Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 46, November 11, 2001:
 an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
 Copyright (c) 2001, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
  

SUBSCRIBER UPDATES    

  We have no new subscribers this week. 
  Our subscriber count holds at 426.  

LAKE 61ST SALE SALE AVAILABLE    

  Fred Lake writes: "Our 61st mail-bid sale of numismatic   
  literature is now available for viewing at the following web 
  address:   http://www.lakebooks.com/current.html    

  There are 670 lots in the "Lake Placid" sale and they cover   
  all facets of the numismatic collecting experience.  I hope   
  you find some items of interest."   

CENTRAL AMERICA BAR SETS PRICE RECORD    

  From an Associated Press article filed the evening of   
  November 8th:    

  NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP)-- The largest known gold   
  bar from the California Gold Rush -- a bread loaf-sized brick   
  named Eureka -- has been sold for a record $8 million, officials   
  said Thursday.    

  The ingot was bought by a collector described only as a "Forbes   
  400 business executive,'' said Michael Carabini, president of   
  Monaco Financial, the Orange County-based rare coin company   
  that handled the sale.    

  The sale nearly doubled the record set previously for the sale   
  of collectible money. In 1999, a single silver dollar sold for   
  more than $4 million, said Donn Pearlman of the Professional   
  Numismatists Guild.    

  "They sold the artifact that was THE piece of numismatic   
  history of the California Gold Rush,'' he said.    

  The bar was handmade in 1857 by California assayers John   
  Kellogg and Augustus Humbert.  Weighing nearly 80 pounds   
  troy, the bar was stamped with its 1857 value -- $17,433.57.    

  On Sept. 3, 1857, the bar was loaded onto the SS Central   
  America in San Francisco.  The "Ship of Gold'' was bound 
  for New York where the gold was to be turned into coins.    

  Eight days later, the ship was damaged in a hurricane and   
  sank Sept. 12 more than 140 miles east of Cape Hatteras,   
  N.C., in 8,000 feet of water. More than 400 people died.    

  The lost riches helped spark an economic depression that   
  lasted three years."    

  [You'd be depressed too, if you lost that much gold.   
  Actually, the bar was loaded onto a different ship for the   
  Pacific leg of the trip from San Francisco.  It traveled   
  across the ithsmus of Panama by train before being loaded   
  onto the S.S. Central America on the Atlantic side.  And if   
  the gold were destined to be turned into coins, that would   
  have happened in Philadelphia, not New York, which had   
  no mint.  The popular press could use a numismatic    
  fact-checker.    -Editor]    

  See the San Francisco Chronicle article about the ingot:
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/01/12/MN177895.DTL    

THIEVES TRY TO REACH GOLD UNDER RUBBLE    

  Gold hasn't lost its allure to theives, either.  From an article   
  posted November 2nd, 2001 on the web site of Britain's   
  Telegraph newspaper  (http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/):    

  "EVIDENCE of a daring but failed heist from vaults beneath   
  the collapsed World Trade Centre was revealed by police   
  yesterday as workers removed gold and silver valued at   
  £159 million.    

  Scorch marks around the basement door to the vaults   
  suggested thieves had tried to break in to steal the   
  precious metals, belonging to the Bank of Nova Scotia.    

  The bank denied there was any heist attempt, but police   
  insisted that at some time during the past fortnight, a   
  blowtorch and crowbar had been used on the vault's   
  entrance. After the discovery, a video camera was set up   
  to monitor the area.    

  Given the difficulty of getting on to the site and down to   
  the vault, it is suspected the attempt was an inside job.    

  Hundreds of construction and relief workers are working  
   on the World Trade Centre site."  

BRITISH SECURITY PRINTER INFO SOUGHT    

  Gene Hessler writes: "Perhaps one of the astute E-Sylum   
  researchers can help me. I cannot find any information on a   
  few British security printers: Charles Skipper & East;   
  McQuorquodale; Blades, East & Blades; and Knowles and   
  Foster. I assume the latter is British also."  

MASON'S PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY PLATE    

  There were several responses to Bill Malkmus' question   
  about Mason's Photographic Gallery plate.  Nick Graver   
  asks: "I am assuming that the Mason's photo is an early   
  "Composite", made up of many individual portraits, etc.   
  and then recopied for distribution?    Not a group photo   
  at a convention, or such?"    

  [Correct - the photo is a composite made of several    
  individual portrait  photos. -Editor]    

  Cal Wilson writes: "With regard to the Mason's Photographic   
  Gallery Plate, Remy Bourne reproduced it back in the mid-80's   
  and sent me a supply which I added as an insert to an issue of   
  The Repository.  I may still have a few boxed up somewhere,   
  but am not certain.  In any event, it has been reprinted."    

  Charlie Davis writes: "When I reprinted the run of Mason's   
  Periodical in three volumes, the first 100 copies that I sold   
  contained an actual photographic reprint of the Gallery pasted   
  in place as did Mason in the 1860s. The negative was made   
  on a top-of-the-line Haselblad and is the same size as the print   
  but when I tried to make up some enlargements, the graininess   
  kicked in and anything larger than about 11x14  was not good.    

  No Gallery 2 was ever produced."  

QUERIES FROM ANDY LUSTIG    

  Andy Lustig writes: "I received the following request over   
  the Net. Can anyone help? - Do you know if J.A. Bailly   
  also did a bust of Abraham Lincoln?   Do you also know   
  anything about the company Warner Miskey in Philadelphia?"  

LARGEST COLLECTION OF U.S. CITY DIRECTORIES?    

  Inspired by last week's item on numismatic research by Dick   
  Johnson, Ron Benice writes: "I'd like to nominate another   
  candidate for the "largest collection of city directories."  The   
  Library of Congress in Washington D.C. has a huge collection.   
  On one level of stacks that runs an entire city block they   
  have original directories from what appears to be almost every   
  place and every year.  They also have telephone directories   
  -- worldwide -- going back to the beginning of telephone   
  number directories.  They also have a complete year set of   
  Dun and Bradstreet (initially separately and then together)   
  business directories for the whole country on microfilm.    

  I had access to roam the stacks freely when researching both   
  editions of my book "Alaska Tokens".  Unfortunately, they no   
  longer permit outside researchers to access the stacks, but   
  they'll bring out whatever you request, including many   
  directories that are in the stacks but not in  the catalog.   
  Working from old-fashioned hard copy books is faster and   
  easier on the eyes."  

FIRST COIN CHAT ROOM?    

  On page B1 of the November 8th Wall Street Journal is an   
  article about Dr. Larry Brilliant and his work against smallpox   
  in India.  The last paragraph mentions that "he had a role in   
  founding several online and broadband companies".  One of   
  those companies had a numismatic connection.    

  When I worked at Bell Labs in New Jersey during the early   
  80's, I moonlighted as a consultant for Dr. Brilliant's company,   
  which was based in Ann Arbor, MI at the time.  He had hooked   
  up with a couple hackers who ran a bulletin board system on a   
  server in one of their homes.  They created an interactive   
  conferencing system with many elements of today's chat rooms   
  and newsgroups.  I did testing and commented on user interface   
  design.  It was a plain scrolling text interface that you could dial   
  in to via the GTE Telnet network.    

  The company was initially called MarketNet, Inc., and later   
  Network Technologies Inc., or NETI.    Larry was a coin   
  collector and knew dealer Joseph Lepczyk, whom I believe   
  became an investor in the firm.   Hoping to unseat the   
  standard coin dealer teletype system, they created a system   
  called CENTS for buying, selling, and discussing   
  numismatic items online.  CENTS stood for "Complete   
  Electronic Numismatic Trading Systems."  It was through the   
  numismatic connection that I became involved.    

  The company later had some sales to groups like AT&T's   
  Legal Dept., which used it as groupware to discuss legal   
  documents.  But the system was way ahead of its time and   
  failed, because in those days long before the popularization   
  of the Internet, there were still only a handful of first adopters   
  with PCs and modems having the capability to dial in.  We   
  geeks thought it was the bee's knees, but it  went nowhere.   
  Larry closed the company, but moved to San Francisco and   
  ended up cofounding The Well with Stuart Brand (of Whole   
  Earth Catalog fame), this time creating the first commercially   
  successful online community.    

  In my library I have copies of the user documentation   
  for the system and a handful of scrolled paper printouts   
  documenting some interactive sessions.  In one, Larry   
  Brilliant wrote: "It was a real treat to be able to sign on   
  to the system via satellite from Kathmandu, Nepal.  We   
  are making world history with the longest distance coin   
  deal ever ..... wonderful."  (August 15th, 1983).  

WANT FRIES WITH THAT?    

  One computer trading system readers may actually have   
  heard of is eBay.  Desiring to ease the pain of losing bidders,   
  eBay now follows up each auction with an email message   
  listing several (supposedly) similar items they still have a   
  chance at.  After ending up as the underbidder on a recent   
  lot of three early Frank Katen sales, eBay followed up with   
  "And here are some items from eBay whose titles are similar   
  to the item you lost:"  The first listed item?   A video titled   
  "The Best of Soupy Sales"  

WE CAN'T DO THAT; SOMEONE MIGHT  BUY IT    

  Asylum Editor E. Tomlinson Fort writes: "Recently I received   
  a fine article from George Kolbe about the "Numismatics in   
  the Age of Grolier" exhibit currently on display at the Grolier   
  Club in New York. Both The Asylum and The E-Sylum have   
  done their utmost to promote both the exhibit and the numismatic   
  literature conference which was held at the club on October 27.   
  In his article Mr. Kolbe notes that the Grolier Club has produced   
  a 75-page unillustrated catalogue for the exhibit priced at $15.   
  Wanting a copy for my own library I called the club and was   
  bluntly, and somewhat rudely, told that they do not take phone   
  or mail orders for the book. The only way to get a copy is to   
  physically go to the club and purchase one for cash!  I called   
  Mr. Kolbe about this and he confirmed the truth of this stupid   
  policy (there is no other way to describe it) and mentioned   
  that when he was there another person who was buying it was   
  asked if he had exact change.  Likewise, the club does not seem   
  to want to let booksellers, such as Mr. Kolbe, distribute the   
  book.  Who decided that? Homer Simpson? (Actually, that is   
  an insult -- to Homer Simpson).  At any rate, since I have no   
  plans to be in New York for some months is there an E-Sylum   
  reader there who could buy the work for me?  I will gladly send   
  you a cheque or money order for the book as well as postage   
  and packing.  Please contact me at etfort@aol.com"    

  [Did we mention the retina scan and body cavity search?   
  -Editor]  

CACHE OF EPIDEMIC LETTERS UNCOVERED    

  Sound eerily familiar?    "The nation's capital was struck by a   
  plague so terrible that 10 percent of the population died in a   
  matter of months.  People panicked. Everyone who could   
  fled the city. Politicians seized the moment to try to gain   
  advantages over their opponents.  An instant book appeared   
  and became an international best seller, snapped up by some   
  who wanted to read the gruesome details of the disease and   
  its accompanying social disruption, and by others who wanted   
  to pore over its list of the dead.    

  The city was Philadelphia in 1793, and the disease was   
  yellow fever.  No one knew where the illness came from or   
  how it was spreading. No one knew the best treatment or   
  how to clean up the city.  It was a hemorrhagic fever, Ebola-like   
  in many symptoms.  And it was, in a way, a natural form of   
  bioterrorism.    

  Now, researchers at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia   
  have found a cache of letters and documents from that terrible   
  time, written by historic figures like Alexander Hamilton and   
  Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence   
  and a professor at what is now the University of Pennsylvania.    

  While the letters do not change the general picture of the epidemic,   
  they offer new details and give the events immediacy."       

  http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/06/health/06YELL.html     

  U.S. numismatists, particularly early copper mavens, have long   
  sought copies of "Bring Out Your Dead : The Great Plague of   
  Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793" by J. H. Powell.   The   
  book details the calamity which forced the closing of the U.S.   
  Mint.   The mystery of the disease was solved by Benjamin   
  Rush (1746-1813),  who later became Treasurer of the Mint.    

  Rush detailed his findings in "An Account of the Bilious Remitting   
  Yellow Fever As It Appeared in the City of Philadelphia",   
  published in 1794.   The book was republished by Reprint   
  Services Corp (Jan 1, 1999,  ISBN: 0781288525)   For more   i
  nformation, see "Revolutionary Doctor" by Carl Binger, 1966,   
  and these web pages:       

  http://hsc.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/classics/Rush.html     
  http://members.aol.com/Fever1793/account93.html   

FEATURED WEB SITE    

  This week's featured web site is "Physicists on the Money".   
  Bill Rosenblum writes: "A teenage customer of mine let me   
  know about this web site."       

  http://www2.physics.umd.edu/%7Eredish/Money/  
  

  Wayne Homren 
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society