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Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 29, July 15, 2001: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2001, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATES We have four new subscribers this week: Chris Hoelzle of Laguna Niguel, CA, Russell Rulau of Iola, WI (invited by Bill Murray), Richard Kelly and Nancy Oliver of Hayward, CA (invited by Wayne Homren). Welcome aboard! We've lost some subscribers due to email address changes. This brings our subscriber count to 407. JOHN DAVENPORT DIES David Sklow reports; "Numismatics has lost another giant and the American Numismatic Association (ANA) has lost its senior life member! John Davenport passed away. I do not have all the details as yet, but it was 6-10 days ago. He lived in Mt. Dora, Florida. There will be a formal press release from the ANA very soon." MUSICAL CURATORS In a game of musical curator chairs, Robert Hoge gone from the American Numismatic Association (ANA) to the American Numismatic Society (ANS) in New York, and now Lawrence Lee of the Byron Reed collection in Omaha, Nebraska is going to the ANA in Colorado Springs. Both are E-Sylum subscribers and we wish them the best of luck in their new positions. MIGHTY FORTRESS PUBLISHED As mentioned in The E-Sylum, February 4, 2001 (v4#06), Richard Kelly and Nancy Oliver have published their book "A Mighty Fortress - The Stories Behind the 2nd San Francisco Mint" In response to your editor's query, they write: "Yes, we are interested in receiving the E-Sylum email newsletter; please add us to your subscription list. Also, please inform us of conditions of membership to your organization. We have been numismatic researchers for three years running and are working on a second book at this time on J. B. Harmstead (1870-S, three dollar U.S. Gold). The following is information on our current book: The one and only book on the history of the second mint of San Francisco, affectionately called "The Granite Lady." Stroll through the mysteries while reading the stories of this magnificent monument to the Old West. Never before published information compiled from long lost mint ledgers (and many other sources) discovered at the National Archives on the West Coast. Stories include such mysteries as "where is the missing cornerstone and its contents?", "did someone try to tunnel under the mint?", or "what is the real story behind the rare 1894 S Dime? These are but a few of the stories included within this work. The book is 144 pages in length and is available in spiral bound. The price total is $20.00, which includes shipping (Calif. residents please add 8% sales tax). Please send check or money order to O.K. Associates, 26746 Contessa St, Hayward, Ca. 94545-3150." RULAU PUBLISHING PROJECTS New subscriber Russ Rulau sends the following updates on his current projects for Krause Publications: "Hard Times Tokens", 9th edition, will be a freestanding volume with approximately twice the content of the 8th edition (1999), which was part of Standard Catalog of U.S. Tokens 1700-1900. It is already in typesetting at Krause Publications and will be available to public January 2002 and to jobbers December 2001. All pricing and background notes are revised and many new items included, such as Harrison and Clay cent and half-cent sized campaign medalets. The largest expansion will be blow-up photographs of die-evidence study by Wesley S. Cox and an attempt to assign a designer/maker to every HTT possible. Pricing accurate as of June 2001. "Tokens of Spain 1800-1970" is a new project being negotiated for publication by Numismatics International of Texas. It is the culmination of some seven years effort. It will include private cardboard chits of the Civil War 1936-39 and the 1945 and 1970 change shortages; metal tokens and store cards, including many unlisted CW pieces; proclamation medalets which circulated as money (2-real size and under). The manuscript is complete and NI officers are considering its feasibility for publication. "Standard Catalog of United States Tokens 1700-1900," 4th edition, is to be published by Krause Publications in 2004. The manuscript is under preparation for 2003 typesetting. The Hard Times Token section will revert to its normal size in this edition. The U.S. Civil War cardboard chit section is being considerably enlarged, as is the Gay Nineties (1890-1900) section, and a good many more attributed merchant counterstamps are being added to the three pre-Civil War segments. Prices, size, binding, availability are announcements the publishers must make at appropriate time. The author, Russ Rulau, may be reached thru Krause Publications or Numismatics International." NUMISMATIC GHOST WRITERS NBS Board member and Presidential candidate Pete Smith writes: "Dave Bowers asked who wrote the mint history published by George G. Evans. He mentioned that much of the material is similar to that published earlier by A. M. Smith. For about ten years I have been trying to figure out who wrote the material published by A. M. Smith. I don't believe it was Smith. A. M. Smith (Anders Madsen Smedt) left school in Denmark at an early age to join the merchant navy. Although we know that Smith collected books, he lacked the education and language skills we would expect for a writer in English. I have been able to verify that some sections of his books were lifted entirely from earlier sources. Although he may have done some editing or re-writing, I believe he compiled his books from material written by others. I hope some day to publish proof and give credit to those earlier writers. While in Minneapolis, Smith published a newsletter that promoted his business and sale of wines. In one of these issues he solicited writers to contribute material for the newsletter. He never acknowledged those writers if he used their material. Perhaps Frederick Eckfeldt wrote both books but didn't want the use of his name to embarrass the family. (As our governor likes to say, "That's a Joke!!") Tracing the sources of material published by Smith and Evans is something that needs to be done. If not by Dave Bowers, or by me, perhaps it can be done by some other E-Sylum reader." PENNYPACKER ERROR COIN AUCTION In the June 10, 2001 issue of The E-Sylum (vol 4, no. 24) George Fuld discussed an auction of the Dr. George Hetrick token collection at the Pennypacker Auction Centre in Reading, PA.. Your editor came across a catalog for another important Pennypacker sale - their June 22nd, 1968 sale of the Jess Bausher collection "consisting of early american coins and featuring his famous "error coin collection" used in compiling the book "It's Only Money". The book was published in 1966 and coauthored with Charles V. Dolan. M.D. From the dust jacket: "Jess Bausher, a charter member of C.O.M.E., writes a regular column for Coin-Oddity Magazine. He is a regular contributor of numerous articles to all of the leading Coin Publications. A member of the Reading Coin Club and the Berks Coin Club. A collector and authenticator of Major Mint Errors for over twenty years." So what is (or was) C.O.M.E.? Collectors of Mint Errors, perhaps? NUMISMATIC CATS Ron Guth writes: "Along the line of numismatic hoaxes, although I think this one was more tongue-in-cheek fun, I recall Roger Cohen telling me that the "publisher" of his Half Cent books, Wigglesworth & Ghatt, was in reality the names of his cats. In fact, my copy of his second edition of "American Half Cents" is signed on the copyright page by Samuel B.T. Wigglesworth III and H. Garrison Ghatt!" SUBSCRIBER PROFILE: CHRIS HOELZLE New subscriber Chris Hoelzle writes: "Thank you for adding me to the E-Sylum list. I was most impressed with the past few newsletters you forwarded to me! I became aware of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society some time ago while looking at George Kolbe's web site. My numismatic book collecting hobby/habit/addiction began with a few volumes used for ancient coin attribution. It continued to grow to become a comprehensive "working" library on ancients, U.S., and foreign coins. My primary source for these books was John Bergman. John got me "hooked" on antiquarian works, and now most of my new purchases are 16th through 19th century works. John's library and inventory have now been dispersed. His better books have gone to George Kolbe, who will be auctioning them over some period of time. The first of these auctions will be in conjunction with the Long Beach coin show this fall. I purchased the remainder of his inventory with the desire to enhance my personal library. ALL remaining copies of books and catalogs will be sold. I NEVER keep a duplicate. I suppose that is just part of my quirky collector ethic. I am now actively seeking out avenues to sell the duplicate copies, and this brought me once again in contact with the Numismatic Bibliomania web site." NUMISMATIC LITERATURE EXHIBITS Pete Smith provided information on the exhibits in the numismatic literature category at the 1999 and 2000 ANA conventions. The NBS web site has been updated to include these. NBS Board member P. Scott Rubin has been the most prolific exhibitor, with five exhibits since 1992, including one first place and three second place winners. http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_exhibits.html VOCABULARY WORD: TROUILLOTEUSE Martin Purdy of New Zealand posted the following query on the COINS mailing list: "A translator friend came across an article in Le Monde about French franc coins being perforated when they are returned to the bank in exchange for Euros, to prevent their being extracted and re-exchanged elsewhere. The device used to do the perforating is called a "trouilloteuse" in French; the best option I can come up with in English is "perforating machine" - is there any other term that's better, or more official?" A link to what I believe is the article in question (in the original French) appears below. With the help of some machine translation, the gist of the article seems to be as follows: "An admirable word has just made its appearance in the country: trouilloteuse. The word is an admirable object. Clever. Definitively modern. And, let us dare say, revolutionary. The trouilloteuse is this fabulous machine tasked with boring twelve holes in the surface of the old franc coins. In a few months now, when it is a question of the whole country exchanging old francs for the euro, a large army of trouilloteuses will be put on line like combine harvesters on a farm. 50,000 to 60,000 trouilloteuses will be delivered to the French banks. The holed coins, better perforated one hopes than the ballots in Florida, will thus be effectively demonetized." http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3208--189704-,00.html NEXT ASYLUM NEARING COMPLETION Although the previous issue of The Asylum (our print journal) was delayed a bit for various reasons, the next issue (Summer 2001) is right on schedule and is currently at the printer. Editor E. Tomlinson Fort reports that the contents include: "The Original 'Fantastic 1804 Dollar' Book" by Ken Bressett "Diagnostics of the 'Fantastic 1804 Dollar' Book" by Wayne Homren "The Printer's Devil: William Gowans and the Contents of the Three Earliest Significant Sales of Numismatic Literature in the U.S." by Joel J. Orosz with the assistance of George F. Kolbe and Malgorzata Fort "A Plea for Understanding - and a Warning" by J.D. McCarthy "The Holy Grail" by Bob Schuman "Book Review: Glenn R. Peterson's 'The Ultimate Guide to Attributing Bust Half Dollars'" by Michael E. Marotta "News from the Net" by Pete Smith Only paid-up members of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society will receive this issue. Dues are $15/year to North American addresses, $20 elsewhere. To join or renew, see the instructions at the end of this newsletter. ANA NUMISMATIC LITERATURE SYMPOSIUM The traditional NBS Numismatic Literature Symposium will take place at the American Numismatic Association's 110th Anniversary Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, August 9, 2001 at 1pm. The symposium will feature a panel discussion with officers of the NBS and ANA Librarian Nancy Green, who will give us an update on the library expansion and other programs. ANA GENERAL MEETING The annual general membership meeting of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society will also take place at the ANA Convention. The meeting will be held on Friday, August 10, 2001 at 11:30am. The agenda includes: Best Asylum Article Award presentation Jack Collins Award presentation Featured Speaker: Q. David Bowers on "The Fascinating Challenge of Numismatic Research" Fundraising auction We've already received a few nice items for the auction. If you'd like to contribute something, please bring it to the meeting room a few minutes before the scheduled start. HOBBY QUOTE: BLACKIE SHERROD NBS Board Member Bill Murray writes: "Here's something you might want to include in The E-Sylum credited to Dallas sportswriter Blackie Sherrod: "Madam -- your husband is capable of any amount of work, providing it's a hobby." Another appropriate Sherrod quote is "History must repeat itself because we pay such little attention to it the first time." For more background on Sherrod, see: http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring01/Linn/sherrod.html FEATURED WEB PAGE This week's featured web page is an online version of Pete Smith's Howland Wood Award-winning exhibit on "The Challenging Literature of A. M. Smith". The page is from the NBS's own web site. [Exhibitors: please consider documenting your numismatic literature exhibits and making them available online. The ANA convention lasts just a few days, but online exhibits can be see by thousands of people for years to come] http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_exhibit_amsmith.html Wayne Homren Numismatic Bibliomania Society Content presented in The E-Sylum is not necessarily researched or independently fact-checked, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the 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. Visit the Membership page. Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page link. |
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