Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 40, September 30, 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:  ANA Young   
  Numismatist booster Larry Gentile, Sr., courtesy of John and   
  Nancy Wilson.   Welcome aboard!  Our subscriber count is   
  now  420.   

LAKE BOOKS SALE CLOSING    

  Fred Lake reports: "Lake Books sale #60 closes on October 9,   
  2001 at 5:00 PM (EDT).  The 675 lots of numismatic literature   
  are available for viewing at the following web address:   
  http://www.lakebooks.com/current.html"   

KOLBE SALES: JOHN F. BERGMAN LIBRARY AND MORE    

  The following are excerpts from the press release for the   
  upcoming Kolbe literature sales:   

  "George Frederick Kolbe/Fine Numismatic Books is pleased   
  to announce that the public and mail bid auction sale of Part   
  One of the John F. Bergman Library will take place on   
  Saturday, October 6, 2001, at 10:30 AM, in conjunction with   
  the Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Expo at the Long Beach   
  Convention Center, Long Beach, California.  The 450 lot sale   
  will be immediately followed by "One Hundred Rarities of   
  American Numismatic Literature." The 550 lots are expected   
  to realize over a quarter million dollars.    

  Some of the many highlights follow: The Numismatic   
  Correspondence Archive of Charles Ruby, bound in twenty thick   
  volumes entitled "Fifty Years Along Coin Ways" features some   
  5,000 items of numismatic interest, including an extensive file of   
  letters relating to the expulsion of Frank Katen from the American   
  Numismatic Association in 1950 during the period when Ruby   
  was an A. N. A Board member, and it also features fascinating   
  letters from hundreds of the most famous coin dealers and   
  collectors of the 1930s to 1970s period; important selections   
  from the John W. Adams library are featured, including unique   
  bid books of Thomas Elder's famous Mougey and Gehring sales,   
  a fascinating correspondence file of letters from B. G. Johnson   
  to Tom Elder, including details of Johnson's purchases from   
  the Colonel Green estate; several unique references from the   
  Adams library deal with U. S. pattern coins, including F. C. C.   
  Boyd's manuscript record of his pattern collection, an interleaved   
  1913 Adams-Woodin work on patterns, heavily annotated by   
  Abe Kosoff, and over 200 early annotated photographs of   
  minor pattern coins, some unique;    

  Among the highlights of the John Bergman library are over forty   
  outstanding early printed numismatic books, many superbly   
  bound, including the 1522 edition of the first numismatic book   
  and the 1517 edition of the first illustrated numismatic book;   
  Hiram Deats' superb set of the "American Journal of   
  Numismatics,"  Volumes 1-47; Colonel Green's deluxe copy   
  of Browning's 1925 classic on U. S. quarter dollars, one of   
  only 5 copies issued;  nearly 200 lots of important works on   
  ancient coins;    

  Each catalogue may be ordered by sending $15.00 to Kolbe,   
  or both the Bergman and "Rarities" sale catalogues may be   
  obtained by sending $25.00.  The catalogues may also be   
  viewed free of charge at the firm's web site: www.numislit.com."    

  Kolbe adds: "While bids by mail, email and fax flowed in, for   
  over a week after war was declared on our country the   
  telephone hardly rang and I made very few calls.   Since the   
  beginning of this week, the phone has been "ringing off the   
  hook" and it appears that daily life is returning to some degree   
  of normalcy."   

AGE OF GROLIER EXHIBIT OPEN    

  Regarding the "Numismatics in the Age of Grolier" exhibit at   
  the Grolier Club in New York, George Kolbe reports that   
  "the display is now open and it appears that all of the   
  international speakers will be present at the November 27th   
  ANS/Grolier Club Symposium. This is truly a "once in a   
  lifetime" opportunity for ANYONE seriously interested in the   
  historical aspects of numismatics - bibliophile or not - to gain   
  a deeper understanding of the significance of what many think   
  of as an idle pastime.  I would urge NBS members to attend.   
  No one will not be disappointed."   

ANS FEDERAL RESERVE BANK EXHIBIT DELAYED    

  From a September 21, 2001 press release from the ANS:   
  "The American Numismatic Society and the Federal   
  Reserve Bank of New York have decided to postpone the   
  October 18 opening of "Drachmas, Doubloons and Dollars:   
  The History of Money" until access to the downtown area is   
  fully reestablished.    

  The exhibition will display more than six hundred examples   
  from the Society's noted collection in the Federal Reserve   
  Bank of New York's 5,000-square-foot gallery space.    

  Further news on the opening date for the exhibition will be   
  released as soon as possible. For more information, please   
  call the American Numismatic Society at (212) 234-3130   
  ext. 217 or e-mail info@amnumsoc.org. For the Federal   
  Reserve Bank of New York call Peter Bakstansky at   
  (212) 720-6136."   

PRIVATE MUSEUM COLLECTION OF U.S. PAPER MONEY    

  The 66th Anniversary sale of Stack's of New York features   
  a collection of United States Paper Currency that "was part   
  of a monetary display in a Private Museum for over six decades.   
  It served to illustrate the various types of notes used in  
  American Commerce from the initial U.S Demand Notes,   
  authorized in 1891, through the later Federal Reserve Notes"   
  [the date is a typo - the Demand Notes were issued in 1861   
  - Editor]    

  "To the best of our knowledge, though many hundreds of   
  bankers as well as educators viewed the museum exhibit,   
  none of these notes have been recorded in the census   
  information provided by United States currency references.   
  These notes and their serial numbers can now be added to the   
  records available for collectors."    
  The entire catalog is illustrated in full color, and includes   
  photographs of the exhibit as it was mounted.  The notes are   
  in high grades and the photos are beautiful.  The catalog will   
  make a nice companion to any reference work on U.S.   
  currency.   

HUNLEY SHIP LOG FOUND?    

  Previous E-Sylum issues have discussed the Hunley, the   
  Confederate submarine which sank in Charleston harbor   
  on February 17, 1864 (see vol 4, nos 22-24, May 27 -   
  June 10, 2001).    According to an Associated Press   
  story released September 29th, "X-rays revealed what may   
  be the captain's logbook in the muddy interior of the   
  Confederate Civil War submarine H. L. Hunley, which   
  was raised in 2000 after 136 years on the sea floor   
  outside Charleston harbor, scientists said yesterday."    

  "Hunley Commission chairman Glenn McConnell said the   
  team of archeologists who excavated the vessel hope the   
  log, once retrieved, will shed light on why the ship   
  mysteriously disappeared..."    

  For more information on the Hunley and its excavation,   
  see http://www.hunley.org/.   

NEW BOOK ON THE COINS OF PONTIUS PILATE    

  Co-author Jean-Philippe Fontanille announces the   
  September 2001 publication of  "The Coins of Pontius Pilate   
  by Jean-Philippe Fontanille and Sheldon Gosline, with a   
  preface by David Hendin. 176 pages, 147 color photographs,   
  paperback edition ($26.00 US)  or cloth bound edition   
  ($34.50 US)  (The shipping and handling for US and Canada   
  is $3.00, elsewhere is $4.50) Discounts on orders of multiple   
  copies: Please contact us at Shangri-La Publications   
  Editor's website:   
  http://www.shangri-la.0catch.com/mpm/mpm4.html"   

ORMSBY AD REPRINTED    

  One of the great rarities of American numismatic literature is   
  Waterman Lilly Ormsby's elaborately illustrated 1851 book   
  on bank note engraving.   (See v3n49, November 26,  2000).    

  An article by Dave Norris in the May 2001 issue of Bank   
  Note Reporter reproduces an advertisement for the book   
  which appeared in the November 1852 issue of Banker's   
  Magazine:    

  "Protection Against   
  COUNTERFEIT BANK NOTES   

  A complete guide to banks in constructing their notes to   
  prevent forgery will be found in the large quarto volume,   
  elegantly bound, and illustrated with steel engravings; entitled    

  "A DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF   
  BANK NOTE ENGRAVING, SHOWING ITS TENDENCY   
  TO FACILITATE COUNTERFEITING; TO WHICH IS   
  ADDED A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING BANK   
  NOTES TO PREVENT FORGERY."    

  This work is of the greatest importance to Banking Institutions   
  though out the country.  It contains the only information which   
  has been published on the subject; and reveals many startling   
  facts in regard to the easy manner in which our present bank   
  notes are counterfeited and altered.  It also suggests an official   
  remedy.  Price, $12.00 per copy.  A remittance by mail or by   
  express, will ensure its delivery free of expense.    

  W.L. Ormsby, Bank Note Engraver, 12 Vesey Street,   
  Next door to the Astor House, New York 
 
  Oct 1852."   

DEATS' DOGGED PURSUIT    

  From the description of lot 369 in the Kolbe Bergman sale   
  (Hiram Deats' set of the American Journal of Numismatics)   
  comes this description of "an act of conspicuous excess"   
  that true bibliophiles are sometimes prone to:    

  "..according to his biography by Stanley Bierman, "he   
  retained for most of his lifetime his greatest treasure, his   
  philatelic library."  The same, presumably, was true of his   
  numismatic library.  He was single-minded in acquiring   
  missing items.  Bierman relates that "In an act of conspicuous   
  excess, Deats purchased 25,000 philatelic periodicals from   
  the P.M. Wolsieffer Library in October 1892, for the express   
  purpose of acquiring a single issue of an obscure Chicago   
  periodical."  Bierman goes on to note that the present   
  whereabouts of this extremely rare publication is unknown."   

FEATURED WEB SITE    

  This week's featured web site is the Online Museum of Persian   
  Currency & Coins.       

  http://www.farsinet.com/toman/   
  

  Wayne Homren 
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society