cover
1995 printing (560 pages), but 428 pages, unbound on oversize
antique, cream colored paper. Only five were bound in brown
case binding. Two are in the ANA library. BNR Press owns
one. Two are on my shelf. Only the unbound ... copies are
available now... Send check to Fred Reed, P.O. Box 118162,
Carrollton, TX, 75011-8162."
LAOTION COIN WEIGHTS
Howard A. Daniel III writes: "Carl Honore writing about
English cartwheels being used as weights in your E-Sylum
v3#46 reminded me of a recent purchase. In my area of
Southeast Asia, many denominations were also weights. For
example, the old Thai Baht (Tical) coin equals the weight of
the same name and could be used on a scale in a marketplaces.
But there were also many weights made in each country of the
region with designs unique to each country. Many of the
older weights are very difficult to locate, even in references.
When in Bangkok this past May, I found five or six old Lao
weights in a junk/gift store. I was very calm on the outside,
but after I paid for them, I was jumping up and down. The
store owner definitely thought I was crazy, but I just could
not help expressing my happiness after finding the first old
Lao weights for my collection."
NEW FEDERAL MONEY
Edward A. Krivoniak writes: "I've just finished re-reading
"Of Time, Space, and Other Things" by Isaac Asimov and
in it I found an essay entitled "Forget It" that contains
information of interest to numismatists. The gist of the essay
was that even though scientific advances are occurring at an
ever increasing rate we should not give up hope of
understanding them because previous information becomes
outdated and ignored by new generations.
Within the essay he writes of obtaining an old book called
"Pike's Arithmetic -- A New and Complete System of
Arithmetic Composed for the Use of the Citizens of the United
States" by Nicholas Pike, A.M. It was first published in 1785
and a Second Edition, Enlarged was published in 1797. It
supposedly is a large book of 500 pages with no illustrations
or diagrams.
The interesting thing about this book from a numismatic
standpoint is that it discusses the "new" Federal money which
came into being 11 years before the second edition. It gives
the exact wording of the law and discusses it in detail. Also,
since other forms of money were still in use, it lists the rules
for converting one system into another. The partial listing in
Dr. Asimov's article is as follows:
I. To reduce New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, Connecticut, and Virginia currency:
1. To Federal Money
2. To New York and North Carolina currency
3. To Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and
Maryland currency
4. To South carolina and Georgia currency
5. To English money
6. To Irish money
7. To Canada and Nova Scotia currency
8. To Livres Tournois (French money)
9. To Spanish milled dollars
II. To reduce Federal Money to New England and
Virginia currency:
III. To reduce New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
and Maryland currency:
1. To New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, and Virginia currency
2. To New York and ...
At this point Dr. Asimov gives up but he listed enough to make
this extremely interesting to colonial numismatists and I would
assume to scholars in general."
WHERE IS NUMISMATICS HEADED?
In reply to Dick Johnson from E-Sylum #346, Greg Heim
writes: "Why should you be concerned where numismatics is
headed just because people like myself and others collect
coin albums, mint bags, etc?? Even though you say you are
not casting stones from your glass house, you actually are
when you refer to coin album collecting as peripheral and of
questionable value.
Coin albums are an extremely important part of numismatics,
as are the other items. They tell a a tale of the evolution of coin
storage and dictated how our collections were assembled by
"filling the holes." These albums, which were meant to be used,
are a treat to find in excellent condition and getting harder and
harder to find."
Carl Honore' writes: "absolutely we are NOT moving away
from the core of the hobby, but rather expanding our knowledge
of the moneying process. As far as engraving, yes it is an
essential part of the coinage design process but by no means
the only part. Part of the engraving process as we all know is
by hand, but then the machine takes over. Another instance of
Man and Machine working together to produce memorable
and lasting art.
As far as the German book on engraving ... what a great
opportunity to learn another language!! I can't begin to
imagine how much coinage has increased my love of
languages. I have learned at least 3 new languages since
starting to collect coins. Just a rudimentary basic
understanding of the german words should help translate
that book somewhat.
Additionally we have many resources here in the states ,
specifically Ron Landis at the Gallery Mint who can help
immensely with engraving.
In short, please don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I myself dressed up in an old west outfit and showed some
barber coins and morgan dollars and so forth to children this
past halloween at a gathering.. the costume added to the flavor
of the coins and gave a sense of history...much like those old
coin bags and cardboard holders do..."
WORD OF THE WEEK: SOLANDER
solander (suh-LAN-duhr) noun
A case for maps, plates, etc., made to resemble a book and
having the front cover and fore edge hinged.
[Named after Daniel Charles Solander (1736-1782), Swedish
naturalist who invented it.]
From the "A.Word.A.Day" mailing list:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
FEATURED WEB PAGE
This week's featured web page is contributed by Henry
Bergos. It's a lengthy discussion of efforts to investigate
onetime "urban legends" surrounding the efforts of
"Penny Whimsy" author William H. Sheldon to photograph
legions of college freshmen as part of his studies of
human body types. Non-numismatic, but an interesting
sideline nonetheless, providing some background information
about a famous numismatic author and father of the
70-point grading scale for coins.
http://www.urbanlegends.com/collegiate/ivy_league_nude_photos.html
Additional web pages located by your editor include:
http://members.aol.com/somagraph/page1.htm
http://www.museums.org.za/sam/conf/enc/hentie.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)
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