Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 53, December 24, 2000:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2000, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
We have four new subscribers this week: Paul DiMarzio,
courtesy of Mike Paradis, Jim Porter of Pittsburgh, PA,
referred by Mark Watson, John Eshbach of Lancaster, PA,
courtesy of Wayne Homren, and NBS member William
Spengler. Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber
count to 357.
BARBER SOCIETY EDITOR SOUGHT
Phil Carrigan writes: "The Barber Coin Collectors' Society
has been in existence for ten years. The Society publishes a
quarterly journal based on contributed articles, columns from
the President and Editor, and other items from varied sources.
Our current editor will step down from this position effective
January 2001. An individual interested in this activity is
encouraged to discuss specifics of the position. Please
contact Phil Carrigan, BCCS President by Email
[philip.carrigan@abbott.com] or phone [847/937-5129 day
OR 847/625-0381]"
ANOTHER MISSING MONTICELLO NUMISMATIC ITEM
John W. Adams writes: "While on the subject of missing
Jeffersonia, add a set of Comitia Americana medals in white
metal. This was brought across the Atlantic by TJ in 1789,
along with the silver set to be presented to George Washington.
(This treasure now resides in the cabinet of the Massachusetts
Historical Society). A couple of years ago, I asked Monticello
about the white metal set and the curator recalls having it but
confessed sadly that it had disappeared."
JACOB PERKINS' COINING PRESS
Dave Bowers writes: "I read with great interest (as always) the
latest "issue" of The E-Sylum. Concerning Jacob Perkins, one
might stop to consider if Perkins, who had extensive ties to
England and at one later time lived there, might have had some
sort of high-speed coining press from Boulton & Watt (Soho
Manufactory, Birmingham, England). As has been published,
by the 1790s B&W had high-speed steam-driven coining
presses that could be operated by a boy. These presses
produced high-quality coins, tokens, etc., including lettering or
engrailing the edge.
Before discounting Perkins' claim as exaggeration, this possibility
might be explored. Moreover, as Newburyport was a rather
interactive community -- that is, most of the merchants knew
each other, news was shared, etc. -- if Perkins, who seems to
have been highly esteemed in the town, made such a claim, it
could be checked out easily by anyone visiting his premises.
I wonder if anyone has visited Newburyport and used a
numismatic eye to look through old papers, etc.? It is a nice
town about an hour and a half drive from here -- and every time
I drive through I think of Perkins (also of Lord Timothy Dexter,
memorialized by John P. Marquand; Dexter's mansion is still
prominent on High Street). I am not a candidate to do this
research, but I imagine that with the great interest in history in the
town and also the comprehensive archives of the Mass. Historical
Society and the American Antiquarian Association in the same
state, a few interesting things could be found."
BROOME BOOK ON MARIA THERESIA AVAILABLE
Bob Knepper writes: "A little more concerning Maria Theresa
talers in answer to Serge Pelletier's question in the "The E-Sylum"
v3#48, November 19, 2000.
"The 1780 Restrike Talers of Maria Theresia" by M. R. Broome,
25 pages reprinted from NC, is listed at three pounds plus
shipping in a just-received catalog from Galata,
web: http://www.galata.co.uk;
email Paul@galatacoins.demon.co.uk.
Rest of the mail address is: The Old White Lion, Market Street,
Llanfyllin, Powys, SY22 5BX UK."
MORE ON THE UPCOMING B&M MEDAL SALE
Mark Borckardt of Bowers & Merena Galleries writes: "As a
followup to John Kraljevich's commentary regarding our March
2001 sale in Baltimore, the offering of Indian Peace Medals
and Betts Medals is indeed phenomenal. I have seen some of
the catalog descriptions, and this will be a keeper. What John
failed to mention is that he has been given the "chore" of
producing this section of the catalog. We are excited to have
John on board and, I venture to guess, he may be excited to
have this project."
STACK'S JANUARY SALE
Mike Hodder submitted a Press Release for the upcoming
January sale at Stack's, excerpted below:
"A numismatic highlight of the sale is the Crosby Collection of
colonial electrotypes that B. Max Mehl once owned. After
careful research it appears that these were made by or for
Sylvester S. Crosby, who used several of them as illustrations
in his The Early Coins of America. Several of the electrotypes
bear annotations on their backs that may be in Crosby's hand."
Some other lots of possible interest to E-Sylum subscribers
may include:
"a very rare Maryland Lord Baltimore Groat (or Fourpence),
the Large Head variety"
"a teapot fashioned by New Yorker Ephraim Brasher, maker
of the famed Brasher Doubloon. The teapot has Brasher's full
name hallmark on the bottom."
In Washingtoniana, "examples of the rare Victor Sine Clade
and a uniface oval funeral badge struck in copper and
described as the only one available to collectors."
In Western Americana, "the unique 1851 $50 slug with the
J.T. Jones counterstamp, an historic record of San Francisco's
vigilante days."
"Western Assay Bars follow, highlighted by the unique 1856
$40.20 Blake & Company bar, the only dated gold Blake bar
known. One of only two known James King of William $20
gold bars is another star attraction of the firm's sale. Other bars
and ingots include unparted bars made by Frank Blake of Idaho
Territory "
In Fractional Currency, "featured are further selections from the
David Proskey Estate and duplicates from the H.K. Crofoot
Collection."
WHERE'S GEORGE
Some E-Sylum readers may recall that "Where's George" was a
featured web site back in the March 8, 1999 issue (Volume 2,
Number 10):
.
One of the most unusual numismatically-related
sites on the internet is "Where's George - The
Great American Dollar Bill Locator" at
http://www.wheresgeorge.com/ Readers can enter
the serial numbers of dollar bills passing through
their hands and track their later progress around
the country with the help of like-minded bill
trackers. Strange, but true...
Well, your Editor finally stumbled onto his first George-
tracked bill. The URL for the web site was written by
hand onto the left front margin of a very worn $5 bill.
Logging on to the site, I dutifully entered the requested
information. Bill B22185623C was last reported in
Dillsburg, PA on July 30th, 2000, and 146 Days, 15 Hrs,
4 Mins later it showed up near Pittsburgh, a distance
of 158 miles. It was spent this afternoon at a McDonald's
buying lunch for my kids. Wonder where it will end up
next?
LIBRARY SUPPLIES
Sam Deep writes: "Recently, I learned of DEMCO. I am in
receipt of both their book jacket covers and their 2000 Catalog.
They can be reached at 1-800-356-1200 or www.demco.com."
[Editor's note: Brodart has always been a favorite of mine.
Their web site is http://www.brodart.com/. How about our
subscribers? Any favorite purveyors of book and library
supplies?]
FEATURED WEB SITE
[Editor's note: since tonight is Christmas eve, in honor of the
holiday I'm reprinting the following information from the
September 12&19, 1999 issues (Volume 2, Number 37&38):
:
Ray Williams writes: "An NJNS member and new E-Sylum
subscriber Mike Molnar has a book being published in
October. ... I heard Mike give a mesmerizing talk
about numismatic evidence of the Star of Bethlehem and
how scientific evidence backs it up." From the Press
Release:
"Could the $50 purchase of an ancient coin by a Rutgers
astronomer have unlocked the mystery of the Christmas
Star? For years, scientists have looked, with little
success, to astronomical records for an explanation of
the magical star that guided the Magi to Christ's manger.
Intrigued by the image he found on the latest addition
to his coin collection, Michael Molnar thought there might
be more to learn by looking, instead, at the teachings of
ancient astrologers."
Mike Molnar notes: "As an astronomer I also thought that
this planetary conjunction was the answer until I saw the
coins of Antioch. They showed me that my colleagues were
not only looking in the wrong part of the sky, but that
they also did not know what signified a king's birth during
ancient times. Those splendid planetarium programs show
conjunctions, not omens. And I had to do a lot of research
to understand the difference. I thank Ray Williams for his
kind words about my book. If anyone is interested
in learning how an ancient coin revealed the clue
to understanding the Star of Bethlehem, see my web
page, which also has information about the book:
http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/
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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