Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 07, February 11, 2001: 
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 
Copyright (c) 2001, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 
  

SUBSCRIBER UPDATES 

   We have one  new subscriber this week:  Fawzan Barrage. 
   Welcome aboard!  Our subscriber count is now 369. 
  

KOLBE'S FIFTH BASS SALE 

   NBS co-founder George Kolbe reports: "A featured lot in the 
   upcoming 25th Anniversary auction sale of rare and out of 
   print numismatic literature conducted by George Frederick 
   Kolbe/Fine Numismatic Books discloses, for the first time, the 
   true origin of the "Berg Specimen" of the 1804 dollar.  The sale, 
   featuring the fifth and concluding part of the Harry Bass library, 
   closes on March 10, 2001, twenty-five years and ten days 
   after the firm held its first auction sale of rare and out of print 
   numismatic literature on February 28, 1976. 

   In "The Fantastic 1804 Dollar," Newman and Bressett 
   wrote that "O. H. Berg is said to have obtained this dollar in 
   1875 from Messrs. Koch & Co., of Vienna." And in Q. David 
   Bowers recent work on 1804 silver dollars, he writes that the 
   pedigree for the coin "is conjectural before circa 1875." 
   That is no longer true. 

   Present in the March 10th final Bass sale is Captain John 
   Haseltine's personal copy of his March 30, 1876 "Centennial 
   Coin and Curiosity Sale."  Strange as it may seem today, the 
   presence of an 1804 dollar in the sale is not mentioned in the 
   catalogue title or introduction, and Haseltine devoted only four 
   lines of text to its description.  In the catalogue,  Haseltine 
   records all of the absentee bids and the bidders' names. 
   Several absentee bidders placed bids on the 1804 dollar but 
   Haseltine's handwritten notes in the catalogue indicate that it 
   ended up being purchased by Haseltine for $395.00 on behalf 
   of O. H. Berg.  This new information also corrects conjecture 
   concerning the origin of the Amon Carter 1804 silver dollar 
   sold by Stack's in 1984. 

   In all, the March 10, 2001 Bass sale features 1117 lots, 
   estimated to bring over $100,000.00, mostly pertaining to 
   American numismatics, including many seldom seen works 
   on American coins, medals, tokens, and paper money. 
   Catalogues may be obtained by sending $10.00 to the firm 
   [$5.00 to NBS members].  The catalogue is also available at 
   the firm's web site: http://www.numislit.com/" 
  

FIRST ILLUSTRATED NUMISMATIC BOOK TRANSLATED 

   George also sends a release to announce his publication of 
   a new book: 

      ILLUSTRIUM IMAGINES 
      Incorporating an English Translation of "Nota" 
      by Roberto Weiss. 
      ACCOMPANIED BY A LEAF FROM THE FIRST 
      ILLUSTRATED NUMISMATIC BOOK. 

   "The acquisition of two incomplete copies of Andrea Fulvio's 
   1517 "Illustrium Imagines" gave rise to the idea of making the 
   charming coin engravings found in the first illustrated numismatic 
   book available to a wider audience.  To enhance appreciation 
   of this rare and historic work, it was decided to include an 
   English translation of the important introduction of Fulvio and 
   his time by the late Renaissance scholar Roberto Weiss. This 
   little known essay was published in Italian in 1967, and it 
   appears here in English for the first time.  Only 151 copies of 
   the regular clothbound edition - each including an original 
   illustrated leaf from Fulvio's 1517 Illustrium Imagines - have 
   been issued, along with 17 copies featuring two additional 
   original leaves, bound in full goatskin with matching clamshell 
   case.  The book was printed by letterpress on mouldmade 
   paper at the Bird & Bull Press of Newtown, Pennsylvania. The 
   text was composed in Garamound types by Michael Bixler, and 
   both the cloth and leather editions were bound by Campbell 
   Logan Bindery. In addition to the original illustrated leaf from 
   the 1517 first edition of Illustrium Imagines, each copy of the 
   book includes fine reproductions of the 1517 title and both 
   varieties of the colophon, as well as a tipped-in color plate 
   of  a Renaissance Gentleman holding an ancient Roman coin, 
   and an illustration designed expressly for this work, executed 
   by Canada's foremost wood engraver, Wesley W. Bates. 

   Copies of the regular edition limited to one hundred fifty-one 
   numbered copies, handsomely bound in black cloth with a red 
   goatskin spine label, gilt, and accompanied by an original leaf 
   from the first edition of Illustrium Imagines depicting a coin, 
   are offered for sale at $195.00 plus $5.00 for domestic 
   shipping or $15.00 for overseas airmail.   Copies of the special 
   edition limited to seventeen numbered copies, handsomely 
   bound in red full goatskin, housed in a quarter goatskin 
   clamshell case (both with black goatskin labels bordered and 
   lettered in gilt), and including a total of three original leaves from 
   Illustrium Imagines, are offered for sale at $495.00 plus $10.00 
   for domestic shipping or $25.00 for overseas airmail." 

   George Frederick Kolbe 
   Fine Numismatic Books 
   P. O. Drawer 3100 
   Crestline, CA 92325-3100 USA 
   Telephone (909) 338-6527 
  

ON MATTHEW YOUNG 

   John Kraljevich writes: "I'm enjoying the E-Sylum as always. 
   Thanks again for sending it out so dutifully.  On Matthew 
   Young, others can probably pass on more than this but he 
   was a London-area coin dealer circa 1828 who restruck at 
   least the American Plantation token and a crown of James II; 
   no doubt he produced others at the same time as well. 

   According to 
   http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Barbados.intro.html, 
   he is also responsible for some restrikes and overstrikes of 
   the Barbadoes Penny and is called a friend of Royal Mint Assistant 
   Engaver John Milton. 

   A different page on the same marvelous website, 
   http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/AmPlant.intro.html, 
   states he purchased a group of dies engraved by John 
   Roettier including the aforementioned American Plantation token 
   dies and gave the bulk to the British Museum.  I'm left wondering 
   what else he restruck ... perhaps stuff familiar to us that has never 

   been attributed to him?  What other pieces de caprice can be 
   placed at the feet of this (apparently) learned numismatist?" 
  

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY PATTERNS 

   Jan Moens of Belgium sent the following comments in 
   response to Andy Lustig's question concerning patterns 
   made as a result of the international monetary conference 
   of 1867 : 

   "1) as far as I know, the only countries that have made 
        patterns are France, Great Britain and the US.  Sweden 
        issued a circulating coin, i.e. the 1 carolin, in order to 
        comply with the recommendations of the conference, 
        but I do not know if there were any patterns made for 
        this coin 

    2) the French patterns of 25 francs = 10 florins and 25 francs 
        = 5 dollars were originally struck on the initiative of M. de 
        Parieu, president of the conference of 1867 (and also of 
        the conference of the Latin Monetary Union of 1865). 
        He first had 15 pieces struck of the 10 florins pattern, of 
        which 6 were given to the French imperial family.  Then, 
        he had 15 pieces struck of the 5 dollars pattern, of which 
        some (6?) were also given to the French imperial family. 
        In the years 1870-1872, another 20 pieces (probably 10 
        pieces of each type) were restruck by the Paris mint with 
        the approval of the Minister of Finance, in order to satisfy 
        the wishes of several collectors.  In 1880, the Coin Cabinet 
        of Vienna asked to have 1 piece of each type restruck, in 
        order to replace the original pieces it had received in 
        1867, which seemed to have disappeared.  This demand 
        was not accepted by the French Government. 
        Consequently, one can assume that 25 pieces of each type 
        were struck, of which not more than 19 may be in public 
        hands. 

   3) The goloid coins, struck by France and the US in 1879- 
        1880 may be considered as patterns made as a result of the 
        1878 conference 

   4) No patterns are known for the (Paris) 1881 and (Brussels) 
       1892 conferences, but the Belgian Government issued a rare 
        medal (in silver and copper) to commemorate the visit of the 
        Brussels Mint by the deleguees of the 1892 conference." 
  

VOCABULARY QUESTION 

   If a medal for a 100-year anniversary is a centennial medal, 
   and a medal for a 150-year anniversary is a sesquicentennial 
   medal, is there a name for a 125-year anniversary medal? 
   -Editor. 
  

SUBSCRIBER PROFILE:  FAWZAN BARRAGE 

   New subscriber Fawzan Barrage reports: "I am a member 
   of the NUMISM-L mailing list and someone posted a 
   reference to your website there.  I am the moderator of the 
   Islamic Coins Group. You can check out our home page here: 
   http://islamiccoinsgroup.50g.com/ 

   The group has about 310 members now who include many 
   of the well known names in Islamic numismatics.  I am also 
   a coin collector which makes me also a numismatic literature 
   collector as well! 

   I look forward to reading and learning :-)" 
  

BIAFRA ARTICLE PUBLISHED 

   NBS member and E-Sylum subscriber Ben Keele's article on 
   Biafran numismatics has been published in the February issue 
   of The Numismatist.  It is entitled "Biafra's Short-Lived 
   Monetary  System" and can be found starting on page 164. 

   In his introduction, he writes: "Not long ago, while visiting 
   a local coin dealership, I noticed a Biafran 1-pound note. 
   It was inexpensive and looked interesting, so I bought it. 
   Later, when I attempted to find out about my new acquisition, 
   I was disappointed by the lack of information in hobby 
   literature.  To fill the gap, I researched Biafra and its money 
   in books and contemporary periodicals." 
  

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS 

   Jan Monroe writes: "I wish to recommend two books that 
   are outside of the mainstream of numismatics that E-sylum 
   readers may wish to consider. 

   The first is the McKenney-Hall Portrait Gallery of American 
   Indians by James D. Horan by Crown Publishers, 1972.  This 
   book includes a "full length" biography of Col. Thomas L. 
   McKenney, who published the famous Indian Chief Portraits 
   and was appointed superintendent of the Indian Trade by 
   President James Madison in 1816.  One interesting tidbit 
   offered in this book is that McKenney also collected indian 
   peace medals and the book describes some of his efforts to 
   obtain them.  Any collector of Indian Peace medals would be 
   interested in this book. 

   The second book that I would recommend is Popular Images 
   of the Presidency from Washington to Lincoln by Noble E. 
   Cunningham, Jr. published by the University of Missouri Press 
   in 1991.  This book includes an entire chapter on presidential 
   medals (Chapter VI, pp.164-179).  While this chapter is short 
   it includes much information not included in numismatic literature 
   on presidential medals from a historians standpoint and also 
   includes  two full pages illustrating the obverse and reverse of 
   the Lovett medals of the first 16 presidents.  This is excellent 
   material for those interested in presidential medals (as is the 
   whole book)." 
  

DUMB AND DUMBER 

   Reported Thursday, February 01, 2001 by  Reuters: 

   "Police in Kentucky are looking for a customer who 
   succeeded in paying for a $2 order at a fast-food 
   restaurant with a phony $200 bill featuring a picture of 
   President George W. Bush and a depiction of the White 
   House with a lawn sign saying, "We like broccoli." 

   Authorities say the female cashier at a Dairy Queen in 
   Danville even gave the culprit $198 in real money as change. 
   "Essentially, the story is that somebody at a drive-in ordered 
   some food and passed a $200 novelty deal with George Bush 
   on it," Danville Police Detective Bob Williamson said.  "At a 
   distance it looks like a real bill, it's got the green color," 
   Williamson said when asked how the cashier possibly could 
   mistake it for genuine money.  The cartoonish bill was 
   accepted on Sunday evening by the Dairy Queen cashier 
   despite having Bush on one side and an oil well on the other. 
   The phony bill also depicted the White House lawn with yard 
   signs reading "U.S. deserves a tax cut," "No more scandals" 
   and "We like broccoli," the last apparently referring to Bush's 
   father's admitted dislike for the vegetable.  No U.S. currency 
   has a picture of Bush, let alone a reference to liking broccoli. 
   Because there is no actual $200 currency, the culprit could 
   face a charge of theft by deception but not counterfeiting, 
   Williamson said." 
  

FEATURED WEB SITE 

   This week's featured web site is maintained by Howard M. 
   Berlin of Wilmington, DE.   Mr. Berlin has just published a 
   book on the subject of  "The Coins  and Banknotes of 
   Palestine Under the British Mandate, 1927–1947" 

      http://user.dtcc.edu/~berlin/palestin/palestin.htm 
  

   Wayne Homren 
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society